Waterproof housings - anyone used Hama / Ewa-marine?
Discussion
I want to get either a waterproof camera, or a waterproof housing for our existing (if it is repairable) digi-compact (Canon A75).
Now the only multi-purpose waterproof camera out there is the Olympus mju-series, which aren't cheap for the quality and flexibility of the camera (£175 or £250 for distinctly average optics). Plus you need to use xD cards, which is more expense.
I've been having a look around, and cases come in 3 forms:-
OE (£159): http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...
Hama (£30): http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...
Ewa-marine (£55): http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ewa_marine/d_st...
Now £160 seems a lot, but it's the only bespoke case. So I was wondering if anyone had used either of the other cases, and could comment on their robustness/quality?
Thanks,
Martin.
Now the only multi-purpose waterproof camera out there is the Olympus mju-series, which aren't cheap for the quality and flexibility of the camera (£175 or £250 for distinctly average optics). Plus you need to use xD cards, which is more expense.
I've been having a look around, and cases come in 3 forms:-
OE (£159): http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...
Hama (£30): http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...
Ewa-marine (£55): http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ewa_marine/d_st...
Now £160 seems a lot, but it's the only bespoke case. So I was wondering if anyone had used either of the other cases, and could comment on their robustness/quality?
Thanks,
Martin.
You don't say what you want to do with it. Is it for splashing about in puddles, snorkeling, or scuba diving, and to what depth?
I've tried an Ewa-marine bag like thisfor snorkelling in the past:
There were a couple of problems with it - you need to put enough air into it so that when you get down to whatever depth you're going to, it doesn't squash all of the buttons into the camera - that makes it quite buoyant near the surface, and hence difficult to dive with.
The second problem is related to the first - it can be difficult to access the buttons through the bag - on the surface, the bag is inflated and you have to squash the bag to get to the buttons, then if you don't put enough air in the bag it is squashed into the camera when you dive under the water, and the buttons are all pressed accidentally.
It wsa fun to play with, but difficult and rather frustrating for snorkelling. I wouldn't have thought it would be much good at all for diving.
I've tried an Ewa-marine bag like thisfor snorkelling in the past:
There were a couple of problems with it - you need to put enough air into it so that when you get down to whatever depth you're going to, it doesn't squash all of the buttons into the camera - that makes it quite buoyant near the surface, and hence difficult to dive with.
The second problem is related to the first - it can be difficult to access the buttons through the bag - on the surface, the bag is inflated and you have to squash the bag to get to the buttons, then if you don't put enough air in the bag it is squashed into the camera when you dive under the water, and the buttons are all pressed accidentally.
It wsa fun to play with, but difficult and rather frustrating for snorkelling. I wouldn't have thought it would be much good at all for diving.
I used an ewa marine bag for a vid camera (same concept as the one above). The bouyancy thing didn't really bother me tbh, in fact I thought it was rather useful that the thing floated in case I let go of it. I had mine down to about 22m iirc and whilst the bag was shrink-wrapped around the camera at that depth it performed faultlessly, and generally seemed very well made.
If you go any deeper than a few metres bear in mind you will benefit enormously from having colour correction filters. I forget the 'system' for colour loss at increasing depths but I'm sure google or someone on here knows. Like I say, probably nay bother if you're close to the surface.
If you go any deeper than a few metres bear in mind you will benefit enormously from having colour correction filters. I forget the 'system' for colour loss at increasing depths but I'm sure google or someone on here knows. Like I say, probably nay bother if you're close to the surface.
Underwater photos are tricky to take, but lots of fun and you definitely don't need to be deep underwater to see interesting things. Persistence, flash and getting as close as possible seem to be the keys to getting decent pictures. I lost count of how many hours I spent snorkelling around with the camera while we were on holiday in St Lucia a few years ago, but of all the hundreds of photos I took, there was only one that I was really pleased with:
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