I bought the SD300 camera and underwater case for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to French Polynesia. The camera is AWESOME. I have spectacular underwater pictures from two weeks of snorkeling off of Bora Bora and Moorea. I would clean the case each night as the very fine sand would get in the grooves and stick to everything. This meant I had to grease the gasket after cleaning the sand off of it. Two weeks of carefully greasing the gasket caused it to stretch so the case no longer closes. The case wasn't useable for the last few days of our trip. I've been searching off and on for replacement gaskets to no avail. Today I sent Canon an e.mail. I'm surprised these aren't easy to find, and since it wasn't hard to stretch it, I'm surprised they didn't provide a spare gasket. Raise the price 20 cents and give us a few spares!
I used Moisture Muncher capsules inside the case to prevent fogging. I assume they worked, I had NO problems with moisture. The little capsules fit in the case no problem and turn purple if full of moisture (also helpful to indicate your case is leaking!) Mine never leaked, not even a trace. I would get 3-4 days of use out of a capsule before it looked purple to me.
You can NOT see the viewscreen at all in daylight while snorkeling. I just pointed and shot and hoped it worked. You can't hear the camera's fake 'click', either, so a lot of shots I THOUGHT I made didn't actually take. A lot of shots I thought were perfect were off center. None were really out of focus, though. It was best in perfectly clear, calm shallow water where the subject is close to you. It was more difficult trying to zoom in to something 20' away as you can't see it on the viewscreen and any movement (bobbing up and down, left and right) makes the far-away object move out of your shot just as you push the button. These probably are not specific to Canon or the case, though.
Great camera. Great case. I had fun using it. The pictures were stunning. Need spare gaskets!
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you can do everything with this case. All camera functions are accessible. Its great fun to have camera floating with you in pool to get fun pics of kids, no worries about sand at beach, spray on boat wakeboarding or melting snow on camera while snowboarding. a must if you want to take your camera on the fun trips
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Definitely worth the money! I'm able to get some sweet outdoor pics of places that I had previously been reluctant to take my camera. No more worries in rainy weather or choppy water.
Honest reviews on Canon AW-DC30 All Weather Case for the SD400, SD200 & SD300 Digital
I bought my new camera wishing to take it to the beach. Buying the weather case was only to keep the moisture out and not for deep water swimming. It has worked out beautifully and highly recommend it for "on top" water picture taking like in the rain.
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i've had this product for about a month and have used it to go kayaking, whitewater rafting, and snorkling. It keeps water out of the camera chamber nicely, but after rafting, i noticed a small amount of water had entered the top part where the buttons are. It didn't affect the operation of the camera, and no water or condensation was found in the main chamber. I left it open for a few days and it dried out. I did not have this problem while snorkling, which suggests that it may have been due to the pressure of having the camera wedged between the lifejacket and my chest...probably not a good idea for the camera, but i didn't want to lose it!
Other items of note -
the neck strap that it comes with is good and adjustable
it's quite small, but roomy enough inside for a small anti-moisture packet
Operating it is just as easy as without the case, with the exception of the optical viewfinder, which cannot be used
case comes with a clip-on diffuser for the flash, which works nicely as the plastic case distorts the light without it
the steel pin that forms the hinge of the case is already rusted...could be due to the salt water, though i was careful to rinse it in freshwater after each use; again though, won't affect the operation of the camera, nor the integrity of the waterproof seal
A possible improvement for Canon to consider would be the option of adding a clip-on lens cap to protect the surface from scratches
