SVP ™ 18 Megapixel Digital Camera Series (Aqua5500-bluecolor)

I was a little bit worried about buying this camera after reading some of the negative reviews. However, with the low price it was less expensive than buying disposable underwater cameras for my trip and then getting them developed. I bought this for a trip that my husand and I took to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We took this camera everywhere with us. My husband used it while snorkling and we used it in the pool etc. The pictures that were taken under water are not bright colored but the water at Xcaret and Xel-Ha is not crystal clear and so it would have taken a very high quality picture to get the bright colored pictures. Our kids loved seeing the pictures of fish that he took. The blue of the fish is nice and bright. It is only the water itself that looks murky in the pictures, because it was murky water We did buy a float for the camera so that we would not have to worry about losing it in the water on the river swims. This made it so much easier to use the camera. We could pass the camera back and forth between us even while in deeper water. As some other reviews have mentioned, yes this camera does use batteries quickly. It takes 2 AAA batteries. I found that I was getting around 30 to 40 pictures out of each set of batteries. We used Rayovac batteries. With my regular digital camera I can get around 100 pictures from each set of 2 AA batteries so yes, it is a little pricier on the battery consumption but to me it was worth it. We went through one package of 8 AAA batteries on our trip and we were able to capture everything on camera to share with our family when we returned. We never could have done that with our regular digital camera with how much time we spent around water. The pictures taken above water turned out crystal clear and are of the same quality as our regular camera. I would definately recommend this camera to my family and friends. In fact, right after we returned from our trip our nephew borrowed this camera to take on a trip that he and his wife were taking to Hawaii for their anniversary. Oh, and one thing that I absolutely love about this camera is the dual screens. You can use it as a regular camera, looking through the back screen or you can push a little button on the top of the camera and you can use the screen that is in the front of the camera so that you can see to take self portraits. This is very valuable while on vacation.

Much like you are doing now, i did read reviews about this camera before ordering. I wanted a waterproof camera to use on a vacation to Cancun. We have a very nice Cannon, but i knew we would snorkel and such so I wanted something cheaper we could use for that. This camera turned out to be awesome for us. It is exactly what it says. We took many pictures above and below the water with this and nearly all turned out great. First, it does not have great image stabilization. The object in the pic can be moving, but not the camera. Its a $50 camera, so what do you expect. Admittedly the window is not bright enough to see well outdoors, and the resolution on the window is not good either. However, it is still an 18 MP camera. When we transferred the pics to our PC, they are much better than expected. it does record video but the resolution is not good (SVGA). Understanding a cameras limits on power, we did purchase lithium batteries for it as designed. We took 108 pictures (all in high sunlight so no flash was used) but we still had 3/4 left on the batteries. I never changed them out on our 5 day trip and still have plenty left. It did come with cheap batteries, but we did not use them. I sure it would not have gone well. I have no problem opening the door, i just read the instructions. push the lock while sliding. Opened right up and we were set. All in all, if you are apprehensive because of a few of the reviews, please let me say this this camera took our 10th anniversary pictures and these were the best of the bunch because we took them in and on the water where we could not take our other camera, and you cant tell the difference between the two when we look at them on the PC.

The camera did work under water and took some good photos on land but the screen is impossible to see underwater or in bright light so I had to just point and shoot hoping I would get what I wanted. It takes a second to take the picture so not great for action shots. It is also very slow to charge the flash so I didn't use it. The avi video is low quality so don't buy this if you want to take video. The biggest drawback is that I took about 100 pictures and most of them without the flash and went through four sets of batteries. I took a couple pictures underwater and then had to swim back to shore to buy more batteries. Also note that it does not come with any memory. All that being said for 50 bucks it is not too bad for a cheap waterproof camera.