Customer Reviews

UNDERWATER WATERPROOF CASE FOR FUJI FINEPIX A330 A310 F11 F20 F30 COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS

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I give this product 1 star because there is no option for 0! DO NOT BUY THIS CASE!

I bought this case to take on a trip to Hawaii. I'd been before and knew I'd see a lot of beautiful fish while snorkeling and wanted to catch it properly. Earlier in the day, while walking on the beach, my bag was swamped by a rouge wave and ruined my other camera. Disappointing, I thought, but at least I had my other camera and a nifty waterproof case to go with it.

We decided to go snorkeling. I loaded the camera into the case, checking and rechecking the seal to be sure it was tight. (I had tested it before we left for our vacation.)

15 minutes into the snorkeling venture, I noticed a drop of moisture on the camera. Just condensation, I thought. 5 minutes later, there was a teaspoon of water in the case. I tried to make it to the shore to stem the flow of water and save my camera, but it is well and truly dead. Nothing more than a paperweight.

If you actually want underwater pictures, I recommend getting either an underwater camera, or a hard case. DO NOT BUY THIS CASE!

I've had the camera case for some time now. Not sure if this is the same model or not but it looks fine and fits the camera zoom only with the ring extension. The review should apply to multiple models - just make sure the one you get fits your camera with the zoom extended.

The case is indeed waterproof for shallow water or splashes. With some care one can use all buttons and all on the camera but it is very tricky and you need to be without gloves for sure (gloves would work on the release button but not on the dial button which is fairly flat and you need a nail to move it thru the case).

The clear lens area is of high quality and good optically.

Major drawback is that the camera does not center automatically in the case as this is basically a thick zip-lock bag with a hard lens cover. You need to put some foam padding or wiggle it about to achieve good centering. If not well centered, there are black areas on the image and the zoom can potentially jam too!

IQ thru the glass (plastic really) is very good - I see no degradation in sharpness on a casual observation but I'm sure there will be more reflections or contrast loss in some conditions compared to not using a case.

The case with some air in it floats with the camera. But to make sure it stays above water, add some foam inside. This also helps lock the camera in position for the xoom to be centered. Can also put a 3" section of a pool toy on the strap for added flotation.

Anyway, due to the inconvenience of added bulk, hard access to the mode selection control, and the need to carefully center the camera, I have not used the case as much as I would have used a caseless waterproof compact camera. A dedicated hard-shell case would be much more functional but costs more. At the end, I'm still debating if I would want to buy a waterproof camera such as the Olympus new (as of January 2009) "TOUGH" series or the Pentax W60 or get the $150 or so hard shell case for the F30 and enjoy the much supperior IQ of the Fuji at the expense of bulk. I personally could not live with the Oly or Pentax IQ for general purpose photography. But they are indeed pocketable and rugged enough for shallow water use without a case. IQ (especially on the Olympus) is sub-par and high ISO is very poor on both Oly and Pentax models. But the chance of using the small case-free camera is much higher so the decision is not an easy one (a poor shot is often better than none). For deep water - no question: get the hard case for the Fuji. For kayaking or snow or sand - the case-free cameras would be much prefereable if one can live with the IQ (soft, noisy). But the zoom range of the Pentax W60 is very appealing too: 28-140mm is much more useful than the Fuji's limited wide angle.

Back to the case - worth the $20-$30 if you do not consider it probably costs only a couple of dollars to produce. But only if you use it infrequently and do not plan on fiddling with controls much or take it too deep.