New to UWP - Canon G9

[CapsFan22]

On a recent trip to Hawaii, I was able to rent a camera and learn that I enjoyed shooting pictures. I began researching affordable options to get into UW Photography, and then realized that I had a Canon Powershot G9 in the back of my closet from years ago.

Fortunately, I was able to find a used Ikelite housing for it on eBay for $55, so at this point I really haven't spent a whole lot of money to get started.

I've been trying to read as much as I can about the topic of UWP and photography in general, but being new to it, a lot of this stuff can get confusing.

I've decided that I would like to get a strobe.

I guess my question is, if you were me, where would you go from here?

Canon G9
Ikelite Housing
Wants a strobe

What kind of strobe would you be looking at? Perhaps, what specific strobe would you choose, and why? What support system will I need for said strobe? Are there additional pieces I will need? Would there be something else you would be looking to buy to make using this camera more enjoyable?

Also, how do camera's plus housing and strobes affect weighting needs? I've read that the Ikelite housing is fairly heavy, so will I be adjusting my weighting needs, or is it not that significant?

Regarding budget, all included I'd like to keep the cost below $500. I realize this is an expensive hobby, but I'm not willing to throw thousands of dollars at it right off the bat.

Thanks for any help!

 

[fmerkel]

First, take the empty Ikelite on a dive and make sure it's water tight.

 

[KeithG]

On a recent trip to Hawaii, I was able to rent a camera and learn that I enjoyed shooting pictures. I began researching affordable options to get into UW Photography, and then realized that I had a Canon Powershot G9 in the back of my closet from years ago.

Fortunately, I was able to find a used Ikelite housing for it on eBay for $55, so at this point I really haven't spent a whole lot of money to get started.

I've been trying to read as much as I can about the topic of UWP and photography in general, but being new to it, a lot of this stuff can get confusing.

I've decided that I would like to get a strobe.

I guess my question is, if you were me, where would you go from here?

Canon G9
Ikelite Housing
Wants a strobe

What kind of strobe would you be looking at? Perhaps, what specific strobe would you choose, and why? What support system will I need for said strobe? Are there additional pieces I will need? Would there be something else you would be looking to buy to make using this camera more enjoyable?

Also, how do camera's plus housing and strobes affect weighting needs? I've read that the Ikelite housing is fairly heavy, so will I be adjusting my weighting needs, or is it not that significant?

Regarding budget, all included I'd like to keep the cost below $500. I realize this is an expensive hobby, but I'm not willing to throw thousands of dollars at it right off the bat.

Thanks for any help!

Your camera and housing are a great starter kit. You have a great photo foundation. Awesome! Your gear is a few years old, but as long as it works properly it is capable of capturing better pictures than you can take (that is a meant as a challenge, not a slam).

Adding a strobe generally means (pissing away large handfuls of money on) the following:
- a tray
- an arm system
- a strobe thingy

All 3 of these can cost big bucks. Or not. Please feel free to ask lots of questions about all of them.

When thinking about strobes, the first thing is that you need a "digital ready" strobe. Most recent strobes are, but there are lots of old (cheap & reliable) strobes that are not. I only raise this issue since the3 G9 is "old:".

SO: learn about digital ready strobes (really this means being able to handle the digital camera's preflash), ask about tray and arm systems.

I like S&S strobes, ball arms and a dual arm tray, YMMV.

 

[Hoag]

First, take the empty Ikelite on a dive and make sure it's water tight.

Great advice. I would also suggest getting a couple new o-rings and then replace the existing o-ring and have a couple spares on hand. You never know when an o-ring will need to be replaced and it will never happen when it is convenient, so having a spare or 2 is not a bad idea.

 

[Diver Dave1]

Welcome to the addiction!
I may just be your new best friend.

I also have a G9 that I used to use diving. I used the Canon housing for it. I have an aluminum ring that fits onto the canon housing by friction. The ring has 67mm threads on the front, allowing close-up lenses, etc to be used.
I no longer use the ring and have no idea if it fits your rig. The ring has an inner rubber O-ring for the friction fit. Both the ring and the lens section it fits on are 3.196" as best as I can measure.
I can offer it to you at a really low cost of you are interested.

I still use the G9 and housing for canoe trips, etc so I cannot offer that to go with it.

I also have a tray, its matching extention plus 2 handles that I no longer use. I can offer them to you at a really good price as well.
Below are links to what I have to offer. I got them from Reef photo and here are their pics of them and you can see the prices for new parts.
New: tray is 40, extension is 30, handles are 50 each for a total of $170 new plus shipping.
Mine looks new as I only used it for a short time then moved to a DSLR
I will sell it all to you for $120 including the extra ring and shipping.
Let me know if you are interested. I can send pics of the actual rig but it looks new so these pics match the parts.

ULCS TR-DHB Padded Handle w/ Ball for Digital Tray [ulc.tr.dhb] - $49.95 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros


ULCS TR-DUP Digital Double Tray Upgrade [ulc.tr.dup] - $30.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

ULCS TR-D Digital Tray [ulc.tr.d] - $39.95 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros
As to what strobe(s) to get, get the strongest, widest angle strobe you can afford. Spend a bit extra if you need it. If you buy half the strobe you need for half the price, you are still the entire new price away from what you want. Start with one then when you save enough up, get a second one.
I would suggest the Inon Z240 but they stopped making them. Grrr.
You might consider the Inon D-2000 S-TTL. Its under $500.

 

[Chris Ross]

Consider 2 x S-2000 strobes, very compact, trigger them with fibre optics and search around for a reasonable priced tray to hold them. They are small enough you can get locline arms to hold them. You'll need a stick on kit to trigger them from the on board flash of the G9. They will do TTL or you can probably do manual flash. The odd thing with Canon compacts is you can't do manual exposure and auto-TTL on the built in flash. So if you try to do TTL you'll need to research a way to keep the shutter speed higher.

Maybe get a new battery for the G9, sitting around unused it may have lost capacity.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Canons are great little cameras. I have an S110 and by paying scupilous attention to white balance and manually adjusting it every few mts I get what I consider to be perfectly acceptable photos , like froggy below, without a strobe and without Lightroom or similar down to 30mts plus.

Enjoy the wonderful world of uw photography.

 

[PatW]

You might try buying an ikelite DS 51 strobe used. It uses 4 aa batteries. It can use rechargeable batteries. I found fooling with batteries drove me nuts. I use the Ike D800 strobe and it its own battery but it is big and pricey.

I would suggest shooting in manual. Check your histograms after the shot. It tells you if the exposure is ok. Always shoot in RAW. RAW allows for you to adjust white balance in post processing. It is a bit time consuming to do so but the shots are much better.

If I recall right, you can get a wet lens to enhance your macro performance.

The major draw back with this system is shutter lag. Moving fish are hard to get a shutter lock on.

I used a G10 years ago and I really liked it. If you just want to get snap shots, it will be as much as you might ever want. If you want to get serious, it is good enough for you to learn on and it will give you a good idea of where to go next. I now shoot with a full frame DSLR called Boat Anchor 2.0.

A couple of cautions: it is really easy to get task loaded taking photos under water. Some people have died because they lost track of the fact that they were diving. I have to force myself to routinely and regularly check as part of my process.

The second thing is housings are easy to flood. The Ike housings are transparent so you can often see a leak. I have heard that grape kool aide turns from white to,purple if it gets damp. I know of a guy who uses a little as a flood indicator. I never tried it.

If you get a more advanced system, I would highly recommend getting a vacuum lock system. Such a thing tells you if you have a good seal and will alert you if you are losing the seal.

 

[Deitsch]

I agree with the Inon S2000 as a nice inexpensive strobe. They don't have great power if you want to shoot lots of wide angle but are great for macro.

As for your question about weight, you want to add buoyancy to your rig to get it either neutrally buoyant or slightly negatively buoyant. You can find floats that go onto your strobe arms that are made from a dense foam material for about $35. Don't try to DIY this with some sort of swimming pool noodle. They will crush at depth and give you no buoyancy. I prefer to have my camera slightly negative when shooting macro and neutral when shooting wide angle but you can play with your rig and adjust as needed.