Snorkel Cameras Guide
Waterproof Digital Cameras
with Built-In Housings

Snorkel cameras with built-in waterproof housings are enticing because they are so simple. The camera is made waterproof from the very beginning. That means you don't have a separate camera that you have to stick into an underwater housing, each with their own price tags.

But keep in mind that these types of waterproof snorkel cameras still have little compartment doors (for access to batteries and memory cards), often more than one. And the waterproof seals on these tiny doors are very small and delicate (compared to a regular underwater housing). And if one fails, your camera is ruined. With my camera that has a see-through separate housing, it is very obvious if there is water leaking in. First, my lens and viewfinder screen will fog up because of the moisture. Next, I can start to see water inside, and since there is a space in the case around the camera, it may not immediately ruin the camera. Since I am snorkeling, and not diving, I would immediately lift the camera out of the water if this happened. But with a camera that has a built in case, you don't have this option.

These types of cameras can work well, but, as with all underwater cameras, you have to take very, very good care of their seals. It may only take a little tiny thread, hair, or piece of dirt, and your camera is soggy toast. For that reason they are not my top choice for a snorkel camera (I recommend only one currently in my snorkeling cameras buying guide). So I suggest when buying one of these cameras, buy a cheaper one, or even an older model.

Waterproof Snorkel Cameras

There are a variety of these types of cameras available in different price ranges.

Let's look at some of the popular models worth considering.

There are now tons of digital cameras available that are considered waterproof. Whether or not they are really suitable for snorkeling is the question. But just about every company has come out with their own version in the last year or two.

The two companies that have been doing these the longest are Pentax and Olympus.

Pentax for years now has brought out many waterproof cameras in their Pentax Optio W line of cameras, started with the Optio W10, then more followed along with the W20, W30, W40, W60, W80, W90 and most currently the OPTIO WG-1 that has a depth rating to 33 feet (fine for snorkeling, so long as you don't free dive beyond 33 feet). Earlier models did not go as deep. In addition to being waterproof these neat little cameras are very tough and shockproof. These are great little cameras that have a very solid feel to them.

Just released is the Pentax WG-1. This is the 12th generation of their waterproof cameras. It is a 14mp camera with that is shockproof, dustproof, coldproof, and waterproof down to 33 feet. It retains the LED lights that surround it's lens for macro pictures (from the W90). And it has a 28-140mm (35mm equivalent) zoom lens as well as HD movie mode and a 2.7" screen.

It is a neat looking camera though, and besides the normal wrist strap it also comes with a neat a neat carabiner strap.

Note: There is also a GPS version (WG-1s) of this camera available, if you feel you would like that option.

Olympus has also been at this for many years. They started with their Olympus Stylus SW series, including the Stylus 770 SW, 790 SW, 850 SW, 1030 SW, 1050 SW. Some of these even had a separate underwater housing available to make them able to go deeper. They have now moved into their TG series, with so many models available it is sort of crazy.

We recommend if you want one of these to focus on the ones that are rated to be the most waterproof, currently the 8010, and the soon to be released TG-8010.

Stylus Tough Series - both shock and waterproof in many current available models:

• Stylus Tough-3000 - 12mp, waterproof down to 10 feet with HD video.
• Stylus Tough - TG-310 - 14mp, waterproof to 10 feet with HD video.
• Stylus Tough-6020 - 14mp, waterproof to 16 feet and built in 1mb of memory, HD video.
• Stylus Tough TG-610 - 14mp, wide angle zoom, waterproof to 16 feet, HD video.
• Sylus Tough-8010 - waterproof down to 33 feet, with image stabilization, a bright screen, auto lens cover, good menu system, tap control technology, (you just have to tap the top or sides to do things), high definition video, 14mp, wide angle zoom lens, and built in 2mb of memory. Unfortunately it has fairly poor image quality, being very soft in the corners.
• Stylus Tough - TG-810 - waterproof to 33 feet, 14mp, wide angle lens, HD video, and an integrated GPS.

In late 2009 Fuji came out with their first waterproof camera, the Finepix Z33WP, and it kind of sucked. Although it felt nice in the hand, the image quality was terrible.

But in 2010 Fuji improved things, and came out with their first waterproof tough camera, the Fujifilm XP10. This appears to be a much better camera for the price than vs their first attempt, with a bit better image quality, and it got some pretty decent reviews. It is a 12 mp camera, 5x zoom lens, 2.7" LCD, shock proof, freeze proof, dust proof, water proof to 13 feet, and offers HD video.

Fuji recently added a new model, their Finepix XP30. This appears to be a big improvement over the XP10 for a couple of reasons. First it is waterproof to 16 feet, and second, they have added Image Stabilization, third, they expanded the zoom range, giving it a wide angle lens (about 28mm equivalent). They also bumped it to 14MP and added a GPS. I would definitely consider this one over the older XP10.

Carefully consider the very popular Powershot D10. This is truly an underwater camera. This is not as small a camera as some of the others on this page. It has a more substantial feel to it. Personally, when in the water I like that. It is a 12.1 mp camera, with optical image stabilization, and is waterproof down to 33 feet. Very notable is it's fast F2.8 lens, which is good for low light underwater photography. It offers standard video.

This camera reportedly has a very bright good screen, super fast startup and focusing and very low shutter lag. It has excellent high ISO performance (good up to 800 ISO) and a good menu system. But most important it offers the best image quality out of all of these cameras (sharpest lens). I have seen many excellent pictures that people have taken underwater with this camera.

I give a more complete review of the Canon D10 for snorkeling here.

Panasonic Waterproof Snorkel Cameras

Panasonic has now had four generations of the TS line of waterpoof and tough TS cameras.

The newest in the line is the DMC-TS3, their most full featured camera yet. It is waterproof down to 40 feet (the deepest rated camera on this page), is shock, dust, and freeze proof, has a zoom lens that offers a wide 28mm (35mm equivalent). It also has full HD video, at 1080P (most of the cameras on this page only offer 720p HD). It offers image stabilization. It also has an Altimeter, Depth Indicator, Compass, Barometer, and a GPS.

This camera has more features than any other on this page. It also costs more. At this price, I would seriously consider buying the optional Marine Case for it DMW-MCFT3 to protect your investment.

Panasonic also recently announced the new DMC-TS10. This is smaller and much less expensive than the TS3 (about half the price). It has 720P video, a max wide angle lens of 35mm, no GPS, is only waterproof to 10 feet, and does not have many of the gizmos.

Casio's first attempt in this realm is the Casio Ex-G1. This smart looking camera is super shock resistant and waterproof to 10 feet, and offers 12.1 mega pixels. It is the slimest of these cameras, and has a host of interesting features. It has a stainless steel body, you can add an external strap clip, and it will shoot 16:9 wide format movies. Casio has been building shock resistant watches and other electronics for a long time, so I bet this is one tough little camera.

So far I have seen good reviews of this camera (see amazon link below), but I did read that it takes a special tool to change the battery, which sounds a little silly.

Recently released is the Sony DSC-TX5. This is Sony's first "tough" waterproof digital camera and it has some very interesting features that may make it a winner.

First, it has a huge touch screen display that may be great for easier viewing underwater. It also removes a lot of buttons that they don't have to waterproof.

Next it has a 25mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle Carl Zeiss lens. Zeiss lenses are generally very sharp, and the extra wide angle lens could be very nice underwater.

It also has a CMOS sensor with a HD video mode.

It is also the smallest tough waterproof camera. But it is only waterproof down to 10 feet.

It has the unique Sony sweep mode, where you just push a button, sweep your camera across, and it stitches the image into a panoramic picture for you.

It gets great reviews.

There are also some cameras from the short past that have been popular that you might want to check out.

Sealife was making a very popular camera called the ReefMaster Mini and also marketing it in a lower rated body called the Sealife ECOshot. And Vivitar was marketing a version of the same camera called the Vivcam 6200 and then the Vivicam 8400. All of these are recently discontinued, but are still available at places like Amazon. It is probably good they are discontinued. We bought one and did not think much of it, and we have seen lots of reports of them flooding (probably mostly from operator error). Read our review of the Vivitar Vivicam 6200 here.

In 2011 SeaLife cameras announced a new version of this camera, the Mini II. It is waterproof to 130 feet, is 9mp, and uses two AAA batteries. It will be interesting to see if they have improved things over the original Mini.

Here are some useful reviews of snorkel cameras.

Do you know of a waterproof camera (built-in housing) that you would like to recommend? Share your experience, click below.

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