There I was, the first time I had use of a digital camera (digicam) at a place that I really thought I would want to use one, and I was very worried. There around my neck was a digicam worth almost a thousand dollars. It was not really the location of the digicam that had me so worried but rather that of the body it hung upon, I was in the middle of Michigan's mighty Pere Marquette River. Not in the comparative safety of a boat, mind you, but wading, belly deep in swiftly moving water. I came to the conclusion that day that digital photography was not really for me, at least not yet. If the digicam had not been a review unit I am sure I would have beat feet to dry land and left it there for good. Perhaps I would never have wet a boot were I risking my thousand bucks. At least half of my photo opportunities occur in precariously wet environments and I realized that I would have to go back to the underwater protected disposable film camera I had been using. Unimaginative but not a financial mini calamity in the making.
Since that time digicams have advanced significantly in quality of the digicam as well as expanded functionality. One digicam has been introduced that is made for rough environments, other digicams have had underwater casings developed for them by their manufacturers or third parties. With these developments I decided it was time to re-examine if I could become comfortable using a digicam as I enjoyed my watercentric hobbies. This article covers that experience with the Kodac DC5000 a "ruggedized" digicam and the DSC-P1 Cyber-shot, a 3.3 MP digicam from Sony. The DSC-P1 arrived with a 30 meter underwater housing also offered by Sony. I will discuss these two digicams as well as others housings that will safeguard your financial interest by protecting the digicam. There is another way to protect you from a fall into the river with an expensive digicam around your neck. You can insure it, and I will cover just how to best do that as well.
The manual that comes with the Kodac DC5000 says that the digicam is designed to be "weatherproof and rugged". It notes that while you cannot use it underwater it can be safely used in the rain, at pool-side or beach, and at a construction site where dirt and dust are a hazard. Very clearly the manual notes that the digicam is weatherproof, not waterproof. That it is not designed to be submerged in water nor to have water poured over it. My greatest concern was not that I be able to use the digicam under the water, though that would be a neat added feature. My great worry was would a digicam I brought fishing or kayaking take the same kind of dunking this less than graceful writer/fisher sometime took and survive. This is not an extended underwater use but the digicam, as well as my head, might be under for a brief period of time. (Duration depending on water depth and temperature.) I had to test that. I took the Kodac along on a recent trip to my favorite stretch of water. (I will never, never, reveal even a close location in a nationally published magazine.) Prior to starting my fishing I set up a video camera to capture myself as I played with the digicams. I dunked the Kodac and checked to see if it worked. Worked fine. I dunked it again, it worked. I ended up dunking it several times with no ill effect. Now I am not certifying that the DC5000 will survive this kind of treatment forever. Just that it survived the dunking I gave it. I don't think this is within the strict perimeters outlined in the manual and may void the warranty. But in the several minutes I tortured it I put the Kodac through as much aquatic familiarity as I would likely put it through in several seasons of fishing. Barring a near drowning, that it. And then the digicam would be the least of my worries.
The specifications of the Kodac aren't bad either. It sports a 2.1 MP resolution and does in my experience produce quality images at up to about 8" x 10" size. Larger than that is pushing it for high quality printed images. It has a 2X optical and 3X digital zoom, which is adequate for general use but nothing to get excited about. You can view the images you are about to capture through a standard viewfinder or the 1.8" LCD. The controls are larger than standard so that it is easier to use in tough conditions, with wet and cold hands, or even with hands covered by gloves. I did find the controls easy to use and the design of the user interface quickly understandable. It records your images on COMPACTFLASH media and ships with an 8MB card. I am betting that one of the first things you would do after getting a DC5000 is acquire about 64MB more, at least that is what I would want to do. You can transfer the images to your computer via a USB or serial connection. I had a Kodac USB card reader for this article which made things lots more convenient. Of coarse you can view your images on a video screen with the included cable. The design and intended use of the DC5000 does not lend itself to small design and with dimensions of 5.51" x 3.5" x 3.27" it will not fit into your shirt pocket. All in all this is a fine digicam with the added benefit of being rough and ready for outdoors activities. Shopping the internet I found it available for $430.00.
Dunk the Sony DCR-PC110 as I did the Kodac and it will probably be the last time it will useful for anything other than as a cool looking paperweight. That is unless you have enclosed it in the 30 meter underwater housing Sony provided me for this article. Once safely enshrined in the MPK-P1 housing the Sony is truly safe around, as well as in, water up to over 90'. It shakes off the kind of dunking I gave the Kodac like a well bred retriever and begs for another target to go for. That does not mean that the digicam can only be used underwater when it is within the housing. Most of the controls can be operated from the outside of the housing and you can use it like any other camera. The LCD screen is viewable (though the control that shuts it off/on is not available) as well as the standard viewfinder. However the viewfinder is about 30% obstructed by the housing where it covers the lens when the zoom is full wide. Be careful about glare on the housing lens cover, when it catches the light wrong the image is ruined. In the same way I discovered that one needs to make sure there are no water drops over the lens if you go quickly from underwater use to out of water use. This happened opening morning of trout season on the famous Au Sable River and pretty much ruined the image of a 17.5" brown trout being held by a very proud fisher (and writer).
The Sony has a resolution of 3.3 MP and you will get fantastic snapshot images as well as high quality images to about 11" x 14". The digicam has a 3X optical as well as a 6X digital zoom. The digital zoom does degrade the image quality, but somewhat less than other digital zooms I have seen. The low light capability of the DSC-P1 is enhanced due to the "Super HAD" CCD incorporated in its design. The viewfinder is on the smallish size at 1.5", but is very clear and truly it does not look as if a larger LCD would fit on this diminutive digicam. The DSC-P1 is very small measuring in at just 4.43" x 2.125" x 1.75" without the housing. Even encased in the housing the unit is only about 5.75" x 3.3" x 3.375" making it about the same size as the Kodac. But that it including the lens part of the housing that is on the far right of the front and I found that the whole deal slipped in the slightly oversized pocket of my fishing shirt or in the front pouch of my waders without any problem. I am betting that this is the smallest digicam/underwater housing unit available. It ships with only 8 MB of memory in the form of Sony's Memory Stick® so you will be just as motivated to buy additional memory with the DSC-P1 as with most other digicams. Connection to your computer is by USB only and the digicam also has a video (and audio for the movie mode) output for display on a video device. The Sony DSC-P1 was very ably and completely reviewed in the February issue of this magazine by my friend Tony Gomez. Refer to that issue for more in depth information, but briefly I really like the Sony digicam/housing. The combination takes great images and not only calms all of my worries about an untimely aquatic demise, it has the added functionality of other uses where a rough environment is not an issue. It is not a cheap solution I found the DSC-P1 on the internet for $585.00 and the MPK-P1 housing for as little as $178.00. The total is $763.00 for the package. Significantly more expensive than the Kodac but considering the additional 1.2 MP of resolution the Sony digicam/housing package is well worth the investment. Such is often the case where you have a very specific need to fill.
While I was not able to test them personally there are several other housing products that would also allay my worries. The housings are produced by third parties. I will take a brief look at a few of them and provide web site addresses for your further investigation.
Start by going to www.ikelite.com to find out more about their full line of underwater housings. The selection you will find there starts at $300.00 for a housing designed to protect the 1.3 MP Olympus D360-L, quickly scale up to $500.00 for a housing for the 2.11 MP Sony S-100 Digital Elph, and top out at $950.00 for the 3.34 MP Nikon Coolpix 990. Light & Motion Industries can be visited at www.uwimaging.com, there check out the Tetra underwater housing for the Olympus C-3030 ZOOM. The Oly C-3030 is a 3.3 MP digicam with a 1.8" LCD. I found the digicam for $532.00 on the net but the housing at Light and Motion is $999.00. Ewa Marine at www.ewa-marine.com offers a series of underwater "bags" that accommodate too many different digicams to list here. They cost under $100.00 and will be the least expensive way to your make a digicam water protected. The transparent housing is made of thick, two-ply PVC, a light gauge rubber material. Additives in the PVC make the housing highly resistant to UV and IR rays as well as saltwater. Though the seams are laser welded for strength the bags are only good to 30'.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article there is another way to protect your expensive digital camera from a fall overboard You can make sure it is properly covered by your insurance policy. I called my insurance agent at the local Liberty Mutual office to find out how this is best done. He advised me of the best way to assure an expensive digital camera is insured it to "schedule" it on my homeowners policy. By scheduling the specific item on the policy it is covered against any calamity no matter how much it was your own fault. And there would be no deductible to pay. He said I would need to be able to prove the value of the items on the schedule, that it would be replaced by a comparable product if out of production, and that such a addition to my policy would cost about $20.00 a year. Now even if I did not use a digicam around water I think it would be a good idea to buy this kind of protection. Unfortunately I cannot get this kind of addition to my homeowners policy because I use my electronic toys to make money.
If you use your digicam as a part of a business you will have to buy a business policy or add a similar schedule to a current policy. I called around the local independent insurance agencies and found that a basic business policy can be had for about $250 a year. That's quite a lot more than the simple addition to a homeowners policy but if you are actually making some bucks from your equipment probably has a number of other advantages for your business.
Buying a digital camera doesn't seem like a reasonable purchase if you cannot use it to replace the film camera you currently carry while pursuing your favorite hobby. If that hobby involves wet or otherwise rough environments you need to protect your digital investment. There are two ways to do that. One by protecting the digicam itself by buying a hardened one like the Kodac DC5000 or a housing like the Sony MPK-P1 for their DCR-PC110. The other is by purchasing additional insurance. Personally (and assuming there were no business use involved), this fall prone fisherman would buy both the housing and the $20.00 additional schedule on my homeowners policy, just in case. However you choose to protect your digicam take it with you in the outdoors, enjoy it and quit worrying, it causes gray hair you know.