Customer Reviews

DC DXG308U 3MP Digital Camera with Underwater Housing

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

After dropping a almost new Nikon Coolpix camera in the water and finding out the warranty does not cover water damage, I decided on a camera with a waterproof case. This is not the most sofisticated camera and at best it is mediocre. However, I am an avid boater around water all the time. I found out I have to have a waterproof camera. This camera definately is waterproof when in its case. It works perfectly and takes OK digital photos. I recommend this camera for those who need a waterproof environment. The price is right compared with the cost of just cases for other digital cameras. Read the manual and leave the front slide open when it is in the waterproof case. It shuts off automatically and starts after the push of a back button. I do not regret buying this camera.

I bought this camera to take with me when I kayak. I haven't been able to take it in the ocean yet, but I tested it in the pool, and it had no problems.I have only taken about 100 pictures with it so far with mixed results.I should first say that I am happy with it. The pictures I took outdoors in good light came out very good.Using the high res settings they had good color, were clear, sharp, and had no distortion.The clips I took using the movie mode, in good light, were reasonable, (better than I expected.) The pictures i took indoors using the flash were not as good, but still about what I expected.I knew they were not going to be as sharp as my Nikon, but I didn't want to take my Nikon in the ocean. I have a specific purpose in mind for this camera, and I think it going to be just fine for that purpose. For the money I think it is a fine sports, waterfront camera. I did find that it was dificult to get the focus right in macro mode. You have a very short depth of field,(about two inches), so keep within that range. I did get some nice pictures of a bee though, (and most cameras in this price range don't have a macro at all). I was very glad I could find a digital camera that was waterproof in this price range, and based on my tests, and my needs, it is just fine.