Review on 📷 Underwater Camera DV806 - Full HD 2.7K 48 MP Video Recorder - Waterproof Digital Camera with Dual Screens - 16X Digital Zoom - Selfie Feature - Flashlight - Ideal for Snorkeling by Christine Gauthier

I bought this little compact camera to put in my backpack while fishing, hunting, skiing or snorkeling. I love the concept of a compact, rugged camera that lets you capture memorable moments and fun things without worrying about the camera breaking if it gets wet. Over the years I have used different brands of waterproof soap dishes. They differed in their abilities and strengths. I was hoping that this one might contain some of the latest technological innovations that have improved phone camera performance so much, from a company I've never heard of. I found this little model to offer a lot of customization options in a handy little body, but its performance is similar to most other dedicated point-and-shoot cameras I've tried. First I tested it under water. in the next salmon stream. It was actually waterproof and has successfully filmed fish underwater. I also tested the camera on a couple of rainy days here in the southeast Alaska rainforest and had no problems with water getting in. I found the battery/SD card/charge port access door on the bottom of the camera very difficult. open. There is a simple icon that shows how to push the small recessed button up when sliding the door to the right. It's a struggle but I've managed to open it multiple times. I'm sure the watertight seal is a big part of why this is so difficult. You need to figure out how to open it regularly to charge the battery and get pictures from the micro SD card. The camera can take both photos and videos and easily switches between the two formats with the mode button. The Install/Menu/OK button allows you to choose from several different preset packages, presumably to tweak the settings for different situations. There's no manual explaining how these different preset modes differ from each other, but my testing found the difference to be fairly minor, except that the beach setting appears to capture brighter exposures than the other settings. The sport option is likely to use a faster shutter speed and higher ISO, resulting in a grainier image with less motion blur. The "Night" settings (Night Landscape and Night Portrait) likely use slower shutter speeds as well as a higher ISO, with differences in the way focus is locked. The "High Sensitivity" setting is a mystery to me. The test photos that I took with most of the different settings hardly differ from each other. In most cases you will probably want to use the Auto setting. You can set a very high photo resolution, up to 48 megapixels for photos. This means you can get very detailed images. In fact, the lens/shutter/sensor system is limited to producing images of fairly modest quality. Enlarge images taken at the camera's maximum resolution and you'll see that the sharpness isn't great. Most cell phones can take photos just as well. The example photos I posted show side-by-side shots taken with the highest resolution waterproof camera and my iPhone. The iPhone images (the second in each set) have much greater dynamic range - with more colors and tones and less dynamic cropping (dark or light areas with little or no detail) across the entire image, foreground to background. Save disk space and download time by capturing images at a more realistic resolution. You're unlikely to notice a significant difference in image quality until you go down to the lowest resolution. The camera actually captures a much wider dynamic range in your photos than what you see on the monitor screen on the back of the camera. When adjusting shots or viewing images on the rear screen, you'll see a lot of washed-out highlights and a general lack of detail. However, actual images on the Micro SD card viewed on a computer monitor show much more detail. Not as much as a high-end camera with a bigger or better sensor, but not as easy as the camera's rear screen shows. There are two external screens on the camera, one on the back for framing photos and viewing images. , changing settings and another smaller screen on the front for taking selfies. You switch between screens with a small button on top of the camera next to the power button. I don't use this very often, but if you like taking selfies, this might come in handy for you. If you let the battery fully discharge, the camera will forget the date and time you previously set. It's not too surprising, but many devices use a small capacitor to store the date and time when the battery is removed or completely discharged. Just make sure to reset the date if the battery dies between charges if the data in your photos is useful to you. That's why I wanted it. It creates images good enough to post online, email friends, or send text messages. However, don't expect high quality photos from this budget camera. Your phone can probably take photos of the same quality or even better, but unless you want to expose your phone to inclement weather or trust a third-party phone case that's actually waterproof for underwater use (I have a couple of phones and a good camera!) , so a dedicated waterproof camera is a good idea. This is an affordable option. Please let me know if you found anything in my review helpful.