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SeaLife's DC800 underwater camera can handle depths up to 200 feet, and offers unique scene modes especially for underwater photography.

SeaLife has rolled out its new DC800 digital camera, offering underwater photography buffs something better than packing a waterproof case around an everyday point-and-shoot camera. For one thing, the DC800 is good down to depths of 200 feet, enabling experienced divers to capture images in a wide variety of environments. What's more, the DC800 offers five unique underwater shooting modes especially designed for underwater use.

"The DC800 gives users the ability to have more control and creativity over their images," said SeaLife's sales and marketing director Joe Ifi, in a statement. "With its new features and upgrade in technology geared towards the SCUBA diver and underwater enthusiast, the DC800 is sure to add a new dimension of fun in and out of water."

The DC800 offers an 8 megapixel resolution, a 2.7-inch LCD display screen, a 4× optical zoom, SD/SDHC image storage (along with 32 MB of internal memory), and USB connectivity. The camera runs off a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and an removable polycarbonate, rubberized shell that's designed for solid underwater grip. SeaLife says the DC800 offers a shutter response time as fast as 0.1 seconds, and the camera can be used with SeaLife's Digital Pro Flash designed for underwater use.

The camera's five underwater scene modes include three with underwater color corrections (Oceans Blue, Oceans Green, Rivers/Lakes), and two modes that accommodate the Digital Pro external flash. An additional "SPY" mode enables the camera to take pictures automatically at fixed time intervals (say, every five seconds or every five minutes until the camera is full), enabling divers to place the camera, start it up, then leave the scene to capture events that would never happen in the presence of divers.

The SeaLife DC800 is available now at a suggested price of $549.95.