DX-860G Underwater Digital Camera Review

Last updated: December 5, 2007

Small but powerful: the DX-860G set packs 6.2 megapixel effective resolution (8 megapixel maximum resolution) into a convenient underwater package that's perfect for beginners. Digifish.nl has a review on the Sea & Sea DX-860G and writes "The 860G is a compact and lightweight digital camera with an effective resolution of 6.2 megapixels. Its lens ranges from 5.8mm Wide to 17.4mm Tele (35-105mm for 35mm film equivalent) and is capable of focusing as close as 5 cm in macro mode.

ISO settings of up to 400, various white balance modes, photographic effects and exposure compensation controls give ample variation in photographing. Movies can be taken at a resolution of 640x480 pixels (VGA) at 24 frames/second. The camera features a 2.5" TFT LCD display for easy composition and review of pictures when under water.

The DX-860G is a polycarbonate underwater housing and is pressure-resistant to depths of up to 45 meters. It is equiped with a socket to connect an optical fiber cable for a slave strobe and has a selectable diffuser function to filter the light of the camera's internal flash.

External and inner shade hoods give a better view on the display, even in sunny conditions. The housing allows underwater operation of the power, shutter, zoom, OK/ menu, macro, flash, self-timer, microphone, exposure revision/delete and shooting mode (still picture, playback and movie)."

DX-8000G Underwater Digital Camera Review

Wetpixel.com has an excellent review on the Sea & Sea DX-8000G and writes " Image Quality and Usability - "Divers skin tones look natural and colors look accurate. Image quality on the same level as other 8 megapixel cameras, with acceptable noise below ISO 100.

Because of this unit's almost imperceptible shutter delay, I was able to capture fish portraits with this compact camera - something that I have been unable to do with other models. With a fast SD card, this is easily the fastests consumer camera I have ever used.

The DX8000G was a treat to use after shooting a DSLR for so long - it's a responsive small underwater camera system that makes big images."

DX-750G Underwater Digital Camera Review

The compact and lightweight DX-750G provides 5.19 effective megapixels (recordable up to 7.08 megapixels).
Straightforward operation makes it a particularly suitable system for neophytes.

Heather Hammond in Marine-cameras.com has written a comprehensive review with some test pictures outlining the practicality of the Sea & Sea DX-750G. She summarises in saying"I found the DX 750g a really easy camera to use it was lightweight and compact but felt very rugged and certainly stood up to the challenging currents and high surf beach entries that we experienced during the first few days of testing this unit.

In my opinion it also produced great results, once I had modified the settings to my specifications. The shutter response time was not as fast as my 5000 and 8000g but I still managed a reasonable selection of fast moving fish pictures.
In the menu section I found the frames option a bit of a novelty but never the less we did have a bit of fun with the available frames. The games option I found of no interest to me but then I did spend most days testing equipment but maybe on a “REAL” holiday I may have had a chance to test these out as well. As stated at the beginning I also found the YS90 overkill but never the less it worked well but always on the lowest F-stop related setting."

DX-5000G Underwater Digital Camera Review

The Sea & Sea DX-5000G is actually a kit that includes a Sea & Sea housing that is rated to a depth of 180' (55 m) combined with a Sea & Sea 5000G camera. Since this camera has a shutter lag time of only 0.12 second it is well suited for underwater use. The main characteristics for the 5000G camera: 1/1.8-inch primary-color CCD with effective image quality of 5.13 mega pixels. 28 - 85mm optical 3x zoom from wide-angle to telephoto. Worlds fastest shutter release time lag of 0.12 second. Macro photography shooting range as close as 1 cm / 1/3 inch. Aperture priority and manual exposure modes. AF target selection. Six scene modes to match different shooting conditions. Can be powered by a high capacity lithium-ion rechargeable battery, AA batteries, or an AC adaptor.

DX-8000G Underwater Digital Camera Review

The Sea & Sea DX-8000G is a compact, mega-powered camera for superb photography underwater and on land. The 8000G puts high resolution images in your hands. Wetpixel.com has a reviewthat can be found here. Main features with this camera include:

Razor-sharp images thanks to 8.24 million effective pixels
The 8000G captures images using 8.24 million effective pixels that clearly record the details in every frame. This high-end compact digital camera processes mass image data at high speed and simultaneously reduces image noise.

Clean and elegant body design
The 8000G camera has a stylish aluminum alloy body that fits comfortably in your hand. The platinum-silver-coated grip makes the camera easy to hold and shoot.

Zooms from 28mm wide angle to 85mm telephoto
The 8000G's zoom lens contains nine lens elements in seven groups and employs an optical 3x zoom that expands to 28mm at full wide angle and captures ample light around its edges.

Shoots movies
The 8000G camera goes beyond still images: it shoots movies! It can capture high-quality moving images (AVI format, 30 fps) underwater, and can shoot until the camera's memory is filled

DX-3100 Underwater Digital Camera Review

The Sea & Sea DX-3100 underwater camera and housing is the world's first fully integrated underwater digital camera. Equipped with a, 1/2.7" CCD, it offers 3.14 megapixel resolution. Small, easy to use, and ideal for all outdoor adventures

This Camera has been reported with design flaws in velocityreviews.com.

A reader writes" I brought this concern to Sea&Sea's attention and while they were very friendly (including getting me a quick replacement DX-3100 to see if myparticular DX-3100 was defective), it appears that this camera line suffers from a design flaw that cannot be fixed. In fact Sea&Sea admits that the
image quality suffers from pixelation and that Sea&Sea's DX-3000G model
provides much better image quality.

So, while I have had a great deal of enjoyment from my Sea&Sea MX-10, I have to strongly recommend to anyone reading this message, that they not purchase the DX-3100."

As a result of this design flaw, this camera has been discontinued.