1st dives with S90

[Kevster]

1st Dives with Canon S90

I had to send my G9 away for repair so I decided to splash out on the S90 & the canon housing for my trip to Asia.
I must say I am impressed with the macro performance (just as good as the G9, but with less zoom).

Camera was fast to focus in low light conditions. Macro is so much better than the S80 that I also use. Before buying the S90 I was a little concerned about the layout of key buttons but I must admit that there was no problem using the camera underwater. The front & rear wheel were easy to operate. I used M mode in the photos below. Did not try to manual focus due to the difficult dive conditions.

I attached the Inon UCL 330 macro lens using the FIX adapter I had for my G9. Needed to use some glue and black tape to attach the adapter to the housing.

Only done a couple of dives so far with the S90. I think this is a very nice camera. Although I will prob use my G9 (better focal range) in future for macro dives & use the S90 for topside. I really hope (but remain doubtful) that someone makes an adapter so I can use my Inon UWL & dome with the S90 as it is miles better than the S80 that I can attach the UWL & dome to.

Some samples from PJ dive site in North Bali. Viss was less than 5 m and there was some surge. (Equip- S90, canon housing, Inon UCL330, Fix adapter, Inon D2000 strobe). Was pleased with the results considering it was the 1st time using the camera underwater & the crappy dive conditions. Will be doing a lot more dives in the next 3 weeks so I will post more photos later.


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2370343&id=1151177010

 

[Jorgy]

Can you share the camera settings.........

Focus, red eye, ISO, etc.......

Thanks, M

 

[Kevster]

Due to the crap dive conditions and being lazy i did not experiment to much with the settings but some info for the above
File -Raw
WB- Cloudy
Iso -100
Manual mode
F stop 8.0
Shutter speed 1/160
Zoom - prob about 50-70 %
Flash- full, red eye off, manual strobe setting
Focus- Central, AifI off,macro mode

 

[Nemrod]

Although I will prob use my G9 (better focal range) in future for macro dives & use the S90 for topside. I really hope (but remain doubtful) that someone makes an adapter so I can use my Inon UWL & dome with the S90 as it is miles better than the S80 that I can attach the UWL & dome to

There is but it is the FIX90 housing with their 67mm lens adapter. Wouldn't it be nice though if everybody settled on a universal mount?

The Ikelite housing will also mount your lens and is cost effective.

Nice shots, thank you.

N

 

[dhaas]

Damn nice shots Kevster.

The Canon S90 is a killer camera

Looking forward to more since you live near an ocean!

dhaas

P.S. - Try backing off f-stop to maybe only f6.3. Or even f5.0.

Even with your extra magnification everything I have read about little sensors say detail can be improved without going to f8.

Plus your strobes don't have to put out as much light and thus recycle faster for more shots with a cooperative critter.....

Just my 2 cents

 

[Kevster]

Damn nice shots Kevster.

The Canon S90 is a killer camera

Looking forward to more since you live near an ocean!

dhaas

P.S. - Try backing off f-stop to maybe only f6.3. Or even f5.0.

Even with your extra magnification everything I have read about little sensors say detail can be improved without going to f8.

Plus your strobes don't have to put out as much light and thus recycle faster for more shots with a cooperative critter.....

Just my 2 cents

Dhaas,

Thanks for the tip.
quick question.
I find using the UCL330 really reduces the DOF and that is the reson i normally always use F8 when i shoot with the UCl(to max chance of getting decent focus especially if i go with manual focus). I wonder if the DOF changes much at a lower F stop when using the UCL

 

[dhaas]

kevster,

I don't own any of the INON macro lenses but you could try a dry land test and see if at a set distance with or without your macro lens in front there is any difference in DOF (depth of field) at say f5.0 - 8. I will try some dry tests without any additional lens on my S90 soon.

My initial thought and from what I've read is the DOF is so minimal when you magnify the image that all you may be doing by going to the maximum f-stop, f8, is introducing refraction making the photo look "less sharp".

I equate this to shooting a dSLR and macro lens. I used to shoot f16 and f22 making my strobe work harder to put out more light. Now cameras have better performance with lower noise at higher ISO etc. So I never go past f11.

I also like a bit of "isolation" in focus for my pics but that's just my preference. I find super tack sharp corner to corner images to be technically perfect, but sometimes artistically boring

Just my humble opinion!

I'm sure many here would like to know your results at lower # f-Stops and especially high magnifications showing the tiny world many never see UW.

Good shooting

dhaas

 

[girellator]

There an adaptater made by a french company pDyron and selled by Plongimage , here it is :
Plongimage - Bague M67 pour Canon WP-DC35

but the manufacturer told me that the UWL-100 has some vignetting with tis adapatater and the S90 at 28 mm , at 35 I don't know .I'll ask him Saturday in Paris .
Your pictures are really interesting and as the ones of David show the possibilities of this compact camera .

 

[skynscuba]

Anyone got some good S90 macro pics, without external lenses? I just realized that its minimum focusing distance is 5cm, vs. 1cm for the G11, and am wondering how the S90 does on its own.