![]() ![]() On dry land, however, the camera has numerous settings and features you'll want to explore and take advantage of. When used in the underwater housing, operation couldn't be simpler: power on/off, zoom, recording video, shooting stills. In fact, what you get with the Bonica/JVC package is really two systems. So this JVC vidcam is far more than a simple point & shoot. The camera has an automatic mode, which we used almost exclusively, and a manual mode where you can play with scene selections, manual focus, shutter speed, exposure, white balance, metering, effects and macro for both video and stills. There's even a built-in flash for shooting still pictures. The camera can also shoot 9-megapixel still pictures, is full of tricks, and you get a 10X optical zoom. The JVC in our review package was a GZ-HM550BU, a very compact handheld capable of recording full 1080p high definition video either onto its 32GB internal memory or onto SDHC cards. The camera used here is made by JVC, which offers a dizzying variety of ultra-compact video cameras that uses either internal hard disks or Flash memory. Bonica still sells those "Snapper"-based systems that can now do full 1080P video, but the subject of this review is a good step up from the Snapper. A couple of years ago, we reviewed another Bonica underwater video package and marveled how an inexpensive little camera could shoot very good 720P video at a blistering 60 frames per second. It is absolutely amazing how much camera technology has advanced over the past few years. The picture below shows the complete Bonica/JVC system:Īnd here is what it all looks like in action on a dive in the Caribbean: ![]() And then they throw in whatever else you need to end up with the best possible high definition video. Well, with their JVC-based systems, Bonica manages to offer an excellent balance between a good camera, a good case, and good lights. It is not unusual for an underwater case to cost several times as much as the camera itself, and sometimes videographers make up for the high price of a case by skimping on the camera itself. When shooting pictures or video underwater, a good protective case is as important as the camera itself, and those cases can be quite expensive as well as bulky and heavy. In this review we're describing our experiences with one of Bonica's higher end packages that includes a JVC high definition video camera, an underwater housing, two lights with their arms and mounting hardware, filters and adapters, and a nice travel bag. Bonica is in the market of finding and creating good, inexpensive components for underwater video and then selling the packages with everything you need for a very fair price. Unfortunately, you can't take cellphones underwater (yet), and that's where Bonica comes in. A lot of those clips are done with just cellphones. YouTube, which started as a repository of stuff recorded on TV, is now full of clips people create themselves. This has become a world where we're taking pictures and shooting video of everything. Blickenstorfer photography by Carol Cotton) Scuba Diver Info - Camera review: Bonica JVC HDDVīonica supplies a full, high quality and reasonably priced HD video system in a handy travel bag
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