I hope this is the right forum to post this. I have a Canon A610 digital camera and I am thinking of purchasing the Underwater Housing Unit for the camera. It is priced at approx. $175 based on the few searches that I did. I thought this was a little steep, but perhaps I'm wrong. I would end up using it 2-4 trips a year - primarily snorkeling or just general pool/ocean photos. I'm sick of using the disposable underwater camera as I get just 1-4 good shots in the whole batch. I have several questions.

Does anyone have this particular unit for a A610? If so, any reviews - good/bad?
Any comments in general on purchasing an underwater housing unit for a digital camera - worth it?

Thanks in advance.

Amazon has it for $160 w/free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

I havn't used that one, but I've used the S400 housing. The canon housings are actually relatively cheap as housings go, but they'll work great for pools and snorkeling. However, with a housed camera it's always just a matter of time until you flood it. Your other option for that camera is an Ikelite housing, which will cost quite a bit more but are much higher quality and probably overkill unless you're going to get into scuba diving.

Underwater photography is a slippery slope, you never when you'll find yourself packing up thousands of dollars worth of gear and heading off to tropical watters.

Matthew

>Any comments in general on purchasing
>an underwater housing unit for a digital camera

I have a housing for my Canon S50 (Canon Brand). I purchased it sight-unseen on ebay and was very impressed when it arrived. It's very cleverly designed so you can still use all the buttons and features on the camera. It also came with things like silicon lube for use on the seals to keep it water-tight. I mostly bought it for the beach, kayak and environments like that.

I'm a very green scuba diver, so when I first got it I didn't take it diving as I didn't want something else to worry about 'down there' (man did I regret it in Belize when the dolphins showed up, but that's another story). However, another woman in our dive group had the exact same camera with the exact same housing and she did take it down to about 30 meters with no ill effects.

However, one thing she did have that was interesting was a slaved flash. attached to the housing - Basically an underwater flash that triggered when the flash on her digicam went off. This struck me as very useful - I'm not sure how well the 'regular' flash would work at depths. Although not the same model, you can see a picture of what I'm talking about here:

http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/e...s/es150ds.html

If I was serious about underwater digital photography I'd probably pick up one of these.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Thanks for the replies. On a website I saw some pictures a person took with an underwater camera snorkeling, and they were amazing. In the past I've always purchased a disposable underwater camera even though I know it ends up being a waste of money - atleast I can not get them to take but a couple of decent pictures. Since I have several beach trips coming up and with a 4 month old digital camera now is the time to buy the underwater unit. I'm not into serious photography or anything, it is just nice to have some good picture from trips.

The comment about flooding the unit. That makes me nervous. Are there certain reasons why it would flood, or is it due to improper use?

I have the housing for the S400 and the Amphibico housing for the Canon Optura camcorder. I have yet to dive the S400, but I've used the Optura in Yap and Belize. Most, if not all, failures are due to improper use with the o-ring door seal being the most critical. An old, dry, cracked, or twisted seal invites trouble.

Give the seal a visual inspection, -lightly- moisten with lubricant, button the camera up, then submerge it a few inches and look for streams of bubbles (bad!). Work the controls and look for more bubbles.

If you are snorkling take it down a few feet and look for bubbles. You will likely not see any and you can just shoot for the rest of the trip. Do the pre-swim submersion test each time you take it out and there shouldn't be any catastrophies.

It helps to develop an attitude that you are trying to do something attempted by few in an environment hostile to electronics. If you -do- have a flood, it was in an attempt to do something novel.

>Are there certain reasons why it would flood, or is it due to improper use?

Well, my Canon housing opens up like a 'clamshell' and the camera goes inside. It could leak for a variety of reasons -

1) If you fail to close the clasp properly
2) It the "o ring" rubber seal between the two halves of the 'clamshell' is broken or isn't seated properly
3) If you get sand or another contaminant in the seal

...but as you suggest I would put all those under the category of 'improper use' - If you buy a 'name brand' housing (i.e. not the cheapest you can buy) and use it properly I wouldn't expect any problems.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver

Thanks everyone. Purchased it today. Can't wait to try it out.