Buzzillions.com - Bonica Snapper Dive HDDV Digital Media Camcorder Reviews www.buzzillions.com

Overall good buy

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Overall good buy

SG from SC from South Carolina

Good all around underwater camera and video if your not looking for professional results. I have used the camera and video several times now and results are ok. Camera is easy to use but needs some weighting for underwater use, it floats. The built in flash and video light is useless in the underwater housing. The lights are blocked by some sort of controller or plastic piece. I'm sure photos and videos would yeild better results with an external light source. Read more

Good underwater video for the money

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Good underwater video for the money

JC from London, UK

I took this on a dive trip to Mozambique. Underwater results were better than I expected, but autofocus is on slow end and panning can be very blurry. Current or surge can make it difficult to get clear shots. I used the red filter, which improved results even on deeper dives. The red filter attaches externally to the waterproof casing, so be sure to flood the space between the filter and the case lense before or at the beginning of the dive or you will have a water line across your video. I did not use the external light, but I would expect this would improve the color as usual. Contrary to some other postings on the internet, the camera will work with up to 32GB cards. However, my experience has been about 1 hour of video/GB at the highest resolution. The battery lasted over an hour; more than sufficent for a one tank. Video out of the water is very good and truly shows the HD. The same panning/auto-focus issues remain. Read more

Snapper Dive HDDV

Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Snapper Dive HDDV

h3 diver from NJ

There are a lot of pros and cons with this camera. Don't go in expecting a broadcast quality camera for [$]. But for the price it is a decent unit. Things I Liked:Ability to easily talk with Bonica Tech SupportThe ability to shoot both stills and video.Easy menu and button configuration.Records to a simple SD card.Battery life was sufficient for a dive.Decent video quality for the price.The protective skin inside the housing.Things I dislilked:The constant motor noise drowns out other sounds.Limited optical zoomVery difficult to pop latches - coin is needed.Pins inside latch rusted after 1st dive.Difficult to remove the camera from the skin and housing to change batteries between dives. Read more

Great value for the dollar with baggage

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Great value for the dollar with baggage

Yuri from Florida

For the price this camera costs it does exactly what it advertises to do. It takes great videos and camera only requires one hand to operate. I watch my movies on my 50 inch plasma and quality is at least 720p and if you get close enough to the object it approaches that of what you see on discovery channel. However. A huge disadvantage is that it takes enormous amount of effort to change a battery. I was forced to attach a sharp object to my bcd just so that I could open the camera. When you do open the camera because of silicone skin it takes that much more effort to get to the battery. Battery runs 45 minutes continuous footage with me never touching zoom button (all graphic settings in lcd screen set to low to save battery). Of course there is constant auto zoom noise and for those who expected something otherwise will be in for a nasty surprise. What I usually do is I strip each video of audio. Video shoots in quicktime format in really good quality and when you start exporting tha … Read more