DC DXG308U 3MP Digital Camera with Underwater Housing

by DXG

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 3.5 x 2.4 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002DUURS
• Item model number: DXG-308U
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,756 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 4, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Up to 6.6, down to 16.4 (feet that is). The new DXG-308U digital underwater camera is designed for outstanding aquatic photography up to 6.6 megapixels and at depths up to five meters! Perfect for boaters, bathers, snorkelers, waders, kayakers, canoers, beachgoers and a variety of other outdoor activities.

Product Description

The DXG-308U Digital Camera is for people who want to capture those amazing moments in life, whether they're at home, outdoors or under the waves. This compact, sturdy camera features a special underwater housing -- allowing you to take great-looking photos in up to 15 feet of water. 16MB internal memory Flash Modes - Auto, Off, Red Eye Reduction White Balance modes - Auto, Sunny, Self-Timer with 10 second delay Special underwater housing made from polycarbonate and non-corrosive stainless steel; Double-seal gasket and quick-latching blade USB 1.1 compatible & NTSC/PAL TV Out Stores directly to SD/MMC Card (supports up to 512MB card) Waterproof Depth - Up to 15 feet (5 meters) Powered by 5V USB or 2 AA batteries Requires PC running Windows XP/2000/Me/98SE & HDD with 10MB free Dimensions - 5.1 x 3.5 x 2.4 (130 x 90 x 60 mm) Weight - 0.77 lbs. (350g) with batteries Box includes - USB cable, TV Output cable, wrist strap, camera pouch, software, user manuals

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay for the price if you read the manual first, March 21, 2005

By 

V. Lee - See all my reviews
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This review is from: DC DXG308U 3MP Digital Camera with Underwater Housing (Electronics)

Considering the dirt-cheap price, this is an okay vacation or backup camera, especially considering that the whole thing is a lot less than an underwater housing alone for any other camera.

At first, I was pretty disturbed by the fuzzy shots I was taking, until I played around with the camera and its settings a bit and READ THE MANUAL.

The first thing to realize is that the camera appears to be fixed-focus. Anything you take in normal mode has to be at least 4 feet away or it will be fuzzy. If the thing you're pointing at appears fuzzy but the background is not, it's not because the camera is focusing on the wrong thing; it's because you're pointing at something too close. If you back off a bit and use a little digital zoom instead, the final picture will be better.

As mentioned by some others, this camera also has a pretty slow exposure time, especially indoors. The problem is that it has a sensitivity of only IS0 100, but its automatic flash does not come on except in very low light and there is no way to force the flash on. It puts up a "hand" icon if it is too dark to take a freehand shot and you need to steady the camera on a tripod or by leaning against something. Pay attention to the icon, because if you ignore this, you will get a fuzzy shot every time.

It's a shame the makers of the camera didn't design the flash to properly come on whenever it's too dark for a handheld shot. If they had that, it would take much better indoor pictures and I'd give this camera a 4-star rating. As now, I'm still glad I bought it, as now I have a camera I can take to beach, camping, etc without having to worry about it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Returned for refund (revised review), October 7, 2005

By 

J. Donaldson "Cal-diver" (Redding, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DC DXG308U 3MP Digital Camera with Underwater Housing (Electronics)

My expectations were a bit low after reading reviews on this little camera. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived yesterday and I got a chance to check it out. You have to realize you get a nice underwater housing AND a 3MP camera for $106 shipped in 3-5 days. This camera actually takes pretty good photos for its price. I was looking for something to replace the throw-away underwater cameras we've used so often... that always produce disappointing photos. The quality of the photos off the 308U are much better and I'm happy with them.

This camera has an amazing set of features for the price. A nice LCD display, continuous digital zoom out to 4x, date stamp on the picture if you want it, auto or selected light balance, choices of resolution (don't use the highest interpolated 6.6MP level), 12fps video with playback. How did they cram so much into this little thing for such a small price?

The case is good quality. Although I haven't tested it underwater yet but I expect it will perform to 15' as advertized.

On the down side the shutter lag is very long, perhaps 2 seconds or longer. Taking photos of moving subjects, like fish, is going to be a challenge. Its easy to get blurred photos due to the shutter lag. It is easy to push the shutter button and not keep the camera steady until the photo is actually captured 2-3 seconds later. If you just hold still until the photo is captured it works fine. The flash has only one brightness level so if you take a flash photo of something less than about 4' away the whole picture will be mostly white. However if you flash a subject 10' feet away it works well.

I stuck a 128M SD card into it and was able to fit 206 photos on the card using the second highest (3MP) level. I took all those photos, about 20 more with flash, and a couple of 10 second videos, all on the included AA batteries and only used about 1/3 of the battery power. A couple of high power NiMh rechargables should get 300 or more photos on a set of batteries.

Mind you these photos are not going to win you any photo contests but as a point and shoot, with an underwater housing, LCD screen, flash, and video (no sound), this camera more than meets my needs for the intended purpose. This would not be my only camera if I only could have one. But for boating, and snorkeling it will allow me to leave my much more expensive camera at home.

UPDATE: Sadly I just couldn't get this camera to produce reasonable photos. After a great start it let me down. I have returned it to Amazon and now use disposable cameras which aren't too great either but better than this little disappointment.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok only if you want an underwater camera, September 18, 2004

By 

Kenneth H. Sutherland (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DC DXG308U 3MP Digital Camera with Underwater Housing (Electronics)

The camera with the "U" designation is really the only thing that makes this camera worth it. Otherwise it would be a substandard 3 megapixel camera with fair optics, slow startup and picture-taking response time, hard to handle, battery-eating import. With the 'U' it comes with a waterproof enclosure that works down to around 15 feet (i've had mine in a foot and seemed ok).

If you're looking for daytime outdoor watersport photos, it'll do, and for around $100 and some change, it's worth it. Don't use the flash with the underwater housing or you'll get a glare in the same spot in every picture. I bought this for times when i couldn't take my good camera out (rain, kayaking etc). And for this, it's a decent camera. It doesn't deliver 3MP, more like a 1.2, even though the literature says it's software delivers 6MP interpolated. Yah, right. But if you're after internet shots or 4x6 final prints, you should be happy, with one caveat: It requires a steady hand in anything but day-bright light. It seems to take the picture about the time you release (not depress) the button, so be aware that it's so slow that you may have moved on to the next shot, but the camera's still working. To take a shot, depress the button halfway, tell everyone to say cheese, depress the button fully and then slowly remove your finger. By the time you hear the 2nd beep, you should've gotten a good shot. After this it still takes 6 - 7 seconds processing time so don't expect to snag the action shots!

Also, buy an SD card as it only has a little bit of memory internally and you're gonna go thru batteries (but only uses 2 AA), so get a charger too.