One thing that marks out most waterproof compacts is they tend to come in bright colors, in contrast to the staid blacks, silvers, and greys of mainstream cameras. Many of them have a zoom lens, and this gives them an advantage over action cameras (see below), which tend to have lenses with a single fixed focal length. Waterproof compacts are a whole lot like ordinary compact cameras: a self-contained camera with a fixed lens on the front. Do you need a zoom lens or a fast burst rate? How deep underwater do you want to take the camera? And then, of course, the eternal question: how much are you willing to spend? Choosing the right one means thinking about what you want to do with it: whether you want to shoot photos, video, or both, for instance. There is quite a bit of variation among cameras that can be designated 'waterproof cameras', however.

However, the weatherproofing on waterproof cameras often extends to being shockproof, freezeproof, and crushproof, so they can handle a good deal more than more sophisticated cameras.

You won't get the same dynamic range or the same depth of manual concern.

Many waterproof cameras are compacts with fairly small sensors, so their image-capturing ability will be limited compared to, say, the best mirrorless cameras (opens in new tab). Image quality is so much better than it used to be and they're not even that expensive. Whether you're jetting off to white sandy beaches, heading white water rafting, or even just shooting somewhere you know it rains a lot investing in a waterproof camera is a wise idea.

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