Best Diving Knife

These cameras are for those who are not happy with disposable cheap gadgets and who do not possess enough money to spend on pro versions of Canons or Nikons with thousand-dollars waterproof housings. There are solutions that may be right for you.

The first choice we would like to review is a SeaLife DC 1200 that is advertized as being able to catch them all – underwater fish of all kinds, either butterflyfish or surgeonfish, porgy or chubs, snappers or grunts, flounders or scorpionfish, sharks or rays, or any other colorful sea creature, as well coral reefs, ship wrecks and even buddy divers. Nobody will hide from this snorkeling camera! It has a 12-megapixel sensor and has four different color modes for tropical and temperate waters.

SeaLife DC 1200

You will not feel disgusted with onland pictures taken by this camera yet its better use is underwater where you can get bright and sharp pictures.  Manufacturers of this camera made its design very  diver friendly. They got rid of usual buttons that are located on the back panel of many cameras and can be pushed mistakenly. Instead of this set the SeaLife DC 1200 has so called piano key controls, a set of five buttons operated by a thumb.

The SeaLife DC 1200 has a convenient shutter button that can be easily found and pushed by your fingertip, as well as a lever that not only scrolls through menu items but also is capable of zooming in and zooming out with one finger. You do not have to release your grip and miss a valuable shot.

So these know-hows, a patented piano key set and a central command lever make this camera a very attractive to prolific underwater photographers who value its usability and design.

You can make significant improvements to this camera by buying accessories available at the manufacturer’s stores. For example, Digital Pro Flashes help to make a vibrant color pics in dark waters, and wide angle extension provides panoramic view if space does not allow you to catch all the objects in your view, or you want interesting effects.

With SeaLife 1200 you can make macro photos as its autofocus system allows to produce sharpness starting from only four inches. The other end is infinity, of course, by default.

The SD memory card with capacity of 4 GB allows to shoot more than two hours of video, and you can dive as deep as 60 meters to shoot with this camera. Even if you like extreme diving, the camera body is fully armored, so it will not crash even if it hit a stone. Other options include manual control of aperture and shutter speed, as well  as automatic color correction. There is a full year of warranty that applies to a camera body and waterproof housing.

Another great camera that we would recommend is a Liquid Image Video Series Digital Camera Mask that is unique in design as it is built right into your diving and snorkeling mask. Your hands are free for your diving tasks like cutting some ropes with your diving knife. Yet you can capture fantastic images or video at the same time. The video is shot at D1 (full TV or DVD of PAL or NTSC in 720 pixels wide resolution) quality.

Liquid Image Digital Snorkeling Camera Mask

The maximum depth that this camera was tested was 33 feet, or about 10 meters, but you will hardly need deeper shots as an average diver, what to say of snorkeling. You will find it very hard to go deeper than five meters without special equipment, so this camera fits pecfectly well for shallow diving.

It has a decent five megapixel sensor and a good aperture lens with 2,8f. Camera Mask can focus on objects located as close as 1 meter, and as far as infinity. It has a bright 100 to 200 ISO sensitivity, so you require a flash for darker waters. Integrated mic and auto white balance add on to this camera characteristics.

With a slot for an SD card you can use up to 16 gigabytes of this extra memory allowing you to shoot four hours of video and more than twenty thousand of pics.

LCD status panel helps you to see meny settings and keep track of recorded images, and USB 2.0 connection along with a cable that is included in the pack lets you  have a fast and smooth transfer of data to your PC. Even loaded with batteries, the mask weights no more than 1 lb.

Manufacturers of this mask made it in only two sizes, that is, a Medium Size for most faces and nationalities, and Large Size for those having larger faces. Other accessories include LED Side Lights and Color Filters, like Blue Water Filter for tropical salty water, and Green Water Filter for temperate waters.

And the third and the last option that we will have a few words about is a GoPro Wrist Hero Camera. It is a very innovative solution of a spy-like camera that fits on your  wrist like a bracelet or a watch. Despite its miniature size, it shoots a TV quality video and makes 5 Megapixel pictures. It is very convenient for active divers or snorkeling enthusiasts. It is shock proof and waterproof, with a glass lens. Its capacity allows to shoot 56 minutes of video with sound, and make shooting photo series of three pics at a time, as well as a series mode of capturing image every 2 or 5 seconds.

GoPro Wrist Hero Underwater Snorkeling Camera

So let us make a little conclusion of what digital underwater snorkeling cameras we reviewed. For those who are used to traditional point-and-shoot cameras, we recommend SeaLife DC 1200, with an innovative set of piano keys. To keep your hands free during your dives you can buy a Liquid Image Video Series Digital Camera Mask, and extreme diving enthusiasts will love the GoPro Wrist Hero Camera that does not feel like a camera at all, but can help to preserve your best memories of underwater adventures when you utterly need it. Now it is time to choose yourself what fits you best in your situation and for your specific personality.

When you go snorkeling in your favorite places like snorkeling in Caribbean or snorkeling in Bemuda, you would definitely want to keep your best memories and proudly boast before your friends with something tangible in your hands. Pictures or videos taken by you underwater – what can be better to support your tales that someone will doubt later. Or after many years – you will tell your children and grandchildren about your great feats in oceans and seas. You would better have a proof of your adventures as an experienced diver or a snorkeling enthusiast.
There are variety of cameras out there meant for both amateurs and professionals, with a whole range of options and characteristics that will make you bewildered if you are not well versed with terminology and do not know exactly what you need and what to expect from this or that option.
The first choice that many beginners is considering is a disposable snorkeling camera that has two main advantages in front of its competition. First, this disposable camera is very compact. Then, it is very cheap. For about nine or ten bucks you could get a decent snorkeling camera at the local grocery store located at the sea.

The bad news is the quality that you get with these. For example, one of the camera in use had an ISO 800 film that resulted in very grainy images with fuzzy areas near their edges. The sharpness was limited to the center of the image, and rendition of colors was also quite poor.
You could take about thirty images with this ten-buck camera, and another ten bucks went to an image processing lab. So you get about thirty pictures at 70 cents each. Well, if you plan for a sole day of snorkeling in a vacation, and your adventure will last for only an hour or two, the disposable camera may be an option for you. But if you value the beauty of the underwater world and are fond of quality photography, you should opt for much more expensive options.
The other end of this game is a professional camera with a special waterproof housing. A camera like Canon 5D Mark II is what I recommend for any type of work, on land or underwater. A camera body with a decent lens will cost you no less than 3,5-4 thousand, and a housing can take 1 thousand bucks more out of your pocket. But then you will have professional quality images or videos that you can proudly share and even sell.
As a compromise we will have a deeper look at the budget options that are available on the market, like a Liquid Image Explorer Series 5.0MP Underwater Digital Camera Mask, and a GSI Super Quality Secure Underwater Swimming Goggles with Built-in Digital 2.0 MP Camera.

Do not forget to take your favorite diving gear (and a dive knife) as you may encounter dangers underwater.

Many of us who are fond of diving think from time to time what could happen if this was our job, if we got paid for what we love to do, and this seems like a dream. Yet there are enthusiasts who undergo special training programs to come closer to their goal. At the end the job does not look like a job, and you could have a lot of fun if you really love diving.

There are many specialized diving jobs like police or military divers, shipwreck divers or rescue divers. For a recreational diver the first position to start with is divemaster (guide) who assists more experienced instructors with classes, leads review courses and makes guided tours. There are varied procedures necessary to qualify for a divemaster, but in PADI certified divers take some advanced courses for a rescue diver, and then as soon as they have at least twenty logged dives they can sign up for a divemaster.

Scuba diving instructor is a higher level for a divemaster who should have at least sixty logged dives before enrolling in Instructor development training with PADI. He should have at least six month of diver certification. At first one gets a position of assistant instructor, then open water scuba instructor. By that time he already has more than 100 dives. This job allows to teach divers and certify newcomers. You can also go on with your diver education in a few different directions in specialized courses of wreck diving, search and rescue diving, instructor training or underwater naturalism.

Underwater photographer or filmmaker is a creative profession that is popular as many people are delighted by nice underwater imaginary. It is a complicated task to capture images in these conditions, so you could become famous by filming ship wrecks or beautiful corals. There is a special PADI Underwater Photographer course.
Oceanographer or marine biologist is a scientist who studies habits, breeding, migrations of marine wildlife. He also records all kinds of fluctuations of coral growth and observes changes in underwater world. It is a desired career for people with scientific background, and you should have proper degree to start this.

There are also ancillary jobs connected with different types of diving. You can be office worker in a diving center or a janitor, working at sales department or on live aboard ships and enjoy discounts and free dives. Never forget your diving equipment such as a diving knife, to take with you on your dives. Titanium dive knife is yet another great option.