Medic0506
Contributor
So, after much debate I decided to go with the the Canon A570IS with the Canon WP-DC12 underwater housing. For full specs and a good land review on the camera go here Canon PowerShot A570 IS Digital Camera - Full Review - The Imaging Resource!. But as for diving and underwater reviews with examples they were tough to find so here you go.
A quick sidenote. I am not a professional photographer or videographer. I have taken a couple photo classes and understand photography but I am, by no means, an expert.
Photo
So here's a few land based examples.
Using stitch assist you can create some cool panoramas.
Underwater the camera was just as easy to use as on land. The buttons are big and easy to push. All but one button is functional underwater and that button is a button used to send photos from your camera to a compatible printer so if you need to use this function underwater I think it might be time to reevaluate your dive plan.
The white balance worked very well even if a white dive slate was not available to set the balance. I just pointed the camera at something remotely white and clicked set white balance and it worked quite well. Cool Shark pic.
Some wider shots.
As with any P&S camera I found the flash being so close to the lens created a lot of backscatter (even with the diffuser on). Here is an example with flash.
Now without flash.
As for macro photography I found this camera is great! Here is a couple of examples.
Quick sidenote about the flash. When the flash is on full force or if the batteries are starting to get low, flash recycle can take a bit long. This is one of the few downfalls of the camera but it's not too inconvenient.
now for video...
Video
The video is pretty good on land, however it is limited. You do have the option of 15, 30, or 60 frames per second (fps) and two video sizes. Obviously the larger the video size or greater the fps the greater the file size. With the 60 fps you can only use the smaller video size. I found that the size of the videos are manageable and without additional encoding you get about 100mb/min at 30fps with the larger video size. Here is an example of the video quality with some editting and overly dramatic music.
Stage6 · Sharks!*-*Video and Download*·*medic0506!
My only complaint about the video is the inability to alter the white balance. That is evident in the sharks video. You can see the difference between the shark pic and the video. The land video is also great. Here is an example.
Stage6 · land test*-*Video and Download*·*medic0506
Sound is suprisingly good on the video when in the housing as the land test shows.
Overall
Storage is good on the camera and, I believe it can take up to a 4 gb card (if not an 8 gb). A full quality photo is about 3 mb or so and like I said the video (@30 fps and full size) is 100 mb/min.
The camera is a little battery hungry. USE NIMH BATTERIES. With NiMH (2500mAH) I got through two dives with this camera without having to replace them (shooting video, photos, and reviewing them).
Conclusion
Overall this camera is awesome (especially for being $300 with housing). It does great photos, good video, and it has many modes for you to grow with from auto to full manual. My only two complaints about the camera is it's inability to adjust white balance while in video mode and the (sometimes) long flash recycle time. Other than that the camera is perfect for the non-professional, recreational diver looking to either just take some pictures underwater or learn underwater photography basics.
A quick sidenote. I am not a professional photographer or videographer. I have taken a couple photo classes and understand photography but I am, by no means, an expert.
Photo
So here's a few land based examples.
Using stitch assist you can create some cool panoramas.
Underwater the camera was just as easy to use as on land. The buttons are big and easy to push. All but one button is functional underwater and that button is a button used to send photos from your camera to a compatible printer so if you need to use this function underwater I think it might be time to reevaluate your dive plan.
The white balance worked very well even if a white dive slate was not available to set the balance. I just pointed the camera at something remotely white and clicked set white balance and it worked quite well. Cool Shark pic.
Some wider shots.
As with any P&S camera I found the flash being so close to the lens created a lot of backscatter (even with the diffuser on). Here is an example with flash.
Now without flash.
As for macro photography I found this camera is great! Here is a couple of examples.
Quick sidenote about the flash. When the flash is on full force or if the batteries are starting to get low, flash recycle can take a bit long. This is one of the few downfalls of the camera but it's not too inconvenient.
now for video...
Video
The video is pretty good on land, however it is limited. You do have the option of 15, 30, or 60 frames per second (fps) and two video sizes. Obviously the larger the video size or greater the fps the greater the file size. With the 60 fps you can only use the smaller video size. I found that the size of the videos are manageable and without additional encoding you get about 100mb/min at 30fps with the larger video size. Here is an example of the video quality with some editting and overly dramatic music.
Stage6 · Sharks!*-*Video and Download*·*medic0506!
My only complaint about the video is the inability to alter the white balance. That is evident in the sharks video. You can see the difference between the shark pic and the video. The land video is also great. Here is an example.
Stage6 · land test*-*Video and Download*·*medic0506
Sound is suprisingly good on the video when in the housing as the land test shows.
Overall
Storage is good on the camera and, I believe it can take up to a 4 gb card (if not an 8 gb). A full quality photo is about 3 mb or so and like I said the video (@30 fps and full size) is 100 mb/min.
The camera is a little battery hungry. USE NIMH BATTERIES. With NiMH (2500mAH) I got through two dives with this camera without having to replace them (shooting video, photos, and reviewing them).
Conclusion
Overall this camera is awesome (especially for being $300 with housing). It does great photos, good video, and it has many modes for you to grow with from auto to full manual. My only two complaints about the camera is it's inability to adjust white balance while in video mode and the (sometimes) long flash recycle time. Other than that the camera is perfect for the non-professional, recreational diver looking to either just take some pictures underwater or learn underwater photography basics.
