California Diving News - Product Review: Sea & Sea DX3000 Digital Underwater Camera

Secret of this system is the perfect marriage of the right camera with a well designed versatile housing.
Photo courtesy Sea & Sea.

Sea & Sea DX3000 Digital Underwater Camera System

Let me say right out of the gate this camera is a sheer delight to use. As a professional underwater photographer, I use a high-end housed camera for my work. I expect, and usually get, good results. Because I am accustomed to my expensive and elaborate rig, and the results it delivers, I am reluctant to try anything that might be “point-n-shoot.”

But with a name like Sea & Sea behind this product, I knew it deserved a try. I was not just pleasantly surprised—I was nearly in shock at the high quality images it delivered.

Bat ray photo taken by 13 year old Eric Sheckler— first try with the DX3000

I first I carried the camera around as a back-up in my BC pocket while I went about my normal underwater photographic routine with my big rig. Some dive I would get around to using it, I figured. Sure enough, the batteries eventually went dead on the monster and I pulled out the DX3000 when I spotted a nurse shark while diving off Fort Lauderdale. I snapped away — not bad considering I had only cracked the instruction book enough to learn how to put in the batteries and turn it on. The shark images looked good on the bright screen easily viewed on the back of the camera, especially clear with a clever shade attachment. But would the images hold up under the scrutiny of my 21" computer monitor back in the office? Wow! They did and then some.

Secret of this system is the perfect marriage of the right camera with a well designed versatile housing. The camera is a highly compact Ricoh Capilio RR30 digital. Resolution is a high 3.24 mega pixels which will easily give you excellent quality 8 X 10 prints. Most of the controls and features are pretty much standard to any good quality compact digital camera — but there are a few features that set this camera apart. What makes this camera special is its especially high mega pixel rating and the controls are more intuitive, easier to learn. The learning curve on this camera is very short. My 13 year old son picked this camera up and was taking great shots underwater in one dive. I have heard similar reports from other users.

Also, the auto focus and shutter are fast. There is little “shutter lag” (the time between pushing the shutter button and when the actual image is taken). And the lens is versatile, equivalent 35-105mm in 35mm film camera format. But more important is the built in macro feature that allows the camera to auto-focus with about 2 inches (they advertise less, but I couldn’t do it).

The camera comes with internal memory for photo storage (expandable with a SD card) and an easy to use USB connection for downloading images to your computer (software include; Mac or PC compatible).

Part two of this great marriage is a well designed housing. Every control on the camera is available through the housing. There is, however, one extra control on the front. It is known as the “flash shutter.” If you are using an additional flash, the flash on the camera might overexpose or ad undesirable lighting to your subject. The “flash shutter” give you control over this problem. The camera is decidedly simple to install and remove as is the hinged door to open and latch shut.

And this camera will grow with you. It is a great system just the camera and housing alone but because the housing was built by Sea & Sea they made much of their line of accessories usable on this system for further enhancement. You can add a Sea & Sea digital flash with fiber optic sync cord, or accessory lenses that can be changed underwater for more dramatic wide-angle shots.

For more information on the Sea & Sea DX3000 camera, accessories, or the full line of Sea & Sea underwater imaging equipment, visit www.seaandsea.com on the web.