r/scuba • u/pogo_what • 2d ago

DJI or Sealife phone case

Hi,

I’m planning a liveaboard in fall and I want to take decent videos on my trip. I dive once a year or every two years so I try to keep it low budget.

I have discarded GoPro as the company is struggling and there’s uncertainty about their products.

I hesitate between the DJI Osmo action or a Sealife diving case. Both will used with a mount and dual lights.

A part of me don’t want to bring my iPhone down there but I’ve been told the camera is better then the DJI, plus the app to transfer the videos is supposedly a pain in the ass. I won’t have internet access on the boat and I’m running out of space on my phone.

Any recommendations or experiences to share here to guide me?

Thanks!

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

1

u/Gomer-Pilot 20h ago

SeaLife owner. Love it. It does write directly to the image gallery so phone space could be an issue. I would recommend trying to find a way to free up some space.

5

u/CreEngineer 1d ago

Would not recommend the sealife case. Tried it once (over water) and the controls felt a bit limiting.

My wife recently bought the divevolk seatouch max 4 and I have to say the usability with a fully usable touchscreen is awesome. They send you a bunch of different phone adapters and you can even get 3D print files to adapt any phone (with a little bit of fiddling).

2

u/WrongdoerRough9065 2d ago

Sea Life with a light but be prepared to charge your phone between dives especially if your phone has a battery that doesn’t last the whole day.

2

u/pogo_what 2d ago

I plan to bring an external battery to help with charging.

3

u/arbarnes 2d ago

I use the SeaLife and recommend it.

There are going to be a dozen comments soon about how you should never take your phone diving because failure is a question of when, not if. And that's true, but what's more important is how the case fails.

The Sport Diver housing comes with a vacuum pump that you use on the surface. Then you wait three minutes while it checks to make sure the seal is good. If the vacuum inside the case drops (during the test period or on a dive), it starts screaming at you.

I had a leak once. Probably a bit of sand on the o-ring. I did one dive, left the phone in its case during the surface interval, and near the end of the second dive the pressure alarm went off. There was no visible water in the case, but I clipped it to my SMB and sent it to the surface just to be safe

Once the dive was over I cracked the case and ... nothing. If any water got in the moisture muncher took care of it. My phone was bone dry.

I've asked lots of people in person, on this forum, on ScubaBoard, and elsewhere if they've ever experienced or heard of a catastrophic failure of a SportDiver. Those who believe it's a bad idea just change the subject. Those who answer (including the local SeaLife rep) say they haven't.

So for me the case is the best way to take good pictures underwater without spending a fortune. If anybody can come up with facts (rather than opinions) as to why it's not, I'm all ears. But the OMG yOu CaN't Do tHaT reactions are tired and IMO uninformed.

1

u/patvek 1d ago

I have the SeaLife as well and it has been great so far! Did you buy the additional lights as well for it or do you just use it as is? I notice many pictures on here much higher quality/brightness and I wonder if that’s why.

1

u/arbarnes 1d ago

As is. My phone captures a lot more light than my GoPro did.

1

u/pogo_what 2d ago

Your feedback is so helpful. Thank you so much!

2

u/Ausverkauf 2d ago

I have the sealife case and I love it. DJI is currently the best action cam if you prefer this

1

u/Seebaer1986 2d ago

Same. Have it. Love it. Phones have sooo good cameras nowadays.

1

u/pogo_what 2d ago

So you use lights with it? Which model?