My review on Canon S90 + Ike case

I've been using my beloved Olympus C-7070 with Oly UW case with great success. I haven't upgraded that system yet, since C-7070 has many excellent features, but now Canon G11 and S90 could be candidates for new excellent uw setup. So I bought S90 from singapore, ordered Ikelite S90 housing and went to Indonesia to do some diving.

Canon S90 in a wonderful camera top water, there is no questions about it. But underwater, it has been major dissapointment. I think the biggest complain about S90 is the unreliable focus. Yet, it has very fast focus, BUT it takes shot even it does not get focus! So if you hold shutter button it "focuses" and immediately takes picture, you have to review (with zoom) every single image. Second dissapointment (at least for me!) is "macro" focus range of 5cm. This means forget every amazing nudibranch shot; I only got few good shots of ~10cm flatworm, and even that sized critter filled only like 1/2" of the frame. Smaller nudis fills 10% of the frame. This means you can get shots from smaller nudis which are cropped to ~1MP size for internet viewing at best. S90 does take super sharp photos underwater, but only if you point a strong flashlight into subject being photographed. This happened to me in night dive: wonderful photos!

Now onto Ikelite housing. Well, lets just say I have now owned 2 ikelite housing. My first and my last. All you guys know that second control ring is not option with ikelite and it would be fine, if you could live with it. But even the first control ring does not work correctly with ikelite housing! Here's why: Ikelite provides "gearwheel" like addon onto canons front control ring. So when you rotate the control ring wheel in ikelite housing it should turn. Well it turns but NOT infinitely! This is because gearwheel addon is not whole circle but just 80% of it while ends has this balloon like endings. I can't believe ikelite does this kind of poor engineering, over the years I've had the impression that Ikelite is good quality company. As an engineer, I can imagine dozens of easy solutions for full circle gear ring. The fact that you can not turn control ring for 360 degrees, cripples your actions very much underwater. Imagine: Autofocus does not quite work underwater so you need to do manual focusing. but for manual focusing you have to dial front ring a lot to get it to closest focus range. This means you have to dial more that 360 degrees, but with ike housing thats not possible. So what you will do to get manual focus as close as possible?

1) press front ring functions button to select manual focus

2) rotate front ring as much as you can to lower focus distance

3) front ring is stuck! you have to get it back some how, so you press again fron ring functions button to select exposure compensation for exapmple.

4) rotate front ring "back" as much as you can, now exposure compensation is in -2eV

5) press front ring functions button againt to select manual focus

6) rotate front ring as much as you can to lower focus distance, this time you can get it to minimal focus distance. But your exposure compensation is in -2eV!

7) so you press yet again front ring functions button to select exposure compensation.

8) rotate front wheel back to get desired exposre compensation.

Gongrat! You probably missed all the action, since this does and will take ~30sek to 1min. Imagine this scene in to place with strong current.

Also I can't understand why ikelite R&D has made internal flash diffuser which snaps into back of the lens tube while it could be bigger (360 degrees and not 180!) and could snap into front of the lens tube. In fact I did this kind of diffuser my self and lightning is superb. no 1/1 frame shadow on close subjects and the shadow of object being photographed is beautiful and smooth.

I would like to remind that this is only my opinion and experience, but I challenge everyone to prove me wrong on those points I listed.

This review brings me some inportant questions, please share your knowledge:

1) Is there any macro port setups in ikelite/canon S90 housing?

2) Is there any macro port setups in ikelite/canon G11 housing?

I will most probably sell my S90 and buy G11. Since G11 has supermacro and hot shoe for external flash.

P.S. If you can do some DIY gearweheel into front ring and use flashlight to lit macro stuff for auto focus, this setup if very nice. Also DIY 360 degree diffuser is higly recommend.

Please post you thoughts

You can add a macro diopter to your housing easily as it is threaded to 67mm. I would check your focus settings, there should be a way to make it only release the shutter upon focus lock.

Your system would be greatly improved with a small focus light and an external strobe. the large diameter of the port pretty much demands it. They you can just black out the internal flash with electrical tape and use a fiber optic cord to set off the strobe.

I think if you look at your camera manual some more there may be some settings that may help on your focus.

The large gear is split so as to be easily installed over the bezel, if it wee one piece it wouldn't put enough pressure on.

Also see this post over on ScubaBoard.

Jack

For me, the s90 is the problem. No housing would really help the bogus control ring problem, or bad autofocus.

The g11 is not that much better! Sure it has great image quality at base ISO. But the Autofocus is the same canon powershot crap they have been selling or worse. Many of the earlier G series were actually better, faster shutter lag than the g10 and g11.

For me, the ultimately best IQ is of no value if you repeatedly and reliably cannot get the shot! It just leads to frustration. This is my experience with canon powershots.

It seems that the new sony's such as wx1, hx5, tx7 tx5 and so on have great focus and short shutter lag, and adequate image quality. Just not great macro. And sony makes decent housings for most of their cams.

Panasonic also makes lots of housing for their cams too. Though they seem to be half way in focus speed between sony and canon.

Samsung is making more and more serious digicams including manual, aperture, shutter speed exposure modes, and good quick reliable focus. I sure wish ikelite would pick a few and make housings for them!

Come on housing folks! Quite making housings only for canon, oly, and nikon, who all have crippled autofocus systems in their compact digicams.

Sorry to hear your experience hasn't been good. I wonder if something about how the housing shutter release lets you feel (or not) the "half press" on focus lock has something to do with your "instant shooting" problem. On mine (at least on land) when I push the shutter button "half way", it locks focus. It won't take a photo until I "fully press". I haven't heard a whole lot of other people (yet) complaining about bad autofocus, but then again the camera is just starting to get taken underwater. the good news for me is that I probably can't afford to house mine anytime soon given some other expenses I've got to attend to so I'll be able to follow along for a while before making any decision.

Mike

I have never had this problem with my G10 above or below water, and if I have an OOF shot I know just what I did to cause it. I will agree with the comment about Samsung - their L85 was one of the best compacts I have ever used, and also one of the cheapest. I only sold it because I couldn't find an underwater housing for it.

I won't touch Sony under any circumstances. I have had numerous Sony products of different types, and on several occasions have needed service facilities. That's for video cameras, professional sound recorders & computers. On EVERY occasion I have been disappointed and frustrated. Sony make some nice gear but they don't stand by it - once it stops working properly just throw it away, whatever it cost. By contrast Canon stand by their products absolutely, and will often repair equipment well out of warranty for no charge.

I have been working with my S90 in the pool in preparation for an upcoming trip. I have the FIX housing for my S90 along with the FIX 67mm lens adapter kit. Currently I am experimenting with the following lenses with good success:

Inon UWL 165AD-FE compact fisheye lens (165 degree FOV)

Inon 100WAL Type 2 with dome semi fisheye lens (130 degree FOV)

Inon UCL 165AD macro lens

Fisheye brand UWL-04, I plan to order this lens as I expect it will be an excellent choice

The Inon 165AD FE fisheye lens is performing well . Using the 10Bar AD to 67mm threaded adapter, with the FIX 67mm kit I am getting only occasional vignetting probably due to the IS image shifting, usually very minor and one corner only. My DIY adapter for AD to 67mm places the lens just shy of 1/32 inch closer to the port glass compared to the 10Bar adapter and seems to eliminate all cases of corner vignetting. In either case, the results are pleasing and impressive with little or no cropping required--excellent and sharp. Also, this lens has such a large focus depth of field, getting an out of focus shot is hard to do, but, alas, shaky hands and a slow shutter speed can provide plenty of blur--lol .

A sample test with the Inon 165AD FE lens, the pool was very dark, ISO400, f4.0 Av mode, no flash, hand held (shake warning alert!) and being fussed at by the lifeguard so take that in account. No crop, 100% image:

I remain impressed with the smooth, fluid operation of both the camera and the housing and the fast and accurate auto focus. If you set the auto focus to provide the focus window to verify focus it helps greatly with verification of focus and indication of half press auto focus. I have also found that at least with the FIX housing the half press is easy and intuitive with the smooth lever action shutter release. The shutter lever is very smooth with good tactile feedback. A slow press, rather than a punch, gets a good focus 99% of the time. If, however, you punch the shutter button, the S90 will take the photograph and it may be out of focus about 40% of the time.

I find the Av and Manual modes seem to provide faster and more consistent operation followed by the Program mode. The Auto mode does not work well and I do not recommend it's use for underwater photography. For whatever reason, the Auto mode provides a soft and inconsistent focus, count on it, above or below the water.

Also, of note, I am getting excellent sync with my dual Inon D2000 strobes, very pleased with the combination.

I remain unimpressed with both the Ikelite and Canon DC-35 housings though I understand that Inon is releasing an AD or 28AD (??) adapter kit for the DC-35 housing. Stay tuned for late March introduction.

My latest DIY tray with arms set for dual strobes, Scuabpro R109 for scale, Inon 100WAL with dome mounted:

One other thing, I have been using the 100WAL with dome and the 165AD now for about three years on three different cameras. These are both fun lenses to shoot, as heavy as the 100WAL/dome is, the 165AD is light and compact usually with a little more fisheye wrap in the corners. The 165AD tends to be sharper (especially corners), the 100WAL/dome tends to have better color saturation. I think it is because the 100WAL dome is optical coated glass (thus the weight) and the 165AD is hard coated Plexi.

And one more thing, Ikelite makes some great equipment, over the years they have done me well but the case for the S90 left me underwhelmed so much so I quickly decided I did not want one. The lack of full control, the generic build, the poor ergos of the housing were a turn off. You know, once upon a time it was possible to put a camera in a generic box and call it good but that time is gone. The Canon S90 deserved a housing that could utilize it's unique capabilities, most notably the front and rear control rings and capitalize on the small scale of the camera and utilize wet mount lenses--the Ikelite S90 case is just not there, it is a disappointment IMO. Ikelite housings, while not terribly expensive, are premium priced compared to OEM often with little added capability, especially in this case. Dear Ikelite, the S90 deserved a better housing, if you are going to charge a premium price, the housings need to be more model specific, the generic stick it in a plastic box concept is getting old. That is my opinion and why I got the FIX this time around, but I always give Ikelite a shot and an open mind.

So Crawdad, have you played with the macro settings & with macro lenses? I am very interested in this camera/housing combo but want good macro ability as i am addicted to nudis. Also does the camera fire the flash in macro mode or super macro mode? What are the disadvantages of this setup?

Cheers Pete.

So Crawdad, have you played with the macro settings & with macro lenses? I am very interested in this camera/housing combo but want good macro ability as i am addicted to nudis. Also does the camera fire the flash in macro mode or super macro mode? What are the disadvantages of this setup?

Cheers Pete.

I am sorry, I am not going to be much help with the macro thing, I have a UCL165AD macro lens that has been wet twice and never on this camera. I just don't much do macro. I see no reason this S90 and FIX (*) cannot do macro photography when outfitted with the proper lenses and adapters.

*(Edit, or Ikelite case or the Canon case when and if the Inon mount is available for it)

I am sorry, I am not going to be much help with the macro thing, I have a UCL165AD macro lens that has been wet twice and never on this camera. I just don't much do macro. I see no reason this S90 and FIX cannot do macro photography when outfitted with the proper lenses and adapters.

I've mostly been trying to master wide angle (new to me) to play with macro as much as I usually do (plus conditions have been abysmal for most of the time I've had my housing), but the S90 does quite nicely with a pair of stacked Inon UCL-165AD lenses. (Fix housing, in my case)