TG-2 Underwater Results

Bought this cam in advance of a 2 week holiday in Sharm El Sheikh, knowing that a couple of snorkelling sessions would be on the cards and wanted something that would resolve a reasonable amount of detail and reproduce decent colours without having to rework every single shot.

Prior to using the cam i was a bit apprehensive having read some of the posts regarding lens / monitor fogging once submerged in water and the 'non-ruggedness' experiences of a few others. So prior to departing the UK i made sure that a 32gb SD card was inserted and the battery was fully charged to avoid the need to open any of the seals whilst on holiday - although i did remove the SD card to download pics to iPad.

Anyway the cam performed superbly well - snapshots were great with enough detail to keep me more than happy (i'm a Nikon dSLR user with D3, D300 & D7100 cams) - not matching the slr quality but certainly good enough to make small prints if needed and for reviewing photos of a lovely holiday.

Even though i did open the SD door to remove the card - i still had no fogging issues the next time i used the camera under water. All of that said, the one thing that i did find particularly poor was the monitor when using the cam in bright sunlight - its almost unusable. For the underwater shots i found that i got my best results using the full program auto along with the underwater mode 2 and snapshot scene modes. Auto white balance seemed to do a pretty good job..

Here are a few of the underwater shots i managed from my trip - the location varied between approx 15 - 30 foot deep and light was variable based on the different depths of the sea bed / coral reef

Hope anyone considering this cam for underwater shots finds this useful 

Which photo is taken 30 foot deep?
Are photos SOOC or are they post processed?

I feel you have succeeded because you had a good idea as to what to expect to begin with.

I don't have any water-proof camera - but I do remember camera manuals that told you how and when fogging would occur (C-750UZ for one).

Your pictures are certainly much better than some of the first under-water attempts that we get to see here.

Henry

Not bad, but for underwater use I still prefer Panasonic TS cameras. My latest photos from Egypt, taken (while snorkeling and freediving up to 14 meters deep) with TS5(FT5) camera: http://www.flickr.com/photos/primozp/sets/72157634991006211/

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52064170

I don't think the camera makes a lot of difference. Plus for advanced uw photography the olympus is a better system (uw housing, lens adapter, flash).

You seem to be a very able uw photographer. You have some very nice and well composed shots

That's no to say OP's pictures are not very nice too!

primozp wrote:

Not bad, but for underwater use I still prefer Panasonic TS cameras. My latest photos from Egypt, taken (while snorkeling and freediving up to 14 meters deep) with TS5(FT5) camera: http://www.flickr.com/photos/primozp/sets/72157634991006211/

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52064170

Nice job Derek, the photos are beautiful! If I may plz. and as an aside to Dereks thread I thought it appropriate to add some additional insight to the use of the TG-2 underwater for those who might also be considering it for the same purpose.

I bought a TG-2 also for the 2014 spring Florida trip with my wife and have been quite impressed with the quality of the photos. With regard to the soundness of the seals around the two doors on the camera, I'm convinced that like any surface that undergoes wear with use over time that those surfaces will become compromised with use over time in the same way an "o" ring will if allowed to become dry with use and deteriorate. I decided I'd plan to use the lightest coating of vaseline on those side door seal surfaces before exposure to saltwater and by using an 8 gb, "Eye Fi" WiFI memory card sync'ed with my cell phone for near instantaneous download of photos to the cell phones 32gb data card; charging the battery thru the supplied USB cable to minimize the number of times any of those doors need to be opened or closed seemed to be the last of the 3 protective measures I'd need to insure no water problems with the camera. I also figured that if I know I'm done using the camera by the water THEN I'll open the doors and remove the vaseline coating and any other debris that may have collected around the door seals with a tissue very carefully and call it good. Yea, I know the manual doesn't recommend it but common sense would seem to suggest otherwise with a good work around since I know Olympus doesn't want any sand to accumulate on the seals and cause abrading of those door seals with use. Would seem to me that if you eliminate the need to get into those areas after sealing the surfaces by addressing the reasons to get into the doors to begin with then you've basically averted the potential problems if dealt with the way I'm planning to.

BTW the "Eye Fi" WiFi cards work very well with this camera! I've been using one for weeks since I purchased the camera and it really rocks! You can take all the pictures you want and they'll be automatically dumped to your cell phone, if it's with you, immediately if set up to sync that way. Really eliminates the need for a larger camera memory card to dump to a computer when time permits. Seriously considering bringing an Ipod 160gb "classic" to dump the photos to instead of using multiple cards.

Hope this helps anybody else who may be giving any thought to doing any water work with the TG-2; it be a shame to have the opportunity and not take a few shots with an extraordinary utility camera like this one!

Thank you for posting. It helped me decide on the product. The TG-2 has 1080p video my old WG60 Pentax does not have, and it appears the faster lens will help.

I have figured issues that bothered me at first. One is delay for next shot with image playback on screen but quick 1/2 press gets the camera ready to shoot faster. That didn't see so obvious or deliberate with my other p+s cameras.

The other issue is a rethought on the proprietary cable and charger. I see how it can spare frequent opening the other door for battery and memory card if you transfer images that way, and it also hast he option to charge the camera.

Thanks again.