SeaLife Reefmaster DC250 Review

Good Points
Wide angle, fixed focus (less shutter lag) lens, robust housing, external accessory lens. Flash operation.

Bad Points
LCD screen too dark, battery life OK but not great.

General Comments
I previously used a Nikonos and bought this inexpensive SeaLife Reefmaster DC250 camera (less than $200 with case and close up lens) to try out digital photography underwater. This camera surprised me. On a 45 minute shallow dive I came back with six photos worth processing into 8 x 10 glossy prints (no discernible pixelation even though only 2.1 Mp). A much better ratio than I used to get with the Nikonons. It does well with close ups of 1 - 2 feet (buy the 3x macro lens) with the internal flash. Set the flash to fire all the time. For photos of larger subjects you will need an external flash and probably the wide angle lens. If you have an existing underwater flash with slave function (e.g. Nikonons 105, etc.) that will work fine. You won't be able to use the LCD display underwater (not bright enough) but the external cross-hair viewfinder works fine. The standard lens on this camera is a little bit wider than on the 3.3 Mp version. This is important underwater. I would take the wider lens' lower resolution CCD over the higher resolution CCD longer lens of the DC 300/310 camera, for underwater photography.