Best Canon?

[Fouremco]

I'm in the market for my first UW camera and case, and was leaning towards an S80 until I found out that Canon was no longer making it and none were available locally any more. Any suggestions as to the best alternative in the same approximate price range? Doesn't have to be Canon, tho I suspect that most of those reading Canon Corner would be pro-Canon.

 

[Jamdiver]

Hey Fouremco,

This is an incredibly open ended question that you've posed, but since you mentioned the S80 that narrows things down considerably.

Digital cameras are always going out of production... even the latest and greatest model is but a year away from obsolescence with the current rate of change in the compact end of the market.

I would still go with the S80, just because it's no longer being made doesn't mean that you can't find it in stores.
And I also suspect that the Canon housing can be easily found on online retailers for months/years to come.
Ikelite also manufactures a housing for it.

There are also the A series cameras from Canon, the A520,A540, A620 and so on..
Of those i'd recommend the A620, manual control, wonderful image quality, quick operation et cetera..
But that is also out of production ..
One big drawback of the A620 is that in the canon housing it's not possible to add external third party lenses such as macro or wide angle.
You'd have to get the Ikelite housing to do that..

So in order of preference noting that you mentioned Canon in the title.
I'd go with.

1. Canon S80
2. Canon A620
3. Canon A540

Have a look at Dpreview's canon section, that should give you an idea of all the current cameras.

 

[alo100]

Hey Fouremco,
Digital cameras are always going out of production... even the latest and greatest model is but a year away from obsolescence with the current rate of change in the compact end of the market.

The solution offered by the camera manufacturers is always DSLR first, then prosumer and P&S. It's not like they don't have the technology for prosumer models, just if the quality of prosumer has to advance from generation to generation, the gap between prosumer & DSLR is going to become narrower, and some customers will go for the prosumer product.

In spite of the market strategy, it make a lot of sense for the prosumer cameras to go UW, size, cost of housing etc. Unlike the on land situation, we are not going to change lens as needed as in the DSLR case, when this advantage is taken away, the compact DC's is a good choice for UW. Of course the DSLR can still reach a higher image quality, but IMO it does not justify why DSLR should be the only candidate for UW in the future. I noticed that the camera manufacturers may not like to see people using their cameras and started to buy wet lens, housing and strobes from Inon and Ikelite etc; however, I would still say that providing providing a better solution and always going to win, attempting to drive the consumers to fit their own business model would eventually yield that piece of market share to the others. We'll see in the near future. Just an example, if Canon is making wetlens which gives higher image quality than the other wet lens manufacturer, which one would you choose?

Although what we are seeing is the cut of product lines, lower battery capacity and less angle range for the lens etc. for the next generation prosumers, the manufacturers who are willing to stay and offer proper prosumer products would get the market share.

 

[ScubaKat11]

It all depends on what you want. If you want 4 MP I got the A520 and loving it. If you want small the try the SD400. My mom loves it's size. so know what you want on the camera then go shopping for the one that has the most important things thata you want on it.

 

[greenflash1]

You can find the S80 online anytime. Its a great Camera and the Canon housing is really nice.

 

[Grajan]

Where did you get the information that the S80 is no longer being made? It is the most recent addition to their Powershot lineup and will probably be there for a number of years. It and the housing are widely available.

I'm in the market for my first UW camera and case, and was leaning towards an S80 until I found out that Canon was no longer making it and none were available locally any more. Any suggestions as to the best alternative in the same approximate price range? Doesn't have to be Canon, tho I suspect that most of those reading Canon Corner would be pro-Canon.

 

[likelite]

This may be a dum-dum question, but can I use an Ike strobe with the S80 (if I buy an Ike housing), and does it have TTL...?

 

[boxer]

Hi!
I´m A diver with big D. But never ever been intrested in photografing until few years ago I was but a S70 in my hand and said take photos underwater. Then I realized that it made diving to upper levels and diving more challenging esp. developed bouyance control.
Now I own a Canon S80 with the housing. But I have to two particulate problems with it. First I´d like to get a better quality photos esp. (you dive community guys) from eagle rays and others. Should I get additional lenses or something else take sharper pictures.

Second question. Since I pose a Adobe Photoshop Elements Prem. Should I be worried that I can´t get the photos in raw file form instead of jpeg to edit my shots with my computer?

Wondering Boxer

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I'm in the market for my first UW camera and case, and was leaning towards an S80 until I found out that Canon was no longer making it and none were available locally any more. Any suggestions as to the best alternative in the same approximate price range? Doesn't have to be Canon, tho I suspect that most of those reading Canon Corner would be pro-Canon.

Hey bud, since we're in the same corner of the globe...........

I recently purchased an S80, Ike housing, strobe ds-125, and Inon WAL myself. The S80's are still kicking around.

Other than some rather silly button issues with the camera, which in turn makes it a little tough for Ike to have to deal with on their housings........I have no complaints really. I've used a couple other camera's and housings, so I would say this isn't the most easiest one I've ever used. Don't forget however, it would be a breeze without gloves, but that's not in the cards for what we do around here, where 40'F is considered the norm.

I've used it on about 6 dives so far and if you pop over to www.ontariodiving.com , you'll find a bunch of discussion and a few photo's that would probably help you a lot. They've got some excellent and knowledgeable photographers there, and they've helped me a lot.

I also wouldn't bother with the Canon housing when comparing it to the Ike. They're pennies apart really, and you get so much more with the Ike.

Drop me a PM if you want to.

Steve R.

 

[CompuDude]

Hi!
I´m A diver with big D. But never ever been intrested in photografing until few years ago I was but a S70 in my hand and said take photos underwater. Then I realized that it made diving to upper levels and diving more challenging esp. developed bouyance control.
Now I own a Canon S80 with the housing. But I have to two particulate problems with it. First I´d like to get a better quality photos esp. (you dive community guys) from eagle rays and others. Should I get additional lenses or something else take sharper pictures.

Second question. Since I pose a Adobe Photoshop Elements Prem. Should I be worried that I can´t get the photos in raw file form instead of jpeg to edit my shots with my computer?

Wondering Boxer

Taking better pictures will come with practice. That camera is capable of it, you just have to learn how to do it over time. Extra lenses aren't really going help. Get close, shoot up, and have lot of light available. All advice that works with any camera underwater.

If you're using the S80, and not the S70, you no longer have raw, so the version of Photoshop you're using irrelevant, because any will work on a jpg. Upgrade if you want the new controls and features, not because you want raw.

The magic white balance of raw would be great to have, but I prefer jpg for simplicity, storage issues, write speed issues, and recycle time. Manually white balance, and you're set. At 8mp, you're going to have a hard time seeing the difference between a raw shot and a jpg shot, at the max settings.