Divevolk SeaLink – Using Your Phone as an Underwater Monitor

If you love underwater photography, you have likely reached to point where you would love to have an underwater monitor every other dive. Be it, because the display of the camera itself is too small to see the details of the photo or because you have to shoot from an angle that prevents you from seeing the screen in the first place.

I, for one, have encountered both of these issues quite frequently when using my Olympus TG. While it is definitely a good point-and-shoot camera for underwater photography, the screen is on the smaller side. And regularly a photo that looked good on the small screen did not turn out as well on a bigger screen. It can be incredibly frustrating and every single time it happened I started looking at underwater monitors again only to be deterred by their price and weight.

And then the perfect solution for me kind of fell into my hands: In the past year, I tested the Divevolk diving phone case and love it. So when I was told that I could also use it in combination with one other gadget – the Divevolk SeaLink – to turn my phone into an underwater monitor, I had to give it a go. And it more than exceeded my expectations and ended up being the perfect solution for me.

But let me elaborate on why I think so, so you can see if using your phone as an underwater monitor for your camera is a good option for you too.

This post may contain affiliate links(*), which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through a link. Please see the full disclosure for further information.

Disclosure: The Divevolk SeaLink was given to me so I could test it as an underwater monitor for my Olympus TG-5. As always, all opinions expressed in this post are my own and not influenced in any way.

How to turn your phone into an underwater monitor?

If you combine the Divevolk diving phone case and the Divevolk SeaLink underwater WiFi transmitter, it is incredibly easy to turn your phone into an underwater monitor. All you have to do is buy the two items, learn how to assemble your underwater camera setup, connect your phone and camera via WiFi, and you are good to go. Therefore, I found it to be a user-friendly setup, that also does not take up too much space when it is disassembled.

Note: The entire setup is quite heavy even if you only have a ‘lightweight’ camera and housing like the Olympus TG series. In fact, the setup pictured above weighs 3.13 kg (6.9 pounds). Therefore, I highly recommend getting float arms to avoid your camera setup negatively impacting your trim.

About the Divevolk SeaLink

The Divevolk Seatouch is an underwater WiFi transmitter that allows you to maintain the WiFi connection between your phone and your camera while diving. Therefore, it works with every camera that has a WiFi connection and a corresponding app.

Thanks to using a ball head and ball joint clamp to attach it, you can position your phone underwater monitor at any desired angle just like a regular underwater monitor.

Using a Smartphone as an Underwater Monitor

Advantages

I already mentioned the two main advantages at the beginning of this article, but let’s take a deeper look at how much of a difference it makes to use your smartphone instead of a regular underwater monitor.

1. The Cost

Turning your phone into an underwater monitor is significantly cheaper than buying a regular underwater monitor. In fact, this setup will only cost you less than 200 USD if you already have the Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max phone housing. And even if you also have to buy the housing and the expansion clamp so you can connect it, you will not even pay 500 USD.

This makes it a bargain compared to regular underwater monitors with a respective underwater housing that costs upwards of 2500 USD in addition to the price of the monitor.

Buy the Divevolk SeaLink underwater WiFi transmitter (and the diving phone case) by clicking this link to get a 6% discount on your entire order!

2. The Weight

If you are already traveling with your scuba diving gear and underwater photography setup, you do not want additional weight if it is not necessary, which makes the Divevolk SeaLink underwater WiFi transmitter the perfect choice.

I do not know about you, but I already travel with more electronics than I should admit and it already takes up way too much space in my carry-on, so the last thing I want is another heavy and bulky piece of equipment. It would not fit into my trolley, and I would have no option but to travel with another suitcase (and a porter as I can only move two suitcases at once).

3. More Than a Mere Screen

There are fancy underwater monitors out there, but as far as I know, none of them have a touchscreen and few of them allow you to adjust the settings of your camera. Meanwhile, using the Divevolk SeaLink underwater WiFi monitor turns your phone into more than just a simple monitor as most camera apps also allow you to adjust the settings on the screen.

You can do everything you can do while using the camera-phone-connection app on the surface, and the only limit to how much you can do is how good the app itself is.

Limitations

Let me start this part by saying that I think it is fantastic to be able to use one’s smartphone as an underwater monitor for the reasons listed above. However, there are two things I noticed while using it, that you should keep in mind when using your phone in a Divevolk Seatouch 4 max as an underwater monitor.

1. Battery Life — Unlike other monitors, there is no battery packet or bigger battery, so you have to make do with your phone’s battery. The battery of most new phones tends to last two dives, but if the battery has aged, you might want to charge your phone during the surface interval.

2. Sunlight Protection Cover not yet available — If you work in shallow areas, it can sometimes be hard to see the screen of your phone just like it would be on a regular underwater monitor. And while a sunlight protection cover is about to be sold, it is not yet on the market.

3. You can only use it if you can connect your camera and phone via WiFi — Given that the Divevolk SeaLink is an underwater WiFi transmitter that ensures a stable connection during your dive, it can only help you if your camera can be connected via WiFi. While most cameras have this feature these days, a few still lack it including my landside camera. So double-check if your camera has WiFi capabilities.

Using the Divevolk SeaLink with the Olympus TG-6

Once you have assembled your underwater photography setup according to the instructions provided with the product, you only have to connect your smartphone and Olympus TG 6 (or an earlier model) by using the ‘OI.Share‘ app. If you have never done this before, I recommend doing it outside of the housing for the first time, so you know which buttons you are pressing.

Thankfully, the app guides you through the process, so it is very easy. And once the connection has been established, you are good to go.

The one thing I disliked about using my phone as an underwater monitor for the Olympus TG camera is the fact that the back-to-camera mode button is located in the bottom left corner. This makes it tricky to press it, as this is also where the underwater WiFi transmitter rests against your phone. However, you can turn your camera 90° to the right which also moves the app to portrait mode. The ‘button’ is now easy to press.

Note that this minor issue is due to the ‘IO. Share‘ app and does not impact cameras that use a different app.

Assembly Tips

Obviously, the assembly process depends on which camera housing and tray you own, but regardless of the specifics, you should practice assembling it and find the best way to do so for your setup. Otherwise, you will very likely annoy your dive buddies if you decide to assemble it on-site. (Then again, I can only encourage you to do this the evening before diving or right after boarding a liveaboard.)

It admittedly took me nearly an hour when I first assembled it, as it took a while to find the best position on the tray for both my camera and the ‘I shape bracket’.

Once the SeaLink has been positioned, you cannot open the housing. If you want to do so anyway, the easiest way to do so is to remove the screw that connects the L-bracket and the I-bracket. It takes significantly less time than removing the housing from the tray.

Use a video light or something else as a counterweight so the underwater monitor does not cause an unbalanced weight distribution.

If you use your phone as an underwater monitor for an Olympus TG camera, you do not need a shutter trigger extension as you use your phone to press the shutter.

Pair your phone and camera before you enter the water. Doing so is far easier than doing so underwater and if the are any issues, it is much easier to fix them at the surface.

Is it a good idea to use your smartphone as an underwater monitor?

I personally think it is a good idea to use my phone as an underwater monitor, as it is a solid product combination that made my life as an underwater photographer significantly easier. After all, using the Divevolk SeaLink underwater WiFi transmitter is a practical, lightweight and cost-effective solution if you are looking to enhance your underwater photography experience by using an underwater monitor.

And while you might initially worry about your phone’s safety, I promise you that the housing itself is a high-quality product that protects your phone against pressure. As mentioned in my Divevolk diving phone case review, it is a solid product that is well worth the money.

Therefore, the only thing you have to consider before turning your phone into an underwater monitor for your camera by using the Divevolk SeaLink is whether you need to buy a powerbank so you can charge your phone during the surface interval and if your camera has WiFi capabilities and a respective phone app that allows you to connect the devices.