It's a great time to be in the market for underwater cameras. Because so many people have good cell phone cameras, camera manufacturers have had to step up their game and offer point-and-shoots with more functionality than the phones that everybody already has in their pockets. Underwater/shock-proof/dust-proof/freeze-proof cameras are for those times when we're having fun in environments that would typically ruin a regular camera or phone.Here's what I like about this camera in general:
1. You can take it in the pool. Last summer, some of my best shots were of my kids underwater in our swimming pool. We have so many great memories of our pool, but until we got an underwater camera, we didn't have these captured. Another thing that we've really enjoyed is the ability to take video underwater. For fun, I get in the pool, have the kids dive in and then swim up to me while I video the whole thing. There's something really amazing about starting a video above the water with all the sound and water reflections and then going under when they break through the water and hear the muted underwater sounds as they swim up to me. More importantly, the smiles on their faces are bigger/more authentic than when we're just standing in the back yard and I ask them to smile.
2. You can bring it to the beach and just throw it in the sand. When my kids are at the beach, we like to build huge sand castles. In the past I have brought my non-sandproof camera and spent most of the time a)protecting the camera from flying sand; and b)getting angry with my kids for flinging the sand in the direction of the camera. Now, I actually get in the line-of-fire as they're digging because the flying sand in the foreground makes for some great pictures.
To sum it up, the best camera for the job is always the one you have with you. If you're scared your camera is going to get wet, sandy, or freeze, you'll leave it at home where it won't do you any good. With this Fujifilm FinePix XP60, you'll have *no worries*
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As far as this type of rugged camera goes, I have owned Canons, Nikons, and Olymupus' offerings. Currently, my favorite of all is the Olympus TG-1iHS 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (you can see my review there as well) (*also note there is also a new model for this, which is here: Olympus Stylus TG-2 iHS Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom and 3-Inch LCD (Red))
This Fuji proudly sits in second place in my opinion. That being said, it is also nearly $200 less than my beloved Olympus, so it is definitely a great value.
Here's some specifics:
The camera is built well. It's sturdy and has a solid feel. BUT, the biggest selling point for it's build-quality may be it's biggest problem for some: it's pretty small like the size of two iPhones pressed together. This is great because you can just throw it in your pocket or purse and it won't take up much room. The problem this presents is that the buttons on it are pretty small, which will mean you might press the wrong buttons once in a while, especially when using it underwater. I'm an average size guy and it didn't offer me too much trouble, but if you're larger-than-average, you might want to look elsewhere.
The photo quality is great. The pictures look good in and out of the water. Because I only use it for messy, sandy, watery situations, I can't report on how good it does indoors or in extreme low-light situations.
There are a ton of features, and many of them are useful. In fact, it shares many of the features with the Fujifilm X20 Silver 12 Digital Camera with 2.8-Inch LCD (Silver). If you check my review there, you'll see that I love:
SR is an advance auto mode that determines the best settings based on the scene. It even shows its predictions, so you can see if it is accurately assessing the situation. From my experience, it's startlingly accurate. It chooses from: landscape, night, tripod, beach, sunset, snow, sky, greenery, and sky & greenery. Having these settings on a camera is old news, but having the camera predict the scene itself and do so with great accuracy is a pretty exciting advancement.
Also, there is a NATURAL setting which I love. What it does is takes one picture with flash and one without continuously and then let's you decide later which worked best in the situtation. Being a pro photographer, I am usually pretty good at choosing, but this is really helpful to my wife. Let me give you an example: If you're taking pictures in a darkened room of your child blowing out their birthday candles, your camera is going to choose flash to lighten things up. The problem with this is that it kills all the beautiful candle light. Using the natural-mode on the camera will give you both. It's actually a great learning tool.
As far as video quality goes, this camera does a great job with that as well. Don't expect it to look like and HD movie you've rented from Nexflix, but you can expect it to capture great detail that your phone just can't see.
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In conclusion, I think this is an excellent choice for a rugged underwater camera. Buying this (or another model) to capture the fun you have this summer is a no-brainer. The pictures you get will be priceless before you know it.
...If you found this review helpful, let me know! If there are any questions you'd like answered, I'll do my best to help. Have fun!
This camera is waterproof. It goes down to 20 feet. Although their are cameras that go deeper, why spend $300 on one. Even the ones that go 30-36 feet are not universal. I almost bought one since I like to scuba dive, but that's rare and only on select cruises since I am not certified. Scuba diving you will go 30-60 feet underwater with a discover class. If you go deeper than 30 feet you risk your camera. Why get a $300 camera when it may not even work for basic scuba diving. I know the depth varies on where you go, but it helped know that the $300 still may not be able to go that deep for scuba. Boss you go down about 12 feet and this camera can easily do that. It is about 8 feet to the top of the helmet. I haven't tested this camera in deep water. Just the bath tub. It stayed sealed and the pictures were pretty good for underwater, but that's not a great test. I know from the videos on youtube with the xp50 the underwater pictures and video are superb. They rank right next to $300 underwater cameras. For me, this is an underwater and on water use camera only.
This camera has some great pictures modes like 3d, panorama, selective color, underwater, landscape, etc. The auto in general is great, but you will need to go to picture mode underwater for the best under water pics. I talked with fuji about that since I was going to try staying in auto on trips.
One thing I like about this camera is like my slr, you can snap pictures while recording video. Great for family functions. Just know you will hear clicks on the video from the shutter.
I have a caribbean cruise coming in March. I wanted to use this on the trip exclusively since most of the excursions are on or around water. Problem is, the picture quality is somewhat lacking. Not awful. When you zoom in on the pictures they get fuzzy really quick. The picture quality zoomed in is the worst I've seen on any of my recent cameras in the past 5 years. The good news is this is a 16mp camera so unless you are making a movie size poster, when will stretch it past 100%? I messed with settings and if you lower the picture quality to 12mp or 14mp the picture quality greatly improves. You still get big pictures, but zooming in they look better by shrinking them slightly. I guess the sensor they used is not ready for prime time. Or better yet, maybe a firmware update will fix it. Within the settings you want to change your pictures to "fine" instead of the default standard. It gives a little more detail. Because of the picture quality, I'm going to use my budget pocket point and shoot. That way my slr is safe on the waves and only break out the xp60 for in the water pictures. Also, because of the picture quality issue, make sure you zoom in while taking pictures rather than trying to edit them on your computer. That way you get the best pictures. I'm not saying the pictures are that bad. Without being resized they look great. Let's say you want an 8x10. That is shrinking the image by a good half. When you shrink down the image while printing you get just as good if not better picture quality. For most people that's great. Just if you don't plan ahead on what you will print and use something like photoshop to zoom in you start to see a bit a blurring at around 120%. Unless you use photoshop or need to blow up a small 1/8th chuck of your photo you will never have a problem. This camera doesn't do great in low light. It loses a lot of detail. Avoid using at night in the house or when there's not a lot of light in the room. Outdoors it is great though.
This is a really snappy camera and fun to use. Underwater this camera is the bomb. I love how the latch clicks into place and you should be sealed against water. Just watch the strap doesn't keep the door unlocked. Be careful handing this to others while in water. That latch looks like a camera knob and the last thing you want is someone popping out your battery under water and frying the camera. The latch has to be turned and the middle button pushed in to unlock it, so it does make it harder to accidently open the camera. For kids, this is a great and versatile camera. However, if you are cruising you are better off using a point and shoot as much as you can and using this camera where it is risky like around water. Even a nice underwater camera like from Nikon has image quality issues when zoomed in. I think it has a lot to do with the glass they use to protect the lenses. For 95% of the people out there you won't blow up the images before you print. With it being able to handle 16mp or even with my recommended 14mp to address picture quality issues you have more than enough mp to print what you need. In the end this is the best budget underwater camera I've found. Awesome snorkeling pictures and video. Land pictures are very good, but know you are limited in zoom.
Personally, I would only recommend this camera for kids that need a camera that can take a beating or using this around extreme outdoors. For general indoor and sight seeing by land you want to keep your existing camera that probably has better zoom, better in low light, and hopefully better picture quality when blown up on the computer.
Buy Fujifilm FinePix XP60 16 MP Digital Camera with 2.7-Inch LCD (Yellow) Now
PROS:I went diving in Florida up to 20 feet underwater and it did stayed dry thanks to the awesome dial that you have to turn to close the door tightly.
Good underwater photos
9 out of 10 high def videos played back fine on my pc.
The floating strap
I was not afraid to bring it with me to the beach in sand and saltwater.
Amazing 5X optical zoom in a little camera, although when I was underwater, taking shots at 5X zoom was very difficult to get the subject in the screen so I mostly shot zoomed out. The Amazing 5X optical zoom was better used for when I was standing on the beach and shooting.
CONS:
Video is saved in Quicktime .MOV format so when I tried to stream it from my pc with TVersity software to my Microsoft XBOX, it would not play.
When I played the video on my pc, one of the 10 videos played back in slow motion even though I did not do that.
Kind of weird that both photos and movies are saved in the photo folder on the memory card instead of separate folders (photo and video) like my SONY and PANASONIC cameras.
SUMMARY:
I would prefer the videos in AVCHD format like my SONY and PANSONIC cameras. In the meantime, to stream from my pc using TVersity software, I'll have to convert Quicktime to AVCHD format using Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD.
6/25 update: I installed a different codec for TVersity and now the Quicktime format plays (but it looks horrible like the days of standard analog tv) but my other zillion movies in AVCHD format stopped working. I guess I have to keep searching for a codec that plays all formats.
Read Best Reviews of Fujifilm FinePix XP60 16 MP Digital Camera with 2.7-Inch LCD (Yellow) Here
This is a nice camera. It is durable, waterproof to shallow depths, and takes excellent photos.The photos are excellent, particularly with the image stabilization. Unlike so many others, you can actually zoom in on a subject without camera shake ruining most of the photos. The burst mode works well too, though it takes a while to save afterward. The panaramic option in burst is really cool, allowing you to easily take panaramic shots by sweeping accross a landscape while in burst mode.
The video quality is surprisingly excellent as well, particularly the sound. This camera could easily replace a mid-level camcorder for most uses.
There is an option to sysc the camera to directly upload to your preferred social media, though I admit not trying this out as I have no desire to do upload photos that way.
The camera is waterproof to 20 feet, which would be great for swimming pools and basic snorkeling, though I wouldnt recommend for SCUBA as that depth is too easily passed. I have tested this in the pool and the river, it takes great photos and stays completely waterproof.
Fujifilm claims the camera is shockproof to 5 feet, though I did not feel compelled to drop it from 5 feet to test this. Ill take their word on it and report back if my kids ever knock it off the counter or something.
Overall, this is an amazing camera for the price. To top it off, it even comes with a "real" memory card so you dont have to immediately run out and buy a bigger one.
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So far this camera is taking great pictures and is fairly simple to operate. Pictures are clear and full of color.Haven't put it to the water test yet but will be soon. With the 32GB memory card it's more than fast enough to take the action shots we wanted. So Far the battery life is pretty good. It will last all day on for pictures. Haven't tested battery life on videos yet.
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