Newbie question- waterproog camera bags?

(This is my first post on wetpixel)

I'm going on vacation next month, and may do some jetskiing and snorkeling. I'd like to take my Canon S110 (digital elph) on these trips, but don't have the water proof housing.

Can someone comment on whether waterproof camera bags work at all? I've seen them advertised on eBay,a nd am wondering if they are good enough for instances where I won't be going more than 2 feet below the surface.

Thanks

David

There have been prior discussions on these bags before. I would do a search and see what comes up, but the general consensus seems to be that they don't work and aren't work the money. Although, I've never tried one.

They work to some extent. I once left my camera bag lying the beech and the tide came in when I wasn't looking and started pulling my bag out with the tide. It kept the water out of the main pockets with the waterproof zipper. But hey, it was only in the water for a minute. I think these bags are more water resistant then water proof. I've never submerged mine in water to find out just how waterproof they are. I got mine off ebay and shipped from Europe, its made by Conico and I like it.

I think these bags are more water resistant then water proof.

This is the impression I've gotten from them as well. I'd imagine if you were just out in the surf you might fare better than if you're actually doing some diving/snorkeling .... there's something to be said about constantly flexing the seal on the bag versus having a hard body camera enclosure.

I've used one of the $20 eBay bags before with a point-and-shoot in a pool and had it work just fine. I got the bag for something to play around with, to use with a small Canon Powershot P&S model. I used to lifeguard at our town pool in high school and college, so I got it just for shooting underwater with my coworkers - nothing serious.

The main problem I had with the bag was that the circular black rubber area for the lens to go would shift and vignette on the lens. You had to be careful to center the lens on the port, otherwise you'd get black around the edges.

I'm a serious photographer who uses DSLRs and expensive lenses on a regular basis (topside, that is). So a $20 bag for my $150 point-and-shoot was fine with me; I wasn't particularly worried about breaking or losing the camera (I would have been bummed, but it wouldn't be like destroying my ONLY camera) and the loss would have been relatively minimal. If your P&S is your only camera, it might be a different situation for you.

If you DO go the bag approach, be sure to test your bag first by putting some paper towel in it, sealing it, and submerging it in a bucket of water. Squeeze the bag a bit and play around with it as if you were shooting. This isn't a foolproof test obviously, as you won't be simulating the pressure of being several feet below the surface, but it will at least give you some reassurance before putting your camera inside. Also, don't go deep with the bag at all. Its a good idea to know how deep you can dive and get yourself used to what pressure feels like underwater so you can be careful not to dive too deep with the bag. To be on the safe side with the bags, I'd only go about 60%-70% of the maximum depth rating.