Sealife camera system review
926434
Having seen the camera advertised in different magazines, my husband and I decided
to purchase one for the dive trip we were planning. The system is very easy to use and takes
very good pictures. We are going to take it on our next dive trip in April .
1999081
I purchased the GoPro Hero3 back on Black Friday 2013 to prepare for a couple of dive trips coming up; nothing too big, since I'd only gotten my advanced cert. and hadn't been out in the ocean yet. At a depth of 80 ft. the camera did great, other than my not realizing how necessary a filter was, so a majority of the photos from that trip were not very good - that was a learning curve on my part, I don't blame GoPro for that.

This past week, I did a ton of diving down in the Keys, GoPro clipped to my BC, and equipped with the Bright Light Filter by CamWorx this time. Both in terms of video and photography, I am very pleased with what I was able to get out of it on all the reef dives and The Benwood wreck, which were, at most, 45 ft down. I had no issues with the camera overheating or the housing fogging up, even between surface intervals, where I'd use up a good majority of the battery with constant photography and roughly 15 videos per dive (I used the ChiliPower batteries - I'll review those later) and switch it out once I'd switched over my tanks. The housing never flooded, although I was often concerned that the top latch that holds the back of the housing in place was going to break - it just seems really flimsy for the expense of the camera; luckily it did not.

Then came the deep dives. The housing on this camera is rated to 197'/60m. However, diving the Duane and Spiegel Grove resulted in some serious issues (especially as a photographer). I had the camera's photography mode set at 10/1s to compensate for the lack of flash and account for any movement from sea life or a current. This had been working marvelously the entire trip, until the dives got down to about 90-95 ft. I would hit the shutter button and rather than see of hear the rapid beeping as the shutter fired, the camera became sluggish. Turning in off and on again helped for a shot or two before it became sluggish again. At 107ft of depth, the shutter would intermittently resume normal speed before slowing down again. Ascending, the camera worked 100% as it had before on the more shallow reef dives.

There had been no fogging, no water damage, and no damage to the camera itself. The memory card was not full (had been formatted after each day's dive) and is a Class 10 memory card. My only guess was that the camera may have experienced some sort of squeeze that was causing it to lag. However, because the housing is rated down to 197ft, I certainly wouldn't have expected to have any issues - the depth of the housing was the whole reason I bought the Hero3 above other GoPro models.
3852088
Very happy with this 'Pro' alternative, took it to Hawaii and was able to do underwater video, images and time lapse.  The image quality was excellent.  The menus and operation do take some time to get comfortable, but once you have it down, it all worked great.  Very happy with the purchase.  Plan to use it on my Bike and also for some aerial photography.
1418621
Great camera, the waterproof seal design seems to be much better than my previous Panasonic and Canon waterproofs. The camera has a ton of features, it works quite nicely in very low light creating lovely soft images and video. The menu system makes all the features easy to get to, too.
1201384
I love this camera. I use it to monitor my kids in the swimming pool while I work from home.  I have also used it to monitor my pets in the garage when I have been out of town.
  Being able to move the camera, see at night, and do all this from my iphone, ipad and computer is very powerful.  I especially like the speaker and microphone feature.  I am able to talk /yell at the kids in the pool from anywhere, and I can hear them playing the whole time from my home office.
  I plan on buying several more of these cameras, they were very easy to install, affordable priced, and just a great deal!  Highly recommend them.
4554747
the camera takes excellent photos in and out of the water.  The camera is easy to use.  However my camera is destroyed.  I thought that I had both locks locked but they were not, I got salt water in the camera and it is now a goner.  The one complaint that I have is the locking of the SD card and the battery.  There are two locks on each and it is very hard to tell if the are all locked or not.  I would buy this camera again.
1696488
As an avid scuba diver I bought this camera to take video and pictures under water. I've used older film cameras and newer digital cameras under water before. One thing that I noticed was I wanted some thing to shoot video more hands free, thus the Liquid Image Camera mask came in. I must say that the wide angle lens makes taking professional looking pictures much easer then normal lenses. I do recommend getting the color filter to help wash out the blue or green color depending on what water you are diving in. I didn't not get the filter and wish I did. I will soon though. That being said at night this camera shined and took amazing photos and videos. The color and the clarity amazed me and other scuba instructors. The one thing that I didn't like is that you can't review your pictures witch I expected for this device but it was some thing that I hope the next model has. But the trade off for not having a big bulky camera hanging off the side of me for the lcd screen is a fair trade off. I just make sure that I take more pictures to make sure I get the shot. There is a tiny lcd screen that shows battery life and pictures taken but cant see it while diving. There is a led light that changes from red to blue to let you know you are in photo or video mode, and on and off as well as recording. I noticed they fixed this on the new snow goggles and hope to see that on the new scuba mask when ever that comes out. All in all I loved this camera and will be taking it on future dives. For those who are instructors it's a must have so you can include a video of your students dives.

Pros
*720p HD
*Hands Free
*Wide Angle Lens
*Assortment of accessories
Cons
*Can't review photos underwater
*Not rechargeable
204742
This camera is simple to use and takes great pictures underwater.  We used it on our snorkeling trip to Indonesia and were very happy with the image quality.  The only complaint had to do with the moderate shutter lag:  I ended up with quite a few pictures of the back half of fish, because although they were completely in the frame when I pushed the shutter button, they had moved by the time the shutter actually opened.  Aside from that, it performed well both above and below water.
2325857
I keep salt water fish and lost one of my fish. I wanted to know if it had jumped into the overflow but I couldn't see down in there to find out. I decided this camera was the perfect way to do it. It was. I was also able to use it to look around behind rocks and in places I could not otherwise see. In case you are wondering...yes...the fish was in the overflow. I still haven't gotten him out yet, but it's nice to know he's alive and well.

As far as this product goes it was plug and play on Windows 7. The lights were just right and the clarity of the image was better than I expected. The fish was attracted to the light so I got some great captured video of him up close.

I have two small things I would like to be different. 1. the housing for the camera is a bit too large which means it cannot go around tight corners. For my purposes this isn't an issue but for some other purposes it might be. So be aware of this. 2. The housing is made of brass. I would much rather it be plastic. Because I am dealing with saltwater I must be very careful to dry it off otherwise the salt water will corrode it. For most other uses this would not be an issue and it only is for me if I fail to care for the tool properly. (This is why 4 stars instead of 5).

I feel very pleased I got this and certainly feel like I got my money-worth out of it. Again, the image was better than I had expected.

As a side note...keep in mind there is no focus on this so if your image is out of focus it's because the object you are looking at is too close to the camera. Simply pull back a little and the image will clear up nicely.

I feel like a regular undersea explorer.
1404022
We bought this camera for a trip to Hawaii. It did great shooting pictures under water but the above water pictures were hazy and not very clear. We had no problems with water leaking into the camera. Used it several times in the pool and snorkeling.
2177737
This camera and monitoring system is excellent.  I purchased this unit on line only because it was not available by prime.  When the system arrived it was well packaged and included everything needed to use it as a portable trailer monitor or to use in a barn or office.  Included in the kit was additional hardware to wire the camera into the trailers electrical system and electrical plugs to use in a barn or office wall outlet.  Two antennas were included, one for long range and one for shorter ranges.  The magnetic mounting and the mounting clips are very good quality and hold the camera and long range antenna very securely.  The monitor can be mounted on the windshield with a very secure, adjustable windshield mounting unit.  The camera connects wirelessly in seconds to the monitor.  The picture and sound are crystal clear and are transmitted in real time.  I feel that this is a well thought out system and everything you could need is included!  The only disappointment is the camera battery pack.  The camera is powered by a 9v battery but the battery life is only 30-40 mins which is too short to be useful.  I purchased this system based on the portability of the camera and battery pack.  The instructions do state that the camera should be wired into the trailers electrical system but I did not see this when ordering the product.  I can use a converter to run the camera off of a larger battery but this requires an additional step.  I would recommend this system based on how well it is made and how easy the set up is but wish the battery power was more substantial.
631994
The cam takes smooth clear videos. Haven't tried it underwater yet, but my video I recorded from my drone was great!
4213928
We received this camera just before vaction and did not have enough time to get used to before using.  One piece of advise, purchase cameras well in advance of actually needing them in order to get acquainted with the functions.

The shutter speed is too slow.  We lost many good shots underwater because of the shutter speed (1.5 to 2 seconds).. This may not seem like a long time, but for underwater shots, fish can swim 20' away in a couple of seconds or disappear all together.  Above water, pictures turned out fine.

We did get some good underwater video in Cozumel.  The sun was shinning at that point and provided ampel lighting under water.  You cannot zoom while in video mode.  Nor does it have a light/flash that can be used like regular video cameras.  The videos are very clear.

A second word of advise, buy a second battery.  I took about 60 pictures and 10 (30 second) videos on day one by the time the battery died.  Luckily, I took someone elses advise on this site and bought (even remembered to charge it too) another battery.

Overall, we like this camera for its size, quality and value for the price ($139).  It far exceeds the quality of the throw-away underwater cameras and has good video capabilities.  If you are looking for Jacque Cousteau quality underwater pictures, plan to spend a couple of grand.  However, for the price, you can't beat the output.
4355197
We purchased this camera for our trip to Fiji and the Great Barrier Reef this past summer.  We've previously snorkeled in Hawaii several times and had always purchased those disposable underwater camera made by Kodak.  They never really yielded great pictures, but I felt like we had no alternative.  Well, we are SO glad that we found this camera.  We are generally very, very happy with the photos we took (I've attached six of our photos above in the customer photo section).  I captured great pictures of colorful coral, schools of fish, an octopus, and several turtles.  It took a a few minutes for me to get used to the camera and what I was actually capturing when I clicked the button.  While the cross hairs are somewhat helpful, it's still difficult to keep your face still with waves lapping over you.  Since the camera doesn't have a flash, the quality of your photos is obviously going to depend on the amount of sun and the depth of the water.  We were fortunate to have the opportunity to snorkel for several days in both countries, so every day I downloaded the photos onto our laptop so I could figure out what I was doing right and what I could be doing better.  I would agree with the other poster who said that it's difficult to get the memory card out--I had to use a pair of tweezers to remove ours.  That's why I relied on the USB cable uplink and didn't mess with taking it in and out until I was done using the camera for the trip.  It also sucks up battery power VERY fast; you definitely need to use high energy or rechargeable batteries with this thing.  I had no problems with water leakage and the lens provided great visibility.  The video option is nice, although it's a bit surreal to watch your videos back.  I was swimming along with a turtle underneath me but when my movement was coupled with the motion of the ocean and my moving subject (the turtle), it all looks like it's on hyperspeed.  Not a fault of the camera, just something to keep in mind.  We would definitely recommend buying this camera for your next vacation; it will pay for itself after a single vacation!  We met several people on our trip who were impressed with the ease of use and the quality of our photos.
3552269
Absolutely amazing camera takes clear crisp pictures and works great underwater.  I bought this as a gift for my son and he has had no complaints whatsoever with this camera.
3660516
We bought three SVP cameras, 2 5500, and 1 5800 fora trip to Cayman islands. For snorkling they worked great. The one complaint ws that the screens were hard to see in the sun light or when taking pictures under water. We got some grea pictures snorkeling.  Took one of the 5500s scuba diving, max of about 40'. It worked ok until we got to about 15-20 feet.  At that depth it would not take pictures though it was on. As we ame back up it started working again. They worked great for what they were meant to do. Ellworth the $50 we paid for each.
897465
Last week I bought a PB-24 Elite Series 200ft. color sewer camera. I have inspected 800 ft of 8 in field tile. The PB-2400 performed great. The DVR recorded everything and was easy to operate. The cart that holds the camera and push-rod also worked great. I have a 100 ft system without a DVR that will not be used anymore. I don't no what happened on the negative review I read before I bought mine but am sure glad I bought this system. Now I need the sonar receiver. I would give it a 5 star +.