Canon S100 macro help?

Hi Folks,

My wife got a brand new shiny Canon S100 and a FIX housing from Santa for Christmas and we're wondering what the best approach is for macro images. We'll be using an older S&S 110 strobe and plan to use an all manual set up for her to start. I'm curious about the sharpest settings for macro images. I have a Subsee +5 and 10 she'd like to play with too. We'd really appreciate any advice on preferred optical zoom settings and aperture to get her started so she can practise before we head to Lembeh in May.

Cheers,

Steve

if you are using the subsee - set the aperture to 8 (maximum), zoom to the maximum and set the shutter speed to 100 or more.

This is roughly the seting I'm using (with Epoque instead of subsee).

Hi Steve and congratulations on your purchase I am jealous you are going to lembeh!!

Onto your questions out of the box the s100 don't do ttl in manual and manual is what you need for macro

If you look around on google for CHDK ttl canon s95 you should find information on a script I have adapted for the canon hack that will enable ttl in manual

If you don't manage or your strobe doesn't work in ttl with the s100 your starting point is the camera without a diooter and for super macro the subsee +5 unless you have Pygmy seahorse and you want to try the +10 this should also make it easier to focus especially if you don't have a focus light that I warmly recommend

Settings

ISO 80 after all is a small sensor camera you want to keep noise to the minimum

Aperture f8 the subsee are powerful and bring high magnification without you may keep to 6.3

Shutter 1/250 or higher as at high magnification the minimum movement result in motion blur this still gives you some blue background against water otherwise 1/500 for black background

Zoom wise I recommend working at full zoom and finding the working distance otherwise you may end up on top of the critters

I recommend you practice on land with the diopters to determine the working distance at full zoom as that will make it much easier to focus basically once you see it magnified on the LCD you shoot to that respect set the magnification are to small

Happy shooting

Thanks guys! I appreciate the help. I'm assuming when you say maximum zoom you mean max optical zoom, yes? First thing I figured out is we're definitely going to need a tray and handle. I have to say I'm very impressed with this setup so far. The shutter delay is much less than I expected, especially when I use the little Sola. The whole rig can be purchased now for less than $1000 USD, housing and camera. 12 megapixel, very capable system and it's the size of my old Nikonos. Fun stuff!

Cheers,

Steve

Steve definitely get a good tray and arm. Ultralight control system work for me the S95 set up we have has a TR-DM tray and a TR-DHB handle with 5"+5" arm segments

You will need a good number of STIX floats as this is pretty negative fora compact.