canon powershot a85

Hey everyone,

I've got a canon powershot A85 and im ordering the wp-dc30 housing for it this week so i can start taking underwater photos finally! Just wondering if anyone has some tips for what settings to start with on this camera for u/w photography??

Also has anyone used this housing and camera before? Any issues i should be aware of?? Any hints and tips will be greatly appreciated

Cheers

J

Hey Scubaj, congratulations on taking the next step. I'll state that Focus is the hardest thing to do underwater. I have an s50 and have taken it on 120 dives. The prosumer cameras today are quite capable of great imagery if properly focused. Always force the flash while underwater more than 5 meters, shoot fish no less than 1/125 shutter, and get close!

Put the case on and practice shooting around the yard and home to develop a feel for the camera and housing. Before my first trip , I took 300 shots at home. That's the beauty of digital, spray and pray!

See this link from Canon, it's have some useful information especially for the Canon P&S models.

Hello ScubaJ,

I'm sure you will get good results with this system. I've been using the A70 with the WP-DC700 case for a bit more than two years and like it very much.

Since you don't have any external strobe I would suggest you to start taking pictures in the shallow with ambient light. The internal flash works fine in close-up mode with a busy background, otherwise you may end up with a lot of backscatter in your pictures. The flash in macro mode is often too powerfull with the A70 but you could give it a try with the A85.

Proceed next to taking pictures in ambient light with custom white balancing.

thanks heaps for the replies, its been a bit hectic for me here so i forgot to reply until now, sorry about that! Ill post some pictures when i get the chance and hopefully you can all tell me where i can make some improvements

Cheers again!!