My new camera went swimming

[Sombeech]

Good thing it's waterproof, eh?

We took our boy to the Aquatic Center in Clearfield. They've got a lot of fun features for kids, a lot of water toys.

I wanted to test my waterproof camera out. I just got it Friday. Pentax Optio W30, for around $240

It's 7.1 MegaPixel, and movie mode is 640 X 480 at 30fps, pretty much camcorder quality.

Here's just a little footage from the 25 minutes of video I took yesterday.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjAv43zjZHA

[denaliguide]

amazing, i can't even see the barrel of the gun.

cute kid. getting them used to the water is so important. the kid is obviously fearless.

[LOAH]

Nice! I've got an Optio W20. I think it has the same functions, but is only WP to 5ft for 5 minutes.

Great video capabilities too, I've noticed. My biggest problem is getting them to upload to sites without the compression killing the picture. :ne_nau:

I'm sure you'll have fun with it. Good excuse to do more fishing, eh? :twisted:

[Sombeech]

Good excuse to do more fishing, eh? :twisted:

I thought it would be cool to put it in the water as somebody's reeling one in. Also, I could get downstream from some fish and film from behind them. I've seen some cool footage doing that.

[JP]

Great vid, he really likes the water, that has to be a HUGE plus. Keep on top of him with that :2thumbs: Daddy will have one awesome partner in the next couple of years :nod: I'm pretty impressed with that camera as well. What type of media is it taking?


Good excuse to do more fishing, eh? :twisted:
I just may have to pick one of those suckers up :2thumbs:

[Alex]

MOV sadly, mov gives good video quality, but a pain in the ass to work with if you are a PC user. I'd prefer avi or mpeg4

err you meant Media! It uses SD cards

[Sombeech]

MOV sadly, mov gives good video quality, but a pain in the ass to work with if you are a PC user. I'd prefer avi or mpeg4

err you meant Media! It uses SD cards

Yes, 2 downsides to the camera is the .MOV format and the special battery.

The camera did come with ACD software (the ACDSee suite) and it converts the .MOV to avi, mpg, or wmv very easily. It may be a free program for download as well.

I didn't see that any quality was lost during conversion.

the 2GB SD card holds about 30 minutes of video, and I've got a 4GB card on the way, I'm assuming will hold an hour.

[LOAH]

Dude, don't worry about that battery. It's awesome! It lasts a long, long, time. I take mine out into the cold (I try to keep it in my pocket for warmth) weekly and I'll go 2 or 3 weeks before thinking about the battery. When I start to worry, I try and drain the remaining energy by taking a bunch of pics with flash and red eye reduction (2 flashes...more energy) and it still takes me forever to drain it!

Once I can recharge it, it only takes about 2 hrs for the green light. :nod: I'm totally satisfied with the battery performance. Waaaaay better than AA.

My biggest gripe is that it doesn't have a lens cover. WTF? I keep mine in a microfiber bag, to prevent scratching, but when I'm catching a lot of fish, I'll just toss it in my pocket and that has scratched up the LCD screen pretty badly. Luckily the lens is fine. :eek2:

So be careful with the lens and all else should be fine. The LCD isn't so important. :haha:

Here are a couple of underwater videos I made recently with mine. It's sad how Photobucket shreds the quality. At home, it's a perfect image and a smooth frame rate. On PB, it looks like your typical compressed vid.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/th_IMGP1537.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/?action=view&current=IMGP1537.flv)

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/th_IMGP1540.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/?action=view&current=IMGP1540.flv)

Just like you said, sneak up and get footage. You'll find it's more exciting to see them swimming without a hook in their face. They just don't swim the same when they're captive. :lol8:

You'll convert to liking the battery, I think.

[jumar]

I've got one of the Pentax W cameras. I love it :2thumbs:

[Sombeech]

Here are a couple of underwater videos I made recently with mine. It's sad how Photobucket shreds the quality. At home, it's a perfect image and a smooth frame rate. On PB, it looks like your typical compressed vid.

Ah, sweet man. I'd love to get some footage while fishing. I already like the battery right now. I ordered a spare, and it should be easier to carry than 2 AA's.

On PB, did you upload them as .MOV files, or did you do any converting first? I wonder if YouTube would treat it better. I always load mine up as .wmv files, and convert to 320 X 240 before I upload them. That seems to help.

[SLCmntjunkie]

It may be too late if you ordered a spare, but I have a battery and charger for that camera I'll sell you real cheap. I had that camera and broke it last summer rock climbing.

I liked the pictures it took, wasn't great in low light though but most subcompact cameras I've used aren't.

[Alex]

SLCdude, how much do you want for it? I actually lost my charger and a battery. I have W10, I assume they are all the same voltage.

[jumar]

:blxsuspicious:
I lost my charger too.

[SLCmntjunkie]

SLCdude, how much do you want for it? I actually lost my charger and a battery. I have W10, I assume they are all the same voltage.

I'd take $10 for it, it's not doing me any good. I don't think it will work in the w10 though, I looked up the batteries and I think the w10 and w20 use a different battery.

[Alex]

Oh bummer, thanks for checking though man.

[jumar]

SLCdude, how much do you want for it? I actually lost my charger and a battery. I have W10, I assume they are all the same voltage.

I'd take $10 for it, it's not doing me any good. I don't think it will work in the w10 though, I looked up the batteries and I think the w10 and w20 use a different battery.
I should verify which I have. I thought I had the W10 and used a charger once for a W20...

[SLCmntjunkie]

I think the w10 and w20 use the same battery but it's different from the w30