Canon WP-DC17 Underwater housing for Canon SD870IS Digital Cameras

Purchased the underwater housing for snorkeling on vacation in the Maldives. I took the camera in and out of the housing a number of times and it never leaked. It definitely allows to you take great underwater pictures. I highly recommend this product and the camera if you want to take underwater pictures.

This underwater housing was purchased as a gift. They were pleased with it. We both thought it was quite a sophisticated and well thought out item. It appears to be well manufactured, so it should last for quite a few years.

I used this housing for one day on my trip and it was well worth it. Unfortunately river conditions were clear for that one day. The controls were easy to see and use underwater. The only drawback is if you want to take a few shots at the surface, you need to take it out of the housing (water beads on the case). I did not use the flash diffuser but all of my pictures came out great. The case also provides protection for the camera when resting the camera on rocks or transporting. I can't wait to use it again.

I recently purchased the WP-DC17 Housing for snorkeling and SCUBA diving in Hawaii with overall good results. It is much smaller and lighter than my dedicated UW video housing and I used it with my SD870IS for both stills and video.

I added a 1 oz. flat lead tire weight with peel and stick Velcro to the metal plate on the bottom for good neutral buoyancy. The "Underwater" shooting mode gave reasonable color balance and saturation to about 15-20'. I had better results setting the white balance in Manual Mode to my underwater white slate; once I calibrated it to a light blue t-shirt on land with decent results. I assigned the Print/Share button to WB which made setting adjustments quick and direct. The camera will "hold" these values until changed. I suggest setting the ISO to 200 or higher for faster shutter speeds under available light. The flash performance was fair at best (as expected) with noticeable backscatter, although the diffuser plate helped. Color saturation and balance deteriorated at depths greater than 60' but I was able to easily correct for this in Photoshop.

I suggest taking an extra battery as the supplied battery seemed to drain after only 2 or 3 dives. If planning to shoot video, use the largest SD card you can afford and set the camera to 640X480. Windows Movie Maker worked well for editing. Condensation within the housing was not an issue but I always load the camera into the housing in a cool or air conditioned environment. One small complaint: the o-ring channel is clear plastic and it is difficult to see any lint or debris in the channel. It is imperative that this be clean.

Overall, the WP-DC17 is a solidly engineered product that performs surprisingly well and casual snorkelers and divers will enjoy using it.

This product worked great and we dove to a depth of 104 feet. I did not have any problems and got some great pics. Would definitely recommend this housing.