Who is SeaLife? It's a name quite popular in the scuba diving community, but less so among regular photographers. So here's a bit of background. SeaLife is part of Pioneer Research, which is the North American headquarters of Steiner binoculars, and also the worldwide headquarters for Vero Vellini hunting slings and straps, and, of course, SeaLife cameras. So these guys are into optics and outdoors equipment, and thus wholly dedicated to the outdoor and sports experience.
SeaLife cameras have been around since , and the company introduced the first underwater digital camera in Today, they pride themselves in offering a whole array of underwater cameras and accessories, with all the strobes and lenses interchangeable with any SeaLife camera.
I must admit that before my diving days, I had never heard of SeaLife myself. That quickly changed last year when we tested some very competent underwater cameras from major manufacturers. We came up with decent underwater shots, but they were nowhere near as good as those that my dive buddy took with her SeaLife DC camera. I was intrigued and wondered how the fairly basic SeaLife hardware could do so well when we struggled with cameras that, at least based on their spec sheets, should have produced superior results.
I initially wrote it off as being unfamiliar with our test cameras, and that certainly contributed as our results improved quite a bit once we got to know the cameras, but the SeaLife DC still did better.
This was reaffirmed when Carol shot several hundred underwater pictures on Little Cayman with her SeaLife, with spectacular results. SeaLife's secret sauce Having founded Digital Camera Magazine in as the first print magazine dedicated entirely to digital cameras, I am quite familiar with the technology and what digital cameras could, and can, do.
So I took a closer look at SeaLife's offerings and concluded that it simply could not be the camera hardware alone that made for such excellent image quality. That's because there is nothing special about the SeaLife hardware. It is, in fact, quite generic. SeaLife does, however, have a secret sauce and it lies in the company's understanding of underwater photography. As a result, they made some subtle software and settings changes, added several underwater modes, and also some excellently designed and engineered peripherals, and, voila!
Talent and experience still play a role, of course, and so it certainly didn't hurt that Carol is an award-winning photographer. Every diver knows that things are different underwater. Sound travels much faster, objects seem closer than they actually are, there is almost always some debris floating around, and colors change and shift according to depth. Consumer cameras that offer optional underwater cases usually have at least one underwater shooting mode, and sometimes several.
But they still don't seem truly optimized for the very different underwater environment. So colors seem off, and the built-in flash goes off when it shouldn't, resulting in "scatter," i. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended.
This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See details for description of any imperfections. Skip to main content. About this product. Make an offer:. Pre-owned: Lowest price The lowest-priced item that has been used or worn previously. Replace O-ring every year to ensure proper seal. Soak and rinse waterproof housing in fresh water after each use.
Use clean, soft cloth to dry housing. It is your responsibility to properly care for the O-ring and O-ring contact surfaces to maintain a waterproof seal. Carefully follow these important O-ring care instructions. Not following these care instructions may cause the waterproof housing to leak and void your warranty.
Page 94 4. Replacement O-rings are available at your local authorized SeaLife dealer. After each use underwater: a. Soak sealed housing in fresh water for about 15 minutes. Most dive boats offer special fresh water buckets specifically for underwater photo equipment. Step 2: Push O-ring into groove as shown being careful not to twist or roll O-ring. Step 3: Use two fingers to push last part of O-ring into groove.
Step 2: Gently lift and remove O-ring from its groove. Step 2: Open latch all the way to lift and release latch from housing. Step 3: Open Housing as shown so inner camera does not fall out. Page 98 Step 4: Close housing and push down on latch as shown to firmly seat latch into housing. Step 5: Push down latch until locking tab clicks into place. It is strongly recommended to purchase the Flash Link optical cable accessory if you are using a SeaLife external Flash to ensure it fires all the time.
Page Step 3:Attach adapter around housing lens port so that it is seated into the flash window recess. If using two Flash Links, attach other cable in second hole and follow above instructions. Carefully inspect O-ring for damage and make sure O-ring is firmly seated in its groove. Page 7. Do not allow any water droplets to get inside housing.
This will cause the inside of the housing to fog. Close housing lid tightly. Make sure there are no obstructions that prevent the housing from closing. Make sure lid is tightly pressed into housing. Page Using and cleaning the underwater housing and camera Entering the water with housing 1. Do not enter water with camera in your hand. Have someone hand you the camera after you have entered the water. Page Great Pictures Made Easy 2. Never store camera or housing in direct sunlight or in a dark damp area.
Page 5. Use Wide Angle Lens for dramatic pictures. The SeaLife Wide Angle lens allow you to get close to your subject for images full of colors and razor-sharp details. With the 24mm wide-angle lens you fit a close group of 4 dive buddies or a 6-foot cm shark at a shooting distance of 6 feet cm. Inn SeaMode, shutter lag is 0.
In External Flash mode, shitter lag is 0. Visit the SeaLife website for more tips on underwater photography, www. Turn camera back on. Camera damaged Contact service center. Auto focus not set Camera did not establish correct focus setting Dark light conditions. Use SeaLife accessory Flash to illuminate subject and improve color and brightness.
Possible cause Corrective Action To close to reflective object. Turn flash head slightly away from subject. Lens port: LCD: Optical grade polycarbonate window Print page 1 Print document pages. Rename the bookmark. Delete bookmark? Cancel Delete. Delete from my manuals? Sign In OR. Don't have an account? Sign up! Restore password. A macro range let's you get as close as a couple of inches.
There is a self-timer, exposure compensation, and a 5X digital zoom on top of the 4X optical zoom. The built-in flash has four modes: automatic, on, off, and red-eye reduction. The 2. Today's digital cameras, for the most part, no longer have optical viewfinders, and the DC doesn't have one either. Today we depend on the LCD which can be difficult in bright sunlight and at times underwater.
SeaLife knows that and lets you crank up the LCD to very high brightness, something that we appreciated very much underwater. The scene modes are: program AE sea external flash auto and manual panorama portrait landscape sport night night portrait night scene candlelight text sunset sunrise splashing water flowing water beach pets anti-shake AV aperture priority TV shutter priority user setting It's easy to overlook the manual AV F2.
Make sure you try them out as proper depth of field can make a huge difference in underwater photography. In "Sea" mode, for use without external flash, you can select special underwater white balance modes that make a huge difference.
In the SeaLife DC we reviewed last year, there were white balance modes for shooting in depths of up to 25 feet and one for shooting below 25 feet. That was because red only penetrates about ten feet and orange disappears at 25 feet, so a white balance that takes that into consideration really matters. In the DC, you no longer set by depth.
The other underwater mode, "External Flash," is used with one of SeaLife's impressive external flash accessories, and those are a must-have for serious underwater photographers. In fact, the company sells the DC in packages that include an external flash and extra accessories. The DC also has a special "Spy" mode that makes the camera take pictures at set time intervals from 10 seconds to 60 minutes.
This can come in handy for taking pictures of critters that don't like a lot of commotion closeby. And on land you can put the camera on a tripod and do some sequential shooting. When set to "landscape" focus, the camera has very little shutter lag. Overall, the DC is a great example of SeaLife's expertise of taking standard digital camera hardware that can be used anywhere, adding special firmware and settings for use underwater, and packaging the camera with a simple, but first-rate underwater housing and external flashes.
The special underwater white balance modes of the DC make all the difference. This way you get a camera that works just like a standard digicam on land, and takes pictures like a dedicated underwater camera while diving. The case is superb as well. It can easily handle all recreational diving and a good deal beyond. SeaLife external flash system When it comes to taking pictures underwater, flash is everything. There is a world of incredible color down there, but you cannot always see it because colors are different underwater.
Colors are really nothing more than different wavelengths reflected by an object. Underwater, waves travel differently, and some wavelengths are filtered out by water sooner than others. Lower energy waves are absorbed first, so red disappears first, then orange, then yellow. Green stays longer and blue the longest, which is why things look bluer the deeper you go.
So if you want to capture all those wonderful colors, you need a strong flash, and that is where the SeaLife Digital Pro Flash comes in. SeaLife sells packages with a single or a dual flash. Each flash needs four AA batteries. You can use single-use Lithiums which last a long time but are quite expense, or rechargeable NiMH batteries.
Our MAXX package came with the dual flash, which is perfect for best possible illumination of subjects. SeaLife uses an optical flash link that snaps onto the underwater housing. It covers the internal flash window so it can pick up the firing of the camera's flash without letting the internal flash illuminate debris that results in "scatter" on images. Each of the two Digital Pro Flashes has a pre-flash and an automatic mode switch that can be set to accommodate SeaLife or non-SeaLife cameras.
Each flash also has an external flash intensity control knob that can be set to automatic or manual control of flash intensity, from darkest ro brightest.
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