bgrier
on - last edited on by
ElizabethS
This time, I'm going to talk about taking the unit under water, since we're in Maui and snorkeling is one of the prime tourist activities on the island. And since the camera is waterproof, I thought I'd put it to the test.
Background
Panasonic created the Lumix DMC-TS2 rugged compact camera as an upgrade to a previous model. The TS2 has a tougher body that's dustproof, waterproof, shockproof against a drop of up to 2m, and can handle temperatures down to -10°C. Though I did have some challenges up on a dormant volcano at 10,000ft, at +4°C and a 70mph wind...though that's to be discussed in an upcoming post.
Technically, it's got a 14 MP sensor, 2.7 inch LCD. The built in lens system starts at 28mm and zooms in to 128mm and supports Panasonics excellent image stabalization.
The camera is rated for 10 meters depth, though I'd not taken it down that far. The two doors (cable interfaces and battery / SD card door) have compression rubber seals and safety locks to protect the sensitive electronics from harsh salt water. As well, it has a spongy opaque white rubber sleeve that makes gripping the camera much easier in water, and protects the camera body from bumps and scrapes on rocks, etc.
It's all wet, and that's a good thing.
Panasonic wants this camera to last. We took it on 8 or 9 dives, and a very wet cruise to one of the other islands. Every time I selected a 'water' mode from the camera settings, I was reminded to check the doors for sand, grit, hair and any other thing that could cause water to leak in past the seal.
Now, a note about the onboard camera settings - they rock. For underwater photography, or beach photography, you simply set the rotary selector dial to the Palm Tree setting (which kinda makes sense). The camera then compensates for over-bright sun and sand, as well as understanding underwater challenges such as severe light reduction as you go deeper.
And in my case, light was an issue. After taking the camera out for a couple of, uh, dives? snorkels? what do you call it?? it seemed that unless day was cloudless and the sun quite bright, setting the onboard flash to 'forced on' mode was the only way to get properly illuminated images below a couple of feet.
Also, water clarity is always an issue. On days when the wave action stirred up silt and sand, any sea life was easily hidden in the murk. But on very clear days, both no cloud and no silt, the images and videos produced by this camera were very very good.
And yes, the camera does do under water movies too. Here's one I shot when I encountered a Green Sea Turtle. The hissing/crackling sound you hear is the sound of nearby fish grazing on the coral.
The one gripe I have with the camera is that it does take a lot of practice to handle well under water. Besides breathing and swimming, not something this prairie boy does regularly, now I had to concern myself with that off-centre lens housing (fingers on my left hand kept getting into the shot) and trying to keep my subject centered in the frame -- the display screen wasn't easy to view through water and a diving mask - there were some weird refraction effects that kept me from viewing the screen clearly. A simple plastic clip-on gunsight style viewfinder would have helped.
Finally, the camera's cleanup after a swim is really quite easy. Just soak the camera and the protective rubber case in fresh water for about 10 minutes, and let it air dry. That's it.
But the proof really is in the image produced, so rather than include everything I've shot with this camera, I've posted a few more shots here as a flickr set. Take a look and let me know what you think.
