Experiences with the Sea & Sea DX-8000G?

I was considering purchasing the Sea & Sea DX-8000G for my upcoming trip to the Galapagos. I'm an amateur photographer and currently own the Sea & Sea MX10.

I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with this camera and if they would recommend it.

Also, I'm wondering what other digital setups people might recommend for my level of photography.

I read the review on this site which gave some good information. I'm also looking to hear first hand experience of those who use it on a regular basis.

Thanks in advance.

Jason.

Hi Jason and welcome to Wetpixel.

What would you like to know that's not covered in the review - perhaps I can help.

Cheers

James

Hi James,

Thanks for the reply. I thought the review was informative, but it seemed it was based on a one-time use. I'm curious to here what amateur photographers that used it on a regular bases thought.

Although I'm only an amateur, I'd like to see samples of what a skilled photographer could take with this camera.

I see some of the amazing pictures that Alex Mustard takes and realize this camera has no comparison to his Nikon, but, it would be nice to see what it's capable of.

I can't afford to spend $10,000 on a setup, which I assume his Nikon setups cost, but wonder if I could spend say another $700/$1000, etc. that would give me a noticeable difference.

It's hard for me, an uninformed digital user, to know what's good/bad/etc. The 8000G is going to cost me around $1600 brand new for a complete setup, what would you recommend that might be comparable or better...

Thanks again for your reply...

Jason.

Hello Allen!

Some time ago I wouldn´t look at the sea&sea DX-8000G but a very, very fine photographer from Spain started to put some of the pictures he has taken with that camera and...

http://www.fotonatura.org/galerias/galeria...id_galeria=2199

The first 19 pics are with a sea&sea DX-8000G. He has managed to conect a nikon SB-105 strobe he had before. He has started to use the camera not too long ago and I haven´t seen any WA but these are great examples and I think is a good buy.

They have it here:

http://www.uwdigitalcamera.com/En/prod_04c...p?pathID=2_4_19

We have bought from this japanese site (we live in Europe) and they have always been perfect and reliable. The owner´s name is Yuzo

Camera+Housing+WA lens around 870 American dollars plus shipping

An strobe is strongly recommended!!!

Good luck and enjoy Galapagos!!!

Thanks for the link Davichin, that's exactly what I was looking for. Looks like some great possibilities...

I'll also check out that website and see what I can come up with. I'm in the US, so shipping might be pretty expensive.

And I definitely plan to enjoy the galapagos, I'll have to post some pictures on my website once I return.

-Jason.

Hi there! I've used the DX-3000G, DX-5000G and soon, the 8000G. If you search I have a couple blurbs ont the 5000G that I started using July (or so) of last year...

Here: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...9043&hl=dx-8000 and

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...7379&hl=dx-8000

That camera was exposed to moisture a couple weeks ago. Had lent it to a buddy for a Bahamas trip. It as in a dry bag that was not entirely dry when they had to make a swim for the boat after a trip ashore (it also was not in the housing).

Anyway, if you are used to the MX-10 the size and shape will be familiar to you. The size, by the way, is one of the reasons I use a small point and shoot. I also have a Rebel XT SLR but taing it underwater an expensive hobby I haven't talked myself into yet. The point-and-shoots are less cumbersome than a SLR housing and strobes and much less expensive, but you lose some control and quality I think. I have had good luck with the 3000 and 5000, though, and would recommend them. I also use the camera with the small, YS-25Auto strobe, which I would recommend. I'm not fond of the fibre optic stobe sync cable, though, as I have managed to break two of them. I think some of that is due to cold water making the plastic brittle and the fact that I'm probably not as gentle the thing as I could. I also have the wide angle lens. I like the WA lens but if you are into macro you might do without.

I have not tried the 8000G yet but I leave for Truk on Friday! Physically the 8000 is the same as the 5000 and the cameras themselves are very similar in function. The most notable difference I have found is that the 8000 camera does not do RAW (well kinda, it has a TIFF setting) but RAW on these cameras, even with a fast card, is very slow (15-20 seconds to write the file to a card). I tend to the highest quality JPG mode due to the speed.

By the way, the cameras in these housings are Ricoh cameras. The 8000G is the Caplio GX-8 camera, the 5000G the Caplio GX. I have found that the Ricoh cameras are not popular in the US and hard to find. Ebay will bring up some in the UK and Japan but very few in the US. If you should need to replace a camera it may be a challenge to find one (which is why I now have the 8000G!).

I have some shots online if you would like to look: http://dbeedle.com . All the UW shots are with the DX-3000G except the Tobormory shots. Those are the 5000G.

Back from Truk and my first time with the DX-8000. The camera seems to have an oddity or two. Shots, overall, seemed slgihtly overexposed to my eye. I took to dialing the compensation down a step or two. I also had some problems getting the external (slave) strobe to fire consistently. I was using the fibre cable sync cord but still had problems from time to time. It may be the cord or the housing. The new cord is the newer, thin cable that doesn't seem to transmit as much light. I also tried the older, thicker cable but the one I had had been broken and repaired. Could be the broken end wasn't transmitting the light as well as it could. In the housing, I had used black tape over the flash diffuser (built-in) to block more light and avoid scatter. I may try some foil on there to see if it helps.

Other than that the camera seemed to do pretty well for me. Had two close calls with some seepage into the housing (carelessness on my part) but no damage. A silica pack sucked up the drop or two of moisture that found it's way in. The camera did get warm enough to cause fog in the housing with the seepage (which is what I noticed first at about 60'. Nice.) and was noticabley warm when taken out of the housing. This was after being on for about 40 to 50 minutes.

Anyway, I got some shots online last night if you would like to see a sample! Clicking here should get ya there!

BTW, surface shots are a Digital Rebel. Underwater shots are the DX-8000.

Hi D and thanks for sharing your photos and experience w/ the 8000G

I noticed in one of your photos of the Hoki Maru that one of the divers is disturbing human remains. I may be out of line here, but I think that should be discouraged, not photographed.

Cheers

James

Hi D and thanks for sharing your photos and experience w/ the 8000G

 

I noticed in one of your photos of the Hoki Maru that one of the divers is disturbing human remains.  I may be out of line here, but I think that should be discouraged, not photographed.

 

Cheers

James

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Hi James. I would agree and wouldn't seek them out. Not my thing. In this case the fellow in the picture is one of the crew on the boat. It appears the skull is stashed on the wreck and they bring it our for us tourists, especially for folks with cameras. Probably not the best of practices but I did take the shot anyway so can't complain too loudly I guess. There is another shot with remains in the Shinkoku shots. Again, pre-arranged in a kind of still-life in the room. I didn't relize they were there until after looking at the shot topside on the computer (too dark in the room to see).

Back from Truk and my first time with the DX-8000.  The camera seems to have an oddity or two. Shots, overall, seemed slgihtly overexposed to my eye. I took to dialing the compensation down a step or two.

I think that your shots were taken shooting in automatic and only changing the compensation. You would get much better results (specially with cyans) shooting with that camera on manual...

Back from Truk and my first time with the DX-8000.  The camera seems to have an oddity or two. Shots, overall, seemed slgihtly overexposed to my eye. I took to dialing the compensation down a step or two. I also had some problems getting the external (slave) strobe to fire consistently.  I was using the fibre cable sync cord but still had problems from time to time. It may be the cord or the housing. The new cord is the newer, thin cable that doesn't seem to transmit as much light. I also tried the older, thicker cable but the one I had had been broken and repaired. Could be the broken end wasn't transmitting the light as well as it could. In the housing, I had used black tape over the flash diffuser (built-in) to block more light and avoid scatter. I may try some foil on there to see if it helps.

 

Other than that the camera seemed to do pretty well for me. Had two close calls with some seepage into the housing (carelessness on my part) but no damage. A silica pack sucked up the drop or two of moisture that found it's way in. The camera did get warm enough to cause fog in the housing with the seepage (which is what I noticed first at about 60'. Nice.) and was noticabley warm when taken out of the housing. This was after being on for about 40 to 50 minutes.

 

Anyway, I got some shots online last night if you would like to see a sample!  Clicking here should get ya there!

 

BTW, surface shots are a Digital Rebel. Underwater shots are the DX-8000.

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Hello I am new here and I use a g5000 w/ a ys-25 and I have to ask what type of batteries you are using. I had purchased a bunch of 2800mh rechargable batteries and had alot of problems with the strobe. Sea and sea recently posted a bulliten on there home page about these rechargable batteries actually having to high of volts 1.7 instead of 1.5 and the internal circuits only on the strobe get hot and shut down not allowing your strobe to fire. I went back to regular batteries for the strobe only and have not had any problems with the strobe going off. Hope this helps.

Ps. I have been using the g5000 for about a year and a half some of my shots are on my web site http://www.robertrothphotography.com My Webpage

Thanks for the tip on the batteries! I'll experiment with that. I did switch to a a high mAH battery a little while back (PowerEx, 2500 mAH I think). I'll try some others and see what happens!

This was my first underwater digital camera setup. Overall I am satisfied with it's performance, but I am a newbie.

I have been a little disappointed with DX-8000's battery life. I have used both alkaline AA batteries and rechargable NiMH AA batteries. (I have used a variety of the NiMH batteries, 2300, 2400, 2800, etc.)

Seems like the batteries need to changed every dive. The battery indicator will say "full" right up to the minute that the indicator says "REPLACE THE BATTERIES" and the camera shuts down.

No worries

You can find that bulliten on sea and sea's website and I would go there and read it for yourself. I still use the high mah batteries in the cammera just not in the strobe.

http://www.seaandsea.jp/press/releasenimhandoxy.html

Now as far as battery life remember I am still using the 5000 but I use energizer 2500 mah batteries and I get at least two dives 40-50 pic's each dive and still have plenty of battery to slide show the shots on the tv afterwords.

cheers