Hatul
Contributor
I'm looking to replace my Canon S95 which I flooded through carelessness. Looking for recommendations. I'm considering the Canon S120 or the G16, but open to other makes.
Best current Point and Shoot
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People seem to like the DC1400 from Sealife
The problem is new cameras are coming out so fast it is hard to keep up, lol. The most popular are the Sony RX100, and now Sony RX100II, the Canon S110/120, and Lumix LX7. The G15 is a good choice but a little bigger than some of it's competitors if you are looking for a true pocket camera. All these are great above water as well as below and have a range of housings* available. If you like wide angle I would lean to the Sony, if macro is a favorite than the Canon and the LX7 if you are really into video.
If you are looking for something with the same ease of use get an S120 not an S110 the S120 has better battery life
Both the G16 and LX7 are excellent cameras but bigger than the S95 and will not fit in a pocket
The RX100M2 is the best of the lot but will need you adjusting your shooting style and is less forgiving harder to use for macro
Both the G16 and LX7 are excellent cameras but bigger than the S95 and will not fit in a pocket
The RX100M2 is the best of the lot but will need you adjusting your shooting style and is less forgiving harder to use for macro
K
KeithG
Guest
One area you might consider is the availability of a hot shoe. As I progressed in my underwater photo skills I became frustrated by the cycle time of the internal flash powering my optical cable strobes. Fortunately my P&S had a hotshoe, so it was capable of wired manual flash operation (but needed a housing bulkhead upgrade).
The larger cameras generally have a hotshoe (g16 lx7,...) but the smaller cameras (s120) do not.
Not sure if you care or have thought about this, but it was one area that allowed me to cheaply upgrade my P&S without throwing it all away and starting over.
The larger cameras generally have a hotshoe (g16 lx7,...) but the smaller cameras (s120) do not.
Not sure if you care or have thought about this, but it was one area that allowed me to cheaply upgrade my P&S without throwing it all away and starting over.
OP
Hatul
Contributor
The new generation S120 and G16 are not in stores yet, and housings are not available yet either. Canon housings are due at end of month. I was able to compare the G15 and I liked that it has the hotshoe, though my current strobe is the Ikelite AF35 which cannot use it, but at least it gives me the option in the future. Also it has two Custom memory modes compared to the S series, which has only one. I find the memory mode very useful for changing the settings to underwater mode.
Sizewise the G15 is only a little bigger than the S but it is much heavier 12.6 oz vs 7.65 oz. Also is the consideration of housings access to the functions. Canon housing for the S95 accesses everything except the rear ring, which can be mapped to two key presses. I'm not sure about the G series housing, and not familiar with third part housings.
Also I believe only the Ikelite housing allows cable TTL link to the flash for the G15.
Sizewise the G15 is only a little bigger than the S but it is much heavier 12.6 oz vs 7.65 oz. Also is the consideration of housings access to the functions. Canon housing for the S95 accesses everything except the rear ring, which can be mapped to two key presses. I'm not sure about the G series housing, and not familiar with third part housings.
Also I believe only the Ikelite housing allows cable TTL link to the flash for the G15.
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I can buy both canon cameras here in UK
The hot shoe is mostly useful at wide end when you shoot a full strobe but only really for cameras that don't have a manual strobe setting
With canon you can set the strobe to manual slave and the internal flash to minimum and get many many shots
The wired strobe does not really add a lot of benefit to those kind of camera
Instead on the lx7 and rx100 that don't have a manual setting for the internal strobe the wired connection can be quite useful as the battery gets drained at wide end
For macro there is never an issue as the strobe is at minimum
The hot shoe is mostly useful at wide end when you shoot a full strobe but only really for cameras that don't have a manual strobe setting
With canon you can set the strobe to manual slave and the internal flash to minimum and get many many shots
The wired strobe does not really add a lot of benefit to those kind of camera
Instead on the lx7 and rx100 that don't have a manual setting for the internal strobe the wired connection can be quite useful as the battery gets drained at wide end
For macro there is never an issue as the strobe is at minimum
OP
Hatul
Contributor
Thanks for all the info. I went with the Canon G16 ($550 Amazon) and the Canon housing ($250 B&H Photo). Only the Canon housing is available at this time and it's the least expensive. I'm going to use this with my old Ikelite AF35 strobe for now with the same Av settings as with my old S95. Likely will need a new insert to mount the housing in the Ikelite tray so my first photos will be with internal strobe.
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