RAW capable compact for underwater photo?

[dfx]

I nabbed a Canon S100 on Black Friday a couple of years ago and together with a cheap Meikon housing it makes for a powerful combo for under $350.

 

[scubastingray]

I nabbed a Canon S100 on Black Friday a couple of years ago and together with a cheap Meikon housing it makes for a powerful combo for under $350.

How do you like it? I've been looking at the Meike/Meikon housings and have really been contemplating U/W setups. Right now I'm considering the P7000 and the housing, which would set me back about $200 (used p7000 and new housing). I really wanted to get a J1 but the housing blocks the flash and that obviously kills any optical slave strobes.
What else was on your short list, or what would you buy today on a super tight budget to get you started?

 

[dfx]

How do you like it?

Couldn't be happier with it for the money that I spent. Picture quality is great and the housing has been holding up perfectly. The extra features are real nice to have (full manual, JPEG+RAW, manual WB or a underwater WB preset that works quite well, a custom saved shooting mode, focus tracking, etc etc) and it even takes nice videos. Battery life is plenty for my uses, even with the internal flash on.

Which brings me to my only complaint about it: The flash can be real slow to recharge. I prefer not to fiddle with the settings too much while diving, so I'd rather leave the flash on all the time even when not needed. But when you shoot into the distance (i.e. too far for the flash to have much effect), the flash will fire at full strength and then you have to wait several seconds until you can take another picture. No such problem if you remember to turn off the flash. I have no idea how this affects the use with external strobes.

I've been looking at the Meike/Meikon housings and have really been contemplating U/W setups.

I believe there's two different models of the same(?) housing, one with a 67mm thread at the front and one without. I have the one without thread (identical to the Canon housing), which has the benefit of leaving more room for the internal flash, but if you want to put any wet lenses on it, you need to get an additional adapter (which is quite pricey and a bit flimsy), which then blocks the flash again. Of course if you're doing macro and get close enough, then the internal flash is of not much use anyway... No problems when you have external strobes of course.

What else was on your short list, or what would you buy today on a super tight budget to get you started?

Not much to be honest, as my single most important criterion was that the housing had to be less expensive than the camera. :tongue: I had my eye on S90 and S100... S110 was just out and no cheap housings were available yet at that time. I don't remember looking at any other comparable camera with affordable housings, and I didn't wanna go for used stuff.

 

[jscan1]

I have the P7100 and the Fantasea Housing, Great setup . Full manual control, and RAW makes it very versatile. Here are a few shots I've taken with it

 

[scubastingray]

Couldn't be happier with it for the money that I spent. Picture quality is great and the housing has been holding up perfectly. The extra features are real nice to have (full manual, JPEG+RAW, manual WB or a underwater WB preset that works quite well, a custom saved shooting mode, focus tracking, etc etc) and it even takes nice videos. Battery life is plenty for my uses, even with the internal flash on.

Which brings me to my only complaint about it: The flash can be real slow to recharge. I prefer not to fiddle with the settings too much while diving, so I'd rather leave the flash on all the time even when not needed. But when you shoot into the distance (i.e. too far for the flash to have much effect), the flash will fire at full strength and then you have to wait several seconds until you can take another picture. No such problem if you remember to turn off the flash. I have no idea how this affects the use with external strobes.


I believe there's two different models of the same(?) housing, one with a 67mm thread at the front and one without. I have the one without thread (identical to the Canon housing), which has the benefit of leaving more room for the internal flash, but if you want to put any wet lenses on it, you need to get an additional adapter (which is quite pricey and a bit flimsy), which then blocks the flash again. Of course if you're doing macro and get close enough, then the internal flash is of not much use anyway... No problems when you have external strobes of course.


Not much to be honest, as my single most important criterion was that the housing had to be less expensive than the camera. :tongue: I had my eye on S90 and S100... S110 was just out and no cheap housings were available yet at that time. I don't remember looking at any other comparable camera with affordable housings, and I didn't wanna go for used stuff.

Thanks for the info. Crazy housing prices have kept me out of the market previously.

I have the P7100 and the Fantasea Housing, Great setup . Full manual control, and RAW makes it very versatile. Here are a few shots I've taken with itView attachment 182341View attachment 182342

Very cool. The p7000 is very similar to the p7100, right?

I have a d300s and d70, but there's no way I can pony up the $1500 for a dslr housing. I'm hoping for something cheaper that will still give decent results.

 

[PatW]

Canon has the G series, which I think is up to G 16 now. I have a G 11 which is a nice camera. What I like about it is it handles a bit like an SLR. If you have an SLR background that just feels right.

 

[jscan1]

Thanks for the info. Crazy housing prices have kept me out of the market previously.


Very cool. The p7000 is very similar to the p7100, right?

I have a d300s and d70, but there's no way I can pony up the $1500 for a dslr housing. I'm hoping for something cheaper that will still give decent results.

Very similar, in most ways the same, although it may be worth doing a search on the differences, I think they made a few changes to the P7100 that really improve underwater performance, and you can get the P7100 and Fantasea FP7100 pretty cheap as well