Smallest underwater housings

Howdy,

I'm looking for the smallest, most compact underwater housings that I can find for a new digital ultra-compact camera. The cameras that I am currently leaning toward are the Canon SD300, the Sony DSC-T1, Casio Exilim, Nikon Coolpix 3700, and Olympus Verve - with the Canon at the head of the pack.

My particular need is for a very small housing to use while surfing - so fitting in the pocket of my trunks is a key criterion. I don't necessarily need 30-40 meters of waterproof capability the way most of you divers do - the 3 meters often available should be sufficient unless you feel that the these types of housings are flimsy. I don't want to buy a super small camera only to find out that the housing is very bulky and that I might have been better off with a bigger camera with a more svelte housing.

The Canon seems to have the best combination of strong reviews and minute size. My guess is that the Canon case would also be small, but am hoping to verify that before I shell out $550+ for the combination. If any of you have any resources that list comparative housing dimensions or if you have experience with any of them, I would greatly appreciate any assistance that you might be able to offer.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Regars,

Erik

If you looking for the size go to digideep, most if not all the housing are list there with some information about each of them and compare.

Thank you for the link, but I had already checked there. Their information does not seem to have been updated in several instances. They list no housings yet for the Canon SD300, the Casio Exilim ex-Z55 or the Stylus Verve, but other sites or people I've spoken to say that they al exist (though dimensions are difficult to find in many cases). They also list the Nikon coolpix 3700 as fitting into the Fatasea CP-3.7, but don't list specifications and the Fantasea website doesn't list it among their offerings. A bit confusing...

I was hoping that some folks might have first hand experience with some of these: seen, felt, even used them. Local retailers haven't had much information available and even manufacturers websites are spotty.

Thanks,

Erik

The Canon S500 or S400 have small housings. As far as the SD300, the camera is too new.

Don't bother with the Stylus Verve. The housing is only good for 2-3 meters.

Would you happen to know the dimensions of the the housing for the Canon S500 (Elph)? Digideep doesn't list them - nor does Canon's website. The SD300 does have a housing -- the AW-DC30 -- but it is only rated to 3 meters.

Again, I am using this only for surfing, so 3 meters may be sufficient. I'm just wondering if anyone has any reports on durability for the 3 meter underwater housings. Carrying it in a pocket in my surf trunks, it may get bumped occassionally. Are these shallow water housings fairly durable?

Thank you,

Erik

A Nikonos V is very compact and moderately rugged ... it's a FILM camera, of course, but they can be picked up used with the 35 mm lens for about what the cameras you are considering cost (and they need no housing!).

You will want a longer lens than 35mm for surfing, IMO. I have used the Canon surfing and it's great. I have the S400 and housing and would say that it would barely fit in a board-shorts pocket. The S300 will be about the same size. I'm not sure that ANY of them would though - maybe a Pentax Optio/Casion Exslim

Cheers

James

IMHO I believe that going the Nikonos V route might be a mistake. I have used a couple of them UW for years and although the body is built like a tank, I always felt that the lens to body attachement was a bit of a weak link (especially with a larger lens). I'm not sure that it would stand up to pounding in the surf. It's also a bit more maintenance intensive and would probably require you to pre-focus depending on what you were shooting.

Thanks, James. It looks like the housing for the Canon S400 (WP-DC800) is 130.8 mm x 90.6 mm x 83.0 mm. (It is a full underwater housing rated to 40 meters.)

The housing for the SD300 (AW-DC30) is 117.1 mm x 72.8 mm x 56.7 mm. This is only an all-weather housing that is rated to 3 meters (just shy of 10 feet). The thinner depth of this case may make it small enough to squeeze into board-shorts. I doubt that it would get submerged deeper than ten feet, so I'm leaning in this direction. I've never seen the All Weather housing (3m) vs. the Under Water housings (30m-40m), so I'm not sure if they have durability shortcomings compared to their greater depth siblings. I don't expect to be very rough with it, but sometimes one doesn't have complete control - the ocean is usually the boss.

Has anyone used both?

Thanks.

If small and shallow are good

http://www.ewa-marine.de/english/cameras/e-dli2.htm

like James said on the optio/exilim. I had an ewa marine bag

for a mavica back in 99 and it worked well for me near the

surface.

You could also look into getting shorts with a different pocket

http://tinyurl.com/5qqkt

and just pick whatever camera is on sale. (Of course I'd be careful with shorts that have installation instructions.)

ROFL Dan.

Another thing to consider is that it's not really the depth rating that you care about, it's the toughness. When you get slammed by waves, the overpressure created could EASILY be more than a 10 foot deep dunk. I would NOT recommend a housing only rated for 3m.

Cheers

James

Thanks, Dan - those shorts are good comedy. I might be able to take lunch AND a couple of Bohemia out next time with those babies.

I appreciate the feedback everyone. We'll see how it all pans out...

Cheers,

Erik