underwater

I am a novice scuba diver, and completely new to underwater photography, but I do have a lot of land photography experience. I bought a ReefMaster RC camera a few days before going on a recent Caribbean vacation and am very happy that I did. I took it on 3 different dives, a shallow (35') reef dive, a deeper (72') reef dive, and a deep (82') wreck dive (a WWII Soviet Warship!). The camera is very well designed and performed extremely well; even after I dropped it! (It bounced.) It's a breeze to handle underwater, with all the key stuff easily readable and accesible. It's also really easy to use; a couple of times I handed it to my fellow divers (underwater) and they took very good photos without needing to fuss with dials, etc. I shot 3 different rolls of 36 exposures of Kodak ASA 200 Gold film. My first roll (the shallow dive, my first with the camera) yielded 10 photos I put in my album. The second and third rolls (dives 2 & 3) yielded 18 and 15 photos respectively that I judged good enough to show to friends and colleagues (who were blown away by the pics). The 'rejected' photos were due to 'operator error' (as in, I was too close, or too far away, etc.). I highly recommend this camera to people who want to take high quality underwater photos without the expense and hassle of higher-end cameras. If you get the camera, be sure to also get the 3x close-up lens, which really brings out the best in your underwater subjects. And READ THE MANUAL ... I suspect that some of the folks here who complained about the camera didn't take the time to follow the instructions. Have fun!

Well I bought this camera a few weeks ago to go hawaii. Well it leaked after one roll of film so cleaned it out and let dry over night and loaded it again the next day and leaked again to where the camera didnt work anymore. Well I ended up getting some underwater disposable cameras. When I got the film developed the the disposable pics actually came out better than the 1 roll that came out of my $... camera (imagine that). Well now Im trying to get it repaired or replaced and I have to pay to ship it to them plus another $... I have to send to them for processing, what is up with that if I have a warrenty and its faulty equipment they should cover at the the shipping back to me. Over all There is nothing that I can recomend about this camera from the pics to the service. Would give it a 0 if possible.

I just purchased this camera and have already used it on 6 dives and found it to work so much better than other disposable cameras and housing for scuba diving. It's not a Nikonos (sp?) but it's still pretty good for a beginner. The only thing I don't like too much is that if you're pretty close to one object but also too far away from another object in the same frame, the flash is only good for within some many feet. Anything further and you can start to see the bluish cast from taking underwater photos around the perimeter of the photo. I also purchased the 3X macro lens to go with it, but found that I had much difficulty keeping this portable lens on without actually using both hands at the same time trying to keep it on the camera while taking a photo. Otherwise a great camera!