As in our 2010 review, more cameras seemed to meet our minimum criteria, and the top picks quickly bubbled to the top of the list. We again divided the cameras into two categories and the staff blessed a select few with top pick honors.
We eliminated many cameras because they were incompatible with underwater wide angle lenses. Most of these cameras featured a 5X or greater zoom lens. While this might be attractive for topside photography, long zoom lenses require underwater housings designs with long lens ports. Accessory wide angle lenses must mount to the end of these ports and suffer from severe vignetting (dark corners) when the camera is zoomed wide. You can zoom in the camera lens to clip out the dark corners, but this defeats the point and is a nuisance to use. Our point & shot camera finalists in this review offer great wide angle lens solutions by the original manufacturer or a high quality third party solution.
In recent years we have seen more cameras have a 28mm equivalent (to film) lens and some even having a 24mm equivalent lens. As the lenses on the cameras get wider, optically it becomes harder to design an underwater wide angle lens. While 24mm may sound wide to a land based shooter, we generally consider an angle of over 100 degrees to be the starting point for an underwater wide angle setup. This will allow the photographer to get very close to the foreground subject, but still maintain an expansive background.
Some manufacturers have resorted to an air dome on these wider lens cameras to bring back the above water angle of coverage. If you remember from your basic scuba class, your mask reduces your field of view by about 25 percent. The same thing happens with your camera lens behind a flat lens port. The air dome will restore the angle of coverage to what it is above water. However, the angle for a 28mm is 75 degrees, and a 24mm is 84 degrees, making it harder to photograph very large objects like large reef scenes and shipwrecks.
o capture the big picture or a unique perspective, point & shoot cameras require an accessory wide angle lens. Unfortunately, very few cameras available today are compatible with these essential underwater lenses. The image above was taken with a point & shoot camera armed with a wide lens.
Underwater Camera Packages
We eliminated many cameras because they were incompatible with underwater wide angle lenses. Most of these cameras featured a 5X or greater zoom lens. While this might be attractive for topside photography, long zoom lenses require underwater housings designs with long lens ports. Accessory wide angle lenses must mount to the end of these ports and suffer from severe vignetting (dark corners) when the camera is zoomed wide. You can zoom in the camera lens to clip out the dark corners, but this defeats the point and is a nuisance to use. Our point & shot camera finalists in this review offer great wide angle lens solutions by the original manufacturer or a high quality third party solution.
In recent years we have seen more cameras have a 28mm equivalent (to film) lens and some even having a 24mm equivalent lens. As the lenses on the cameras get wider, optically it becomes harder to design an underwater wide angle lens. While 24mm may sound wide to a land based shooter, we generally consider an angle of over 100 degrees to be the starting point for an underwater wide angle setup. This will allow the photographer to get very close to the foreground subject, but still maintain an expansive background.
Some manufacturers have resorted to an air dome on these wider lens cameras to bring back the above water angle of coverage. If you remember from your basic scuba class, your mask reduces your field of view by about 25 percent. The same thing happens with your camera lens behind a flat lens port. The air dome will restore the angle of coverage to what it is above water. However, the angle for a 28mm is 75 degrees, and a 24mm is 84 degrees, making it harder to photograph very large objects like large reef scenes and shipwrecks.
o capture the big picture or a unique perspective, point & shoot cameras require an accessory wide angle lens. Unfortunately, very few cameras available today are compatible with these essential underwater lenses. The image above was taken with a point & shoot camera armed with a wide lens.
Underwater Camera Packages
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