DXG-U579VS $US150 Waterproof HD Camcorder Review

This is one of the worst waterproof cameras I have ever used, even if its the cheapest and does 720p video. Maybe you can recommend it to a merman you hate?

Price
$US150

Waterproofness
Because it lives in its own magic bubble housing, its good for 4.5 metres. That’s good, but not great. The Canon D10 is good for 9 metres, and most other waterproof cameras are good for this depth without a housing.

The Photos
I won’t go too in depth here as the photos speak for themselves:

Barfy colour, contrast and grain. It’s really a video camera that can record at 1280×720 (or, 720p) at 30 frames per second in h.264. There’s 4X zoom, and it starts fairly zoomed in, making me wish it had image stabilisation. It has an LED for lighting videos, though. The stills were 5MP, for whatever that’s worth.

The Designs
Inside of its case, you can’t do much. You can’t power it down and up, either, so I ended up getting a bit of moisture in the case. No biggie, since its no loss if this thing drowns. Oh, you know what else is terrible? The thing is, like many camcorder housings, permanently stuck in a flipped out screen position, so packing this thing is a chore.

720p video

Cheap, but only a few bucks less than the much nicer Fuji Waterproof. So…

External housing

Worst images of any underwater camera

Not very waterproof considering the bulky housing

[DXG]

Summermodo is a chance for Giz to get outside and test our gear where it belongs.