help for a shooter in need

I often get inquiries that evolve fom my column in RSD. Usually I can answer, but with this one there are so many very good solutions with consumer digital cameras these days I'm hoping I can get some real life input from those of you using the tools.

<<Stephen,

I have read your article Digital Roundup in November 2003 Rodale's Scuba Diving several times and studied the pictures extensively. I am now in the process of choosing a new digital camera and plan to buy one which also offers a waterproof housing. I like the idea of a versatile everyday digital camera that I can also use with diving and other watersports.

With the help of your article I narrowed the search to the Cannon S400, Olympus S400 and the Sony DSC P10. All offer waterproof housings. My criteria is major brand, compact, 3+ Mega pixel, 3x optical zoom, and integrated flash. I currently have a Olympus D-490, however about 1 year ago I fell hard on it while skiing and broke the plastic clamshell cover and now am forced to activate the camera by manually moving a lever which formally was operated by the cover. Other than that mishap I have been happy with the camera except for the design of the flip-up flash.

My major concern, right now, is the ability to turn on and off the camera while it is in the waterproof housing. Since all have proprietary rechargeable batteries, I am concerned about battery life on a long water trip, such as a multiday raft/kayak trip or a liveaboard without adequate recharging source. I have been very happy with the Olympus products for years, but I know that once in the waterproof housing the Olympus is on the entire time. I am currently leaning toward the Cannon since it is the smallest of the three. From your research on the article , can you tell me if it is possible to turn on and off the Cannon while it is in the waterproof housing?

Any other opinions that you have regarding digital cameras or comments form other readers would be appreciated.>>

There are many new solutions since this article appeared. I'd love to hear from those of you who are happy with a particular set-up.

Thanks.

Interesting question.

I have the Canon S400 but not the underwater case (I think it's the WPDC800). The camera is super easy to turn on - just push a button. So I'll be a case of beer that the housing has a button on it to turn the camera on.

One thing you might want to remind the questioner about is the lack of manual control on these cameras. I can't speak about the Oly, but the Sony and the Canon give you NO manual control. So literally all of his shots will be at F2.8 as that's what the camera is going to choose unless he uses a video light or somesuch.

For a few hundred bucks, he can get a camera with manual control that is comparable in size, like the Canon S50, etc.

Cheers

James

Could I suggest the Canon Powershot A80? I've worked up from an A20 to A40 and just lately an A80. I have used all underwater with the Canon housings.

With the A80......

- You don't have the pesky problem of not being able to turn the camera on/off while it's in the case (although looking at the S400 case it does seem to be able to provide this as well), like the Powershot S50.

- You get 4 megapixels.

- You also have the choice of fully automatic, setting only the shutter speed, setting only the aperture, or manually setting both shutter speed and aperture. And then there's the fun little video clip mode, which comes in handy at shark feeding time.

For the money (only $20 more than the S400 at B&H), it's a great little camera for someone who doesn't want to always shoot on manual and doesn't intend on selling their photos - and it's not too big, either.

I agree with Kim. The A80 looks like a very good choice if you're looking for a small camera.

I would like to bring up an argument against the S400 (Ixus) and the A80:

They don't support RAW (Im not 100% sure about the A80 but it would be strange and not fitting to the Canon series Design)

I made the experience that the possibility to do the whitebalancing after the dive is essential for getting good pictures out of a Compact Digicam especially without an external Flash and at the beginning of the learning curve. I would put this on the must have list for a Digicam for UW Use.

If price of the housing is important I would tend to the S Series (not Ixus but S50) it is also rather small and I was very happy with it nthe last 2 years. If this is not a main argument the G Series with an IKE Housing gives even more possibilities. If he is bothered with properiate not long living Batteries (which is a problem with the S Series) a Olympus 5050 or 5060 would be propably a good solution, but I have no experience with them.

Greetings from Germany

One of the guys I dive with has an A70 (pretty much the same as the A80) and the Canon housing for it. It's a nice little rig, compact, and easy to add a handle / tray / strobes to. I don't know if it shoots in RAW though, on our last trip he shot entirely in JPG.

The Canon A Series cameras DO NOT shoot in RAW format - you are correct.

However, the A80 does allow custom white balance and then there's always color correction once you're back on dry land if you don't have an external strobe.

I'd like enhance this thread with some neutral product informations for all three cameras:

http://www.digideep.com/product.php?pType=...a&mID=7&pID=395

http://www.digideep.com/product.php?pType=...&mID=27&pID=581

http://www.digideep.com/product.php?pType=...&mID=34&pID=457

So everybody can get a clue what the cams and housings look like. Note that we still lack pictures for the popular SONY housing and Camera. I am sorry that I am not 100% sure if the on/off control is supported by the housings. Anyway I would recommend the general procedure: Set Auto-Off to 1 minute and turn off the permanent focus (I just know this from Nikon consumer cams). The permanent focus is a tough battery consumer. The Auto-focus should just start it's work once you gently press the kill-button. With many consumer digicams this is not the default setting and people wonder why there batteries run dry so quickly.

I hope this helped a little.