Canon G9 Casing

I think the general concensus is to use the 'cloudy' pre set white balance when using strobes though there are variables to consider. The colour temperature of your strobes and your camera manufacturer's setting of any pre set white balance may have an effect, to a greater or lesser extent. You may like to choose a suitable static subject and shoot a range of correctly exposed shots at all available pre set white balance settings and then decide which works best for your rig. It'll probably be 'cloudy'...

The G9 is an awesome camera for a point and shoot. I've used it with the Canon Housing and have been satisfied. I'm thinking of moving up to the Ikelite housing to allow for lenses etc in the future.

 

If I were you, G9 with the Canon Housing and a Magic Filter on the lense (adds red back in making the colours better).

I have read (though I cannot confirm it) that the magic filters work only near the surface, and an even more distant memory is that I read they work in up to 6-10 feet of water. I do understand the appeal (that they add back red in), but, if you shoot raw (near the surface), you can do this to some extent yourself (never enough for national geographic cover photos i'm afraid). If you actually dive with your camera, you will need a strobe.

I shoot with a G9 in an Ikelite housing with a Ikelite DS51 substrobe, and I would say the images are superb. I have found the high resolution of the G9 (and the macro setting!) enable me to create some pretty spectacular images (cropping in the editing process). The Ikelite housing nicely balanced and easy to dive with, and the delux strobe arms are easy to use. The principle benefit of the Ikelite housing for me over the Canon was being able to add a brighter strobe. The DS51 is strong enough for taking photos up to about 6-8 feet, but beyond that you really need 2 strobes.

I have experimented with wet lenses (diopters), which have the benefit of letting you get wide angle shot closer (i.e. get less backscatter), but have found the G9's macro setting does pretty darn well and I'm not sure the extra lenses you might mount on the external housing are worth the effort (i.e. more trouble focusing, issues with vignetting). I don't know if these are the lenses you refer to. (They are kind of fun to play with.)

Tips on using the G9 underwater... choose the center auto-focusing mode, use the macro setting for critters/small stuff, turn off the digital zoom (the manual has a few useful pages on this).

I normally use the grey palm of my glove, works well, and means I'm not always pulling out a slate to do it. Specifically got these gloves because of this.

I have found that a white blank (no receptable holes) electrical faceplate works well. They are pure white as anything, cheap, plastic and easily stored in a BC pocket. Plus they're flat and easy to focus on with AF. I wedge mine between the strobe cord and the arm so it's readily available during the dive. At the end of the dive, I'll stick it into my BC pocket. Take a handful of them cause you might lose one if not tied to your rig and they're nice giveaways on the dive boat or liveaboard.

I have found that a white blank (no receptable holes) electrical faceplate works well.

Couple things to keep in mind about WB underwater ...

** It is depth dependent ... I'll do a new balance one every time I move up or down 10 feet

** It is distance dependent ... it is important to do a custom WB on something at approximately your shooting distance

I have found that a sandy bottom works, as does a colorful coral head.

If you're using flash to light the foreground then you want to set the WB to the kelvin of your flash. This doesn't change with depth - but what will change is the water/background color.

Cheers

James

If you're using flash to light the foreground then you want to set the WB to the kelvin of your flash. This doesn't change with depth - but what will change is the water/background color.

 

Cheers

James

But with the magic filter, shouldn't you be rebalance when you change depth?

You shouldn't be using a flash with the magic filter.

Cheers

James

You shouldn't be using a flash with the magic filter.

Cheers

James

A) You CAN use the magic filter with a flash (particularly if you shoot RAW, but even without if you make sure you do a proper TTL custom WB with the strobe) - as we've discussed before - and there's a decent reason to do so in my opinion with the G9 as it allows you to shoot nice video AND strobe-assisted stills on the same dive ... something us touristas like to do ...

B) When using the magic filter alone the proper WB is depth dependent, no?

you want to set the WB to the kelvin of your flash.

That's not really possible to do with the a G9 in advance. You can't specify an absolute temperature aside from the presets.

Personally, I prefer to almost always use "Auto" WB when shooting RAW as you can always update to a known Kelvin or other preset later ... the camera's auto WB is a worthwhile addition to your processing options, in my opinion.

How do I "white balance to the flash"?? I shoot with a Nikon P5100, Ike housing & Ike DS51 strobe which I'm about to trade to dual DS125s. I normally shoot in manual using manual WB or flash, but not both.

 

BTW DrMark-Excellent piece on WB.

 

TIA

On the G9, if you have the flash turned on, and press the white balance button, the flash fires, illuminating the white card that you are using as your reference. It then sets the white balance according to what the sensor sees through the lens.

--Mark

Mark, thanks for the heads up on that trick. This little camera just keeps getting better...

I wish I had read these posts before I went to my honeymoon in Tonga. Thank you all for tips on using G9. I just booked a trip to Lembeh/Bunaken and I am bound to get better pictures this time.

I have G9 with Canon OEM housing, I will take pictures with cloudy WB and RAW in future. I will try to get on the same level as critters.

Here are the best ones I was able to get in Tonga:

and video:

I will take pictures with cloudy WB and RAW in future.

You can give that a shot, but I think you'll find that is a bit too warm of a setting to shoot with strobes. As I see it, if you shoot RAW , "Auto" WB is an excellent option as it will give you a much better starting point in post ... and one more "preset" you can choose from ... JMHO.

Here are the best ones I was able to get in Tonga:

I hope you don't mind, but I gave this a tweak in Photoshop to fix the colors as I think it is a bit green, but a very nice shot ...

I used a little trick I posted about a while back ... here's the link ...

And here's the fixed up shot ... it really brings out the pinks and reds ...

I hope you don't mind, but I gave this a tweak in Photoshop to fix the colors as I think it is a bit green, but a very nice shot ...

I certainly don´t mind. Thank you again. I will check your advice when I get back from holiday for after processing pix!

Thanks for all the tips guys. I'm finally back from my trip. And thought I would post some pics.

Well, turns out i'm not the best of divers so between taking great pictures close up and ensuring the safety of the corals, i picked the coral reef. So my pics aren't as good as I had hoped. A lot of blur too. But i'm more than satisfied for most.

If someone wants to play around with the pictures, be my guest. I have the originals in 12MP (not RAW sadly) and have no problems posting them somewhere for someone. In the meantime, this is a public album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069...mp;id=836570577

btw do you use setting AF Frame as AiAF or Flexizone?