Powershot s80 in Curacao

Hi everybody,

I got the powershot s80 and ike housing about two months ago. I just came back from a 2 week trip to Curacao to try it out. Please keep in mind that I'm very new to underwaterphotography, this has been the first time using photography equipment.

I really enjoyed trying out this camera. The Ikelite housing was an easy to understand and operate housing. Right from the start you get the feeling that it is built to last. The camera fits perfectly and I love the way you can see the O ring sealing.

There are 2 things about the housing which could be a little better. First thing is switching the camera off. The s80 has a sliding "door" to switch the camera off Ikelite has made an on/off control on the housing but you have to push a lever against the "door" to close it. The pressure to actually get the camera's door locked in place for it to close is substantial and not very good for the camera i.m.o. This represents no problem because the camera switches off automatically when not used and has a quick startup time.

The other thing I would like to point out is that some of the push controls on the housing are so close to each other that it can be hard to use some of those controls. I didn't have a big problem with it because I didn't change a lot of settings, but I can imagine it would be hard to use some of those buttons.

The camera functioned really well underwater. The large LCD screen was easy to see and bright. The battery pack had a long life, I used it during 3 dives almost continually (which would be about 2h45m) and it started dying after diving. I found that impressive.

Being a very novice underwater photographer I shot in a programmed mode of underwater setting for white balance and vivid colours. These settings helped a lot I found.

Not having an external flash I used the automatic flash setting. Using the flash in naturally lit areas gave some overexposure wich I didn't expect.

I had great results with some of my macro shots and wide angle using natural light. I really needed to get to know my depth of focus with macro mode. Lots of mistakes there!!

Overall I'm very pleased with the performance of my new toys!! I have the feeling that this camera has great potential in using it underwater. I was amazed with some of the pictures I took, being new to this.

I would love to post some of my pictures but I have absolutely no idea how to do that.. HELP PLEASE!!!

Hopefully you guys enjoyed this little piece of info.

Ed,

First you'll have to resize the JPEG down to about 600 X 600 to post on here. Then save it that way. Hit the browse button, find your saved JPEG and hit add this attachment.

Later,

Gary

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the advice on how to attach a picture. I'm going to post one here and some other ones in the pictures part of this forum. Hopefully this will work!!

Hi Edwin:

I am a diver in Winnipeg, Canada, and bought an S80 last February with the intent of eventually using it underwater. I finally decided on the Ike 6140.08 (vs. the Canon WP-DC1), and should be receiving it in a week or so.

I will be taking the setup - S80 and Ike - to Belize March 1-8 2007. If I have any success, I will let you know if you like. No external strobe until I get used to everything else, I want to keep things simple for now.

A few questions:

1 - Could you point me to where in the Picturea area you have posted your Curacao pictures done with the S80/Ike housing?

2 - Looking at the housing pictures, I see no way of turning the selector dial on the side between Auto, Av, Tv, P, etc. The Canon housing clearly has such a control, but how does Ike do it? Is it that joystick-looking thing?

BTW, I chose the Ike over Canon because I'm told that at bigger housing has less problems with condensation forming, and that a bigger housing allow some small tolerance for water buildup in the event that a leak does occur. Way more money for the Ike, however.

Thanks,

Mark Cohen

Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

I used a Canon s80 with the canon housing last June. the photos came out reasonaly well. all of these were taken with no add on strobe or lens. just the s80 and housing.

the photos have not been touched up

mj

Hi Mark,

Thanx for your interest in the s80 and underwaterhousing. I was beginning to feel like I was the only one using it!!

To answer your questions I still haven't posted my pictures on the net because I felt I needed more experience in actual photography. I only have a couple of pictures which are oke, but nothing like some of the pictures I've been seeing around here in these forums.

The dial to control the camera setting in P Tv M etc mode is pushed up against the button that rotates. Once you rotate this dial it rotates the button! It has a special kind of material at the end of it so it grips the button on the camera. Easy right?? The joystick looking thing is the zoom control I think!

Good choice on taking the Ike housing. They look and feel indistructable!

Edwin

Hi MJ,

Nice shots!! Did you use your internal flash for these? How did you shoot them? Manual?

Edwin.

Used manual on the harlequin shrimp and the anemone fish and auto for the mantas. Yes, only internal flash on the first two shots, no flash on mantas.

MJ

Hi MJ:

Thanks for posting a few pictures with the s80 and Canon housing, they look very nice. When you say you used Manual, do you mean the actual M setting on the camera, or just non-Auto, as in "P"?

I'm getting a little worried now about having bought the Ike housing, however, because any good shots I've seen have only been with the Canon housing. I received the Ike last week and took it into the pool. Fabulous construction and excellent view of the camera and seal, BUT I found the multi-function control very cumbersome and hit-and-miss in use. And I found that I MUST use the diffuser otherwise there's a large ugly shadow in every photo in the lower right. They say to zoom in to get rid of it, but then what's the benefit of wide-angle? There's also a known problem of the zoom sticking due to pressure, and the difficulty (because of the way the controls are placed) of getting at certain ones like the exposure compensation button.

I assume the shadow is from the lens port being caught in the wide angle as it flashes. So now I'm thinking, why didn't I just do what every joe consumer does and get a regular non-wide angle camera with a Canon housing and away I go, just like I've seen almost every other diver do. Seems my interest in getting the "best" camera and the "best" housing will result in a less-than-usable setup.

As it stands after the pool tryout, I'm considering dumping the Ikelite s80 housing on eBay (3 days old, one pool session) and getting the Canon housing, or dumping the whole s80 idea and getting an Olympus SP-350 or the new Canon G7 and housing.

Do you think it's unfair to judge the usability of the s80 and Ike from just one pool session, before taking them into open water with proper lighting and bright sunlight? I could probably fix the lighting problems with an external strobe, but I really didn't want to start getting into that until I got more experience with the basic setup.

Thanks,

Mark

I have a Canon S80 and have been using the wp-dc1 housing with it for some time. It works very well. A friend of mine bought the S80 and the Ikelite housing - longstory but the housing was a miserable failure due to lack of functionality. He now uses the WPDC1 housing and likes it.

All of the pictures toward the bottom of this site - after it says 'New Camera' were taken with the s80

Photos taken With S80 and WPDC1 housing

Hi Mark

I used actual M setting not P. Can't say I know much about the Ike housing, since I just bought the one from Canon. One of the reasons I did that was because I have the Inon wide angle lens and macro lens that could be fitted onto the canon housing, but the photos I posted were just using the canon housing when I was trying out the camera.

The s80 is a good camera, and I wouldn't trade it in for Olympus SP-350. I tried that before sometime last year, if I remember correctly the wide angle on the s80 is better. My friend has asked me to try out the Canon G7 next week, and I could post some photos after my trip towards the end of February. But I have already read about shadow from the housing and slow shutter, so probably not a good idea to buy until you have checked out some photos from the G7.

I own an Olympus prosumer grade setup (still have not ventured to the DSLRs yet because they are just too bulky for me), but I find the s80 most versatile. Great small camera to stick in the pocket when I am not in the photography mood, but still have it to capture decent photos. You might want to try trading in for the canon housing if you don't like the ike one. But bear in mind, you will need the diffuser for the canon housing as well, otherwise you will get shadows.

MJ

MJ:

Thanks for the exposure info. And based on the previous post from fondueset (thanks!) I'll probably swallow the Ikelite cost and get the Canon WP-DC1 before Belize this month. Too bad, because the Ikelite is an incredibly sturdy and well-built unit, and will never leak.

Here's another reason for the Canon: I was offered a Sea & Sea strobe package (Sea Arm Light and YS-27DS) to use with the Ike in Belize, thinking it might mitigate some of the problems. When I tried to attach, we discovered that the Ike housing LOCKS YOU IN to strictly Ikelite trays, arms and strobes. The "tripod" screw holes on the base (on two sides, not even in the center) are not the industry-standard US 1/4" and are a propriatery (possibly metric) thread, so a Sea & Sea tray (also tried the older DX tray, and many tripod screws at home) will not attach. Interesting.

I prefer the S&S YS-27 to the Ike DS-51 (better guide number, angle coverage, etc), so I don't want to be pushed into everything Ikelite. Divers should be able to mix and match.

Thanks,

Mark

I've attached a Sea and Sea strobe to mine and had it working (never took any pictures with it however) with the WPDC1. I have four freediver friends who also use the S80 with the WPDC1 housing. If you go to Utube and do a search on 'unirdna' you'll see some videos one of them has shot with his S80 in the Caymans and some other spots

MJ:

 

Thanks for the exposure info. And based on the previous post from fondueset (thanks!) I'll probably swallow the Ikelite cost and get the Canon WP-DC1 before Belize this month. Too bad, because the Ikelite is an incredibly sturdy and well-built unit, and will never leak.

 

Here's another reason for the Canon: I was offered a Sea & Sea strobe package (Sea Arm Light and YS-27DS) to use with the Ike in Belize, thinking it might mitigate some of the problems. When I tried to attach, we discovered that the Ike housing LOCKS YOU IN to strictly Ikelite trays, arms and strobes. The "tripod" screw holes on the base (on two sides, not even in the center) are not the industry-standard US 1/4" and are a propriatery (possibly metric) thread, so a Sea & Sea tray (also tried the older DX tray, and many tripod screws at home) will not attach. Interesting.

 

I prefer the S&S YS-27 to the Ike DS-51 (better guide number, angle coverage, etc), so I don't want to be pushed into everything Ikelite. Divers should be able to mix and match.

 

Thanks,

Mark

Wanted to add - the wheel functions are accessed by pressing the print button on the upper left of the back of the camera and either the left or right of the four clustered wheel buttons. I've seen mention of accessing the slider to shut the camera off but this is not needed since it will shut itself off after a few minutes of not being used.

"I prefer the S&S YS-27 to the Ike DS-51 (better guide number, angle coverage, etc), so I don't want to be pushed into everything Ikelite. Divers should be able to mix and match."

Since I just did a lot of research in purchasing a tray and arms recently I can tell you that you can connect any strobe to an Ikelite Tray. The industry standard strobe arm has 1" balls which connect to arms. If you use these arms, you can easily get a 1" ball adapter for the Ikelite housing. This will allow you to use connect the industry standard arm and an adapter for any strobe on the market. I just purchased the TLC arms and had to adapt them for my Olympus Housing.

"I tried that before sometime last year, if I remember correctly the wide angle on the s80 is better." You can add a Sea&Sea 16mm WA adapter to the Olympus setup for around $120. Since this is a wet conversion lens it can be added, and taken off underwater. Incredibly versatile setup.