Canon A640 & WP-DC8 UW casing

Hi guys,

i am planning to get this camera. I'm not a "pro" though, just a normal user. But since i'm getting a new digital camera for myself, am thinking this would be a good choice.

why i prefer this? .. because it uses AA batts (easily obtainable).

well, hear comes my headache... i read somewhere that WP-DC8 has a design flaw or something, that somehow "block" the flash.. something like a "hotspot". hence, it will jeopardize the lighting/quality of the photo... some corner appear dark or something, when using that casing underwater. read that review from amazon.com under wp-dc8 section.

so... now i'm having a 2nd thinking about getting this camera.

what do you say? thanks.

Hi guys,

 

i am planning to get this camera. I'm not a "pro" though, just a normal user. But since i'm getting a new digital camera for myself, am thinking this would be a good choice.

 

why i prefer this? .. because it uses AA batts (easily obtainable).

 

well, hear comes my headache... i read somewhere that WP-DC8 has a design flaw or something, that somehow "block" the flash.. something like a "hotspot". hence, it will jeopardize the lighting/quality of the photo... some corner appear dark or something, when using that casing underwater. read that review from amazon.com under wp-dc8 section.

 

so... now i'm having a 2nd thinking about getting this camera.

 

what do you say? thanks.

i have a cannon a630 the 8meg version of the same camera,the cannon housing has a oval shape port that partialy covers the flash(causing a shadow on the shot),i don"t think they have provision for any add on lenses yet for this housing, i have a ikelite housing that is rated to 60m and it has the same problem the port is so large it also partialy blockes the flash, i knew this may be the case when i purchased it ,but i was planning to get a strobe anyway,the good thing with the ike housing you can add external wet lenses (eg: wide angle, macro),i have a ds 125strobe which may be a bit rich for you , ike have a strobe package of a manual controller and arms plus a ds51 strobe at a reasonable price if you want to get the most from your camera you need a strobe,hope i have been of some help PS :- I am very happy with the cameras performance especially the battery life using 2700 nim i get 3-4 dives out of a single charge and that is taking a lot of shots

steve:-)

Don't bother with the A640, get the A630 instead. The extra resolution (10MP instead of 8MP) is the only difference between the two, and that'd not going to make any significant difference anyway, as the camera's lens won't be sharp to 10MP. IMO, the extra resolution is only likely to increase files sizes, not do anything significantly beneficial. It's just a marketing gimmick.

The WP-DC8 housing does partially block the camera's flash, but the housing comes with a flash diffuser which mounts at the front and re-distributes the flash much more evenly. (So you'll still get uneven flash on macro shots, but it'll just be a bit brighter in the top right corner, there won't be a hard shadow where the flash was blocked.) The Ikelite housing doesn't have anything like this, and so the internal flash won't work except to act as a trigger for an external strobe. The Ike housing does have the advantages of being more solid, having the O-ring completely visible when sealed, having a greater depth ratiung (60m over 40m), being compatible with add-on lenses (wide angle at least, not sure if there's a macro one too) and having more space for descicant packets inside (it's a very tight squeeze with the DC8, and if not careful you can obstruct the flash or worse, cause the O-ring not to seal).

thanks for the reply, guys.

i am also eyeing on the A570IS, any opinions on this?

cheers

The WP-DC8 housing does partially block the camera's flash, but the housing comes with a flash diffuser which mounts at the front and re-distributes the flash much more evenly. (So you'll still get uneven flash on macro shots, but it'll just be a bit brighter in the top right corner, there won't be a hard shadow where the flash was blocked.) The Ikelite housing doesn't have anything like this, and so the internal flash won't work except to act as a trigger for an external strobe. The Ike housing does have the advantages of being more solid, having the O-ring completely visible when sealed, having a greater depth ratiung (60m over 40m), being compatible with add-on lenses (wide angle at least, not sure if there's a macro one too) and having more space for descicant packets inside (it's a very tight squeeze with the DC8, and if not careful you can obstruct the flash or worse, cause the O-ring not to seal).

That's incorrect about the Ikelite housing not having a flash diffuser. I have the housing for the A620, which came with both a diffuser and a deflector. They are on an expandable ring that fits around the barrel of the housing port. The deflector is used with an external flash and completely blocks the camera's internal flash, allowing a slave controller to pick up the reflection and fire the external flash. The diffuser could be used with or without external flash, for macro, for example. In either housing, you're going to need external flash to get anything decent beyond about a foot.

The Ikelite housing also has the very considerable advantage of being able to add Inon WA and macro attachments. Ike also makes a WA, but I don't particularly like mine, and I'm thinking of investing in an Inon.

gc