The first underwater camera I used (and still the only one I own so far) for scuba diving is the Sony Cybershot DCS-TX7 with the Sony Marine housing.

For basic underwater photography and videography the camera is ok, but sadly the camera was fairly limiting for underwater photography (in terms of getting good color, and configuring it for underwater shots).

This camera, however, shines when it comes to shooting 1080i underwater videos.  Most of the video’s on my website so far were shot with this camera.

If you need a relatively inexpensive underwater setup that can double as a great above water point and shoot and video camera then this one is for you.

It is very light weight, easy to travel with, and the underwater housing works great.

In the end however, this is a starter camera setup, so if you are really going to get into underwater photography or videography then this system will only take you so far.

Problems with the camera for underwater use:

• In housing mode (to use it in the underwater housing) you can not configure many options, including ISO.  This makes it hard to use external flash correctly, causing either too blue or too washed out of photo’s.
• The auto-focus had problems with particulate in the water, as many cameras do, but also could not properly focus on a subject in crevices and the like.
• Battery life was limiting underwater.  The battery could make it through a 1 hour dive no problem, however, it would not endure a second 1 hour dive.  You will need at least 1 hot spare battery and a dry place to switch it on your surface interval for each additional dive.
• Taking pictures of very small creatures was not effective with this camera.   It does a far better job with larger items.

Next up… my use of the Sony NEX 5N camera and Nauticam housing for it…