The SVP Digital Camera Review

With the age of digital imaging, nearly every (shallow water) diver can be involved with underwater Ph Meters or 33 feet around, they are not lying. Not that we were trying to flood the housing or anything, but at 60 feet the room is not operational because the pressure is squeezing the controls and the camera shuts off. At 40 feet, you might get the room towork, but don't count on changing the settings. At 35 feet, the camera seems to work fine with all the features and operational. For many divers, this will be too limiting because most of your dives will be deeper than 35 feet. However, keep in mind that the red/yellow/orange end of the spectrum is Filtered out beyond this depth too.

The camera and housing combination are well matched and easy to operate. With the clear plastic housing, you can easily see the settings on the camera. Like most digital displays certain angles are more difficult to see, but with the proper shading and angle everything is visible on the 2 inch screen. Even though you can change the lens focal length from wide angle to zoom, we kept the setting on wide angle for the divesduring the whole process because of the water. Keep this in mind for all underwater photography; stay close to your subject and use the widest angle possible for better results.

For the still shots, the camera was set for the strobe to fire with each shot. This uses up your batteries Faster, but if the subject is closer than 8 feet, you'll have better imaging and color. The best results were our macro shots where we set the camera for ' close-up ' and used the flash. When using the movie mode, you'll be impressed with the sharpness of the images, but don't expect high quality audio. The housing must absorb a lot of the sound as much of the underwater sound is muted. More than likely, you'll edit with some musical background anyway.

The SVP Digital Camera Review

The SVP Digital Camera Review

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The SVP Digital Camera Review

The SVP Digital Camera Review

The color balance was a littleoff. We did change the settings according to the instructions and the results were that the color balance was a little on the blue side for topside shots. This was not an issue for the underwater shots as the blue tint of the water was eliminated. Most of the color balance issues can be handled in the editing phase.

The claim of being 12.0 mega pixels is a little deceiving because this is the hardware interpolation ' not the ' image resolution ' which is 5.0 mega pixels. All in all, we were not disappointed in the quality results of the better pictures. However, some of the shots showed the room shake even with the built in flash. This means that the shutter does adjust for the amount of light, so it's important to squeeze the cameral and hold it as still aspossible.

We used an 8 GB SD card because we expected to take a lot of video and had ample memory space for two dives. We didn't use the provided USB cable because we use a card reader to our laptop and then back up the memory to a portable hard drive. The power source uses two Alkaline Batteries to triple, so it's not a problem having new batteries for each dive. We didn't use the voice recorder ' feature, but from our underwater video experience, it would not be recomMended inside the underwater housing.

Now for the bottom line advice on this gear: If you plan to take your underwater imaging seriously, save your money for a more comprehensive system. This could be the perfect outfit for a sports diver that wants to share their diving experience with their friends and family.For less than $ 100 (prices range from $ 70 -100), not including your SD Memory cards or batteries, it is a value. The SVP cameras are available at some dive shops and are directly marketed from several importers online. The next "point and shoot" underwater outfits, without an external strobe, will most likely cost over $ 500. So, if you are going on vacation and thinking about having your own digital camera outfit for shallow water, this is the answer. Of course, for around $ 35 at most diving centers you could rent a room with everything included. Sometimes the choice is not easy, but you can know a lot more from someone who has tested the SVP out. It is a great still and video camera outfit for "around the water and underwater to about 35feet.

Specifications from the Manufacturer:

· Waterproof design: don't be afraid to take this Aqua room to the water-even underwater. The waterproof case will protect this room to depths of 30 feet.

· Very sleek and small room design

· Takes Pictures, Video, and Audio Clips with it's built in microphone.

· Resolution sensor gives you the option of taking 5: 3.1 MP, MP, 1.3 MP, and 300 k Resolution Images.

· Takes, 12 and 8 MP pictures through hardware interpolation.

· Movie mode: When a picture isn't enough, shoot 640 x 480 (VGA), video with sound at 30 frames per second.

· 2.0 "Lcd screen: This compact color screen has plenty of room to help you compose your shots.

· The digital Zoom: 8 xzoom enlarges pixels to fill the frame with your favorite part of the image.

· Adjustable Flash

· Self timer: +2 Seconds 10/2/10

· Tripod Capabilities

· Onboard White Balance

· Waterproof to 50 ft

· 16MP Built in Memory, Takes SD Cards to expand memory.

· Power Source: 2 triple A Batteries

· Time Stamp Options: Off/Date only/Date and Time

· Comes with software, hookup via USB 1.1

· Video/TV out supported-Via video out cable.

· Automatic power mode-Inca batteries life by auto-switching the camera power off.

· Auto Flash, Auto Flash with red-eye reduction, Slow Sync, fill-in Flash, Flash off, Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Tungsten, Sunset, Custom etc. ..

The SVP Digital Camera Review