Customer Reviews

DicaPac WP310 160x105mm Medium Alfa Waterproof Digital Camera Case with Optical Lens (Clear)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

What a wonderful alternative to taking underwater pictures. I was looking into purchasing underwater housing case for my Sony Cybershot DSCW100 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3 x Optical Zoom which would of cost me almost $200 and I was also looking at underwater cameras which are way too expensive for me to consider. This is a terrific way to protect your camera from water, sand and even snow. I quickly tried it at home when I received it and YES BY GOLLY no water or moisture was inside the case! The optical lens sometimes does interfere with the camera's zooms lens. Check out the pictures I posted so you can see for yourself how crystal clear the pictures look. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Here is something I found that was helpful since the description does not list the camera's that are compatible:

DicaPac WP310 Case will fit the following brands:

CANON:
IXUS 970IS/960IS/950IS/900Ti/800IS/750/700/500/430
IXY 500/600/700/800IS/810IS/820IS/1000/2000IS
POWERSHOT SD 500/550/700IS/850IS/890IS/900/950IS/S500/410

CASIO:
Exlilim
QV-R 3/4/40/41/51/61
EX-Z 10/100/110/120/200

PENTEX:
Optio 30/50/60/330/430/300RS/430RS/E30/T30/X/S40/45/50/55/60

SONY:
CYBERSHOT DSC P100/120//150/200/W100/S800

I only listed a few of the camera brands but I was able to find the entire list on the company's website - which by the way sells the cases for much more than Amazon's price.

I ordered the DicaPac case DicaPac WP310 160x105mm Medium Alfa Waterproof Digital Camera Case with Optical Lens (Clear)to use with my Sony Cybershot DSC-P200, as I was going on a Caribbean cruise with a stop at Grand Cayman Island, known for great diving and snorkeling. I tested the pac in my kitchen sink, and was happy with the resulting photo I took of myself from underwater. I went ahead and snorkeled at Grand Cayman with my camera inside the DicaPac, taking a dozen pictures or so. The camera stayed well protected from moisture. However, it is not a snug fit inside the bag. You need to zoom out in order to avoid a black ring in your photos (from the optical lens ring). I was able to use the flash which helped greatly in photo quality underwater. I purchased this particular version because it was clear on the top side--I noticed another version had the dark band on top which would make seeing your top camera controls much more difficult. The bag floats, and I used the accompanying strap around my neck, which perhaps could have been a little longer, or it may have been better to wrap the strap around my wrist instead. Most of my pictures were just fine, considering it is quite difficult to remain still while snorkeling, and it was hard to see the camera screen through the bag and my fogging dive mask! I would recommend this as a cost effective way to get some underwater photos while snorkeling.

I agree with everything Lowell Carter said. I bought this for a Caribbean cruise and didnt want to spend $150 for a hard case. It fit the Canon Powershot SD890IS perfectly. The only gripe I have is being able to zoom...it's quite difficult with the Canon, but otherwise I'm really glad I bought this for our trip. it was great for the beach as well to simply keep sand out of the camera. you can just unscrew the lens cap to avoid any of the black rings being in your pics when you are on dry land.

Purchased to use with my Fuji F70 EXR P&S camera instead buying throwaway underwater cameras while in St. Thomas and Grand Turk (crystal clear water 30+ft).

Positives: 1) kept camera dry and 'no worries' there.
2) got some 'useable' images
3) lens did not appear to adversely affect the image quality. At surface of water or above water it worked well, so a good option for beach use.

Negatives: 1) hard to get the camera into the bag even though it was the 'recommended' size.
2) once in the bag, the camera moved around WAY too easily, which was a problem for zoom extension.
3) my camera forces a shutdown when zoom extends in the bag unless it is PERFECTLY aligned with the hole (not easy)
4) my camera could not be zoomed the full 10X while in the bag (even with the joke of an 'extension' they provide), but needed some zoom to avoid a
'round' image.
5) I could not see the LCD screen (too dark) while in the bag so I was shooting in the dark. This may be a function of the camera, I dunno.
6) no manual, no 'helpful hints'. Instructions poorly written (though I was able to figure it out, so...)

Conclusion: While you'd think that I'm very down on this bag, I think it could be made to work well enough. For me, I'd want to make a foam insert to align
my camera to the hole and to secure it in place. I'd need to play with it enough to figure out what setting(s) would work while using it. If
you need to change settings while using underwater, forget it unless they are button settings; very difficult to turn a 'wheel' of the
camera, and zooming is do-able but not easy. I do think I'd have liked the bag much better if I could have figured out what settings to use. For
1st time use, ok but disappointing. With experience and the right camera (hopefully that you know can take underwater images well) I'd say the
bag will work. Durability seems to be adequate but be careful, as you'd feel bad ruining a good camera!

Like many others, I bought this as an alternative to the disposable underwater cameras for a Caribbean cruise.
I pulled out an old Sony DSC-P200 for this.
It is definitely a better alternative than disposables as you can take a lot more quality pictures and videos.

Pro:
-Sound works.
-Pictures can be surprisingly sharp.

Cons:
-black ring around lens needs constant adjusting.
-the water is basically stopped by rolling an extended opening made out of a flimsy ziploc and held tight by a couple velcros. It works but barely, as I see little bits of water near the opening when I took the camera out. They should have at least a couple more higher quality ziplocs in there.
-sometimes it fogs up, but fogging happens to even hardcases. I fixed it with a couple of desiccant packs and avoiding abrupt temperature changes.
-water droplets accumulates on the outside when taken out of water, not so good when taking videos/pictures in and out of water. I don't think this can be helped.
-The user manual looks like they google translated korean into english. But google translate usually does a decent job anyways.
-turn wheel type controls and small buttons very hard to use. I was barely able to turn from picture mode to movie mode on my camera.

I'd definitely use it again and recommend this to my friends. I'll never go back to disposable cameras after this.

With a cruise planned and lots of water and sand I wanted an underwater camera. Searched the under $200 cameras and many of them leaked after a few uses and ruined the vaction pictures. My Sony Cybershot takes great pictures so I bought the DicaPac case. Other buyers of this type of case complained of the camera not being centered with the optical lens. My easy fix for this was to cut some foam from a pool swim noodle. I cut one piece that covers the left upper half of the camera and wraps down the left side. A second piece goes the length of the bottom. After only ten minutes I had the camera centered and the foam acts as a shock obsorber,protecting the camera. I kept the camera in the case while swimming and on the beach to keep sand out of the camera. Worked great. I was expecting OK pictures, but with a little work with a photo program they turned out way above expectations. I did an auto enhance and then ajusted the tint to get rid of the strange underwater color of the original pictures. The above water pictures were no different than with the case off. Just remember to check the lens for water drops and remove them. The case has more than payed for itself on just one vacation. (My case is the Dicapac WP310. If you go to the Dicapac website you can confirm that you are getting the proper case for your camera.)

I've tested this product by actually swimming with it in my pool and diving with it to about 10 - 12 ft. I threw it around the pool
and then after took it into the shower to simulate heavy rain :) The results: not one drop of water was in the case when I opened it :)

Pros:

1. Its cheap, compared to a true waterproof housing for a camera.
2. Provides excellent image quality.
3. It floats.

Cons:

1. The camera moves around inside the pouch. The problem with this is that the lens can easily move away from the center of the lens
extension tube. When that happens are you try to turn the camera on it will just shut back down because it won't be able to extend the lends.
Just make sure the lens in center of the tube before turn the camera on.

2. Even with the lens in the extension tube the camera still moves around inside the pouch.
If you are not careful holding the camera its very easy to block the flash either with your hand
or by the extension tube. When this happens your photos will turn out dark.

Even with these two issues, I would still highly recommended this product. You simple can't beat it for this price.

PS There are different sizes of this product for different cameras. You have to go to their website and find which
model fits your specific camera.

I had a vacation planned for St. John - a snorkler's paradise - and wanted a way to use my Canon PowerShot underwater. But I balked at the price of the official Canon underwater case - $140?! The DicaPac is a fraction of the cost and it worked beautifully. The bag is triple sealed: first there is a ziplock-style closure, then you tightly roll the end portion and velcro it down, and finally a large velcro seal closes everything up. It never let in a drop of water. It was easy to turn the camera on and off. A few times I had problems with the mode-selection wheel; I would accidentally bump it while swimming and knock into video mode. But once I realized this, I just made sure to check the wheel before taking a picture. Other reviews complained about black rings in their photos, but I only had this problem 3 or 4 times (out of 300+ photos). Turn the camera on, flip it around to make sure the lens is centered in the window, and you're good to go. I used the DicaPac every day for 7 straight days (at least 12 total hours of underwater use) and I was thrilled with the results. Highly recommended.

I took this snorkeling and kayaking with my Canon S95.

The s95 is a little loose in there, and probably 80% of the time the lens will be blocked from extruding (and then you get an "error" on your camera). So you have to just make sure the lens is really centered when you turn on the camera. But I found I missed a ton of cool shots of swimming fish because it takes about 10 seconds for you to fidget with the lens and get it turned on, and by then the moment's gone.

Oh, another problem is that you can see the edge of the bag when your camera isn't centrally positioned. So I had to crop many of my images to remove the corners.

Sometimes I'd want to switch to video mode... the bag is loose enough that you can manage to adjust the dials, so that's good though. But the s95 has a manual focus ring as well for adjusting focal length - that is tougher to turn in the bag so I usually just set it at the widest lens and left it.

There's a useful neckstrap that keeps the camera on you.

I also took this kayaking, and it protected my camera easily. I would actually take it out of the bag at times, and put it back in when there was more risk of water damage. So, I found this sort of doubled up as a "dry bag" for my camera, in addition to being an underwater protector. That's pretty great... If you think about it, you wouldn't necessarily want to put your camera in underwater casing for a kayak or boating trip, since most of the time you don't get wet and especially once you get off to hike around various locales. In that scenario, you'd want a dry bag... so this was great.

I was pleased though to find that the central viewport area is hard plastic (or glass). So it's easier to wipe and clearer in quality.

My dad has one of these and he must have punctured it while sailing, but he complained about a hole. I think Dicapac will replace yours if there is a hole, as they instruct you to test the bag upon initial purchase. I just put some dry tissue papers in and put the bag in a sink to test it.

For S95 owners, there is also another dicapac bag you can try out. Dicapac 570. There's a blogpost talking about that one here [...], but I couldn't find that one on Amazon so I went with the 310. The tradeoff with the 570 is that it's a bit too big for the camera, although the lens element fits tighter so you may not have issues with keeping the lens centered.

All in all, despite the negatives, this was still a great product especially for the price.

Bought to go whitewater rafting with for a Casio Exilim camera. Unfortunately I never seriously considered using it once I realized that pics would be vignetted into circular shapes due to the design of the lens shroud. Maybe it works fine if you can accept that but I can't. Maybe I should have read more of the reviews on this but it was a last minute rush before leaving for the trip. Get yourself a waterproof disposable film camera instead, or just get a waterproof bag and remove your camera when you have a 'dry moment' to take some snaps.