Waterproofing Your Digital Camera

The CES show in Las Vegas takes place in a high-tech oasis surrounded by a desert. As I wander the aisles with my camera, I can't help but wonder about the one that got away. For me, the one that got away is a camera, lost at sea. Two summers ago, while kayaking in Quebec, my wonderful Panasonic Lumix TZ10 camera, almost new at the time, slipped off the deck of my kayak and slid into the water. It was only beneath shallow water for seconds, but it was a fatal dip into the cold, salty, camera-hostile St. Lawrence Seaway.

The problem with cameras and waterproof bags are twofold. Either they are rigid boxes like the ones from OtterBox or they are bags that don't allow you to take a photo without removing the bag. But at CES my eye caught the DiCAPac booth, displaying a bathtub full of cameras, each housed in a protective waterproof case. Unlike the bulky and expensive hard plastic underwater cases that are designed for a specific type of camera or the bags you can't photograph through, the DiCAPac pouches are refreshingly generic and surprisingly inexpensive and useful. The pouch is clear plastic, modeled after the dry bags that canoeists and kayakers have used for years. The big addition is a polycarbonate lens opening that lets you take pictures even when the camera is in the pouch.

The camera controls are a bit hard to operate through the case, so you need to get most things set up ahead of time. For example, pressing the power switch or shutter is easy, but rotating a mode dial is pretty hard. These aren't really intended for serious scuba divers as the rated depth is only 5 meters, but they should be OK for some surface snorkeling or for use as protection against heavy rain or an accidental spill. And yes, if you drop the pouch into the sea, the camera will float. These waterproof pouches will work great or not so well, depending on your camera and needs.

The pouches that are in production now are in three sizes and shapes that will work for most point-and-shoot cameras and cost around $30. At that price, just get it because you'll need it if you want to photograph that rainy soccer game or you want to safely take the camera on a boat or kayak. They also were showing a pouch that would work for most SLR cameras, although it's not quite ready for sale, won't be available for a few months, and is at a higher price point (above $100). And slightly later they will have a pouch for a camera like my Canon Powershot Pro1, which is a sort of pro/am hybrid, larger than a point-and-shoot but not the size of most SLRs. I'll be visiting www.dicapac.com often, waiting for the announcement.