Advantages of Wide Angle Lenses? & Experience with Canon IXUSs verses Powershot s60?

I've been taking digital photos now for over 3 years with the Canon Powershot S45 and then the s60.

I've sadly just flooded my s60 in the Red Sea and have now found that Canon have now stopped that series so I've now got to make a decision about a new series.

As I've got some fantastic photos and video out of my Canons I'm sticking with Canon as I think they're the best but people keep on talking about getting a set up that you can attach a wide angle lense onto. They've been raving about them are they really worth it? Do they really make so much difference to your photos?

Because of everybody saying about the wide angle lenses I've had to bin the Powershot g7 camera as the zoom lense space/length on the housing causes problems so I've been pointed at the Canon IXUS 65 or IXUS 800. I thought these were much more point and shoot. Has anybody had any experience with them?

All help greatly appreciated

Welcome to the pond!

My advice is to purchase a Canon A series. The A540 is a good choice because it has full manual controls, takes AA batteries and is much less expensive than the Ixus cameras. Inon makes an AD-mount adapter for the Canon housing (they also have AD adapters for most Ixus cameras too). The A540 sells for about $170 in the US. It is light years faster than the S60.

The A540 isn't the only A-series camera, but it's one of the least expensive and it's the only current model that Inon supports for wide angle lenses. If you plan on heavy use, consider an A630 in an Ikelite housing. The Ike housing supports add'l lenses, but the Canon housing does not.

Don't spend $400 for an Ixus. Use the difference in price to purchase an Inon wide angle lens. It will be far wider than you experienced with the S60. You would be going from something like 70 degrees to 105 degrees. Another nice thing, the AD105 lens works as a fisheye on land.

This is the adapter:

http://www.inonamerica.com/products.php?pr...=9&subcat=1

This is the lens:

http://www.inonamerica.com/products.php?pr...=2&subcat=1

Are you in an immediate hurry? Lots of cameras are released for the PMA show in February. If you don't need a camera until Spring, it might be a good idea to wait.

Thanks for that. My insurance company are offering the G7 to me now which I'm getting mixed reviews about. What I don't like about the A series cameras are the fact that they take AA batteries which take too long to recharge and you have to carry around 4 for each canon battery which is very annoying while on a liveaboard.

I'm interested in this wide angle lark as a new part of underwater photography to discover but I'm told if i go with the G7 because the optical zoom is so long the housing stops the good use of a wide angle lense.

Welcome to the pond!

 

My advice is to purchase a Canon A series. The A540 is a good choice because it has full manual controls, takes AA batteries and is much less expensive than the Ixus cameras. Inon makes an AD-mount adapter for the Canon housing (they also have AD adapters for most Ixus cameras too). The A540 sells for about $170 in the US. It is light years faster than the S60.

 

The A540 isn't the only A-series camera, but it's one of the least expensive and it's the only current model that Inon supports for wide angle lenses. If you plan on heavy use, consider an A630 in an Ikelite housing. The Ike housing supports add'l lenses, but the Canon housing does not.

 

Don't spend $400 for an Ixus. Use the difference in price to purchase an Inon wide angle lens. It will be far wider than you experienced with the S60. You would be going from something like 70 degrees to 105 degrees. Another nice thing, the AD105 lens works as a fisheye on land.

 

This is the adapter:

http://www.inonamerica.com/products.php?pr...=9&subcat=1

 

This is the lens:

http://www.inonamerica.com/products.php?pr...=2&subcat=1

 

Are you in an immediate hurry? Lots of cameras are released for the PMA show in February. If you don't need a camera until Spring, it might be a good idea to wait.

Thanks for that. My insurance company are offering the G7 to me now which I'm getting mixed reviews about. What I don't like about the A series cameras are the fact that they take AA batteries which take too long to recharge and you have to carry around 4 for each canon battery which is very annoying while on a liveaboard.

 

I'm interested in this wide angle lark as a new part of underwater photography to discover but I'm told if i go with the G7 because the optical zoom is so long the housing stops the good use of a wide angle lense.

I use rechargable AA NiMH 1300 mAH cells for my A620....which I get about 3 dives before they run out.

Just get a 1.5 h speedcharger for AAs, there are plenty available out there. To get some more time just get batteries with 2000 mAH or stronger and you should get at least 4 dives out of them...

I've used both a Powershot and a IXUS recently...the annoying thing with the IXUS is the lack of manual controls! Not even shutter- or aperture priority...

I can see that you have a external strobe as well so you would benefit of getting a camera with manual settings.

The powershot A6xx series are good camera but the only drawback beeing that the Canon housings doesn't support addon lenses...