Canon 880IS vs. A720?

[drrich2]

Hi:

My wife, buddy & I are recreational divers with an upcoming Bonaire trip. We've been once before, a couple of years ago. We used a Canon A620 (underwater scene mode, built-in flash only) in Canon underwater housing, and a Sea Life DC 500 and an external strobe (the A620 performed well; the DC 500 wasn't impressive - poor color, not sharp).

This time, my wife's got a Canon SD1000 and Canon case (we haven't really tried it well yet; I'd like to know how it'll do), we've got the A620, and I'm thinking we need another camera & underwater case.

So I'm torn. The DC800 seems well-regarded by some, but gets some bad reviews on here from others.

The A720 is the successor to my 620, but it would be a bit redundant outside of diving.

A Canon 880IS would offer me a truly 'pocketable' camera, a 28mm wide angle lens built-in, and yet I've got to wonder whether the built-in flash would be a lot weaker.

We are strictly point-and-shoot people. We don't do manual settings, manual white-balance, optional add-on lenses, that sort of thing. Don't plan to start, either. Underwater photography is already so engrossing for me that I don't anticipate getting into manual settings (which I hardly even do on land photography).

So, any thoughts on which way I should go, or whather there's a much better option out there for the money?

Either of these 2 options should run about $450. I'm sure a G10 in an Ikelite housing with external strobe would be more powerful, but that just isn't going to happen!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Richard.

 

[drrich2]

Hi:

Well, since I haven't gleaned any other answers, I'll post a bit of what I've picked up rooting around old forum threads, in case someone else comes to this thread later via a 'Search' function or the like.

The 880 is the successor to the 870, which was very similar and mentioned in a number of forum threads. It's currently much more productive to skim over threads discussing the 870 than the 880.

The 880 and 870 are SD series cameras; evidently a number of people really like the 870, but I believe it was Alcina who pointed out the SD series cameras don't have much manual control options, whereas the A series and G series do. Manual control capability is important to her, and it often becomes important to others over time.

The SD series does not have a hot shoe, which is apt to mean no TTL option if you buy an Ikelite housing and external strobe, whereas a G series camera might provide that option. You don't get such an option with Canon's own brand cases regardless of which compact (non-SLR) camera you're using.

Unfortunately I didn't see much comparing the usefulness of the internal flashes of the SD870 and the A720, for example, or whether having the lens and flash closer together increased the issue of backscatter in shots.

Richard.

 

[WetEar]

Interestingly enough, I've recently had to make the exact same choice. In the end I chose the A720IS. Why?

For a few reasons. One was that I'd initially thought the camera would be "dual purpose", ie I'd use it both underwater & above. But the more I read & the more I thought, I realised in reality it would be mainly an underwater camera. I read that the 880 isn't actually a great put-in-your-pocket camera, because it has a nasty habit of being easily switched on in your pocket, and when that happens the lens tries to extend, it can't because it's inside a pocket, and the camera breaks! Well, that kinda sucks, and obviously limits the usefullness of the 880.

Also, whenever you take a camera underwater, there's a risk, slight but present, that you'll flood it. Read these forums and you'll see plenty of threads to that effect. So your underwater camera *cannot* be your only camera. Even if you're on vacation you'll need to bring two cameras; one for underwater and one for above, so that if you flood your underwater camera you'll still be able to take your vacation snaps.

Those two reasons led me to conclude that whatever I bought was essentially going to be an underwater camera first & foremost, and any above-water use would be very much a secondary consideration.

So with that understanding, how to choose? Reading the many threads on this board made me realise that although I'm not a manual-settings kind of guy, having an aperture-priority or a shutter-priority mode is very very useful. In fact, that's the mode you end up using a great deal underwater. It's not full-manual, but it's semi-manual. Otherwise, in full-auto, you're just not going to get the results you'd expect. I know, because my previous underwater camera was full-auto only, and I wasn't happy (I ended up selling it). Let's say that although I don't want full manual, I want the ability to constrain the camera so that it doesn't try to automatically do ISO400 F2.8 as an example. Having an aperture or shutter-priority mode is extremely useful underwater.

That rules out the 880.

The 720 has very stable support for CHDK. Being able to shoot RAW is really handy so you can easily colour-correct your photos later. I use picasa - it's free, and very simple to use for correcting white-balance on a raw image. If all you can shoot are jpg's, like with the 880, get ready to do lots of manual white-balances while underwater. That's a taskloading you don't need. And if your jpg white-balances aren't close, you're often out of luck, because with a jpg image your ability to correct colours afterwards is certainly pretty limited compared to a RAW image. For underwater use, RAW is a fairly big deal.

Those are the big ones. I ended up purchasing a canon reconditioned a720 from adorama for $150 (much cheaper than an 880 too! ) I hope this helps.

 

[popsiclediver]

I was looking for a replacement for my Sealife DC500..decided on the SD880IS and Canon Housing.
I am very impressed with the 880, and do not understand how it could possible be switched on in your pocket, as the on/off button is a recessed 'push' located immediately between the 'mode' switch and the shutter...
it takes FAR better shots than the DC500...and virtually no shutter lag. Thats what drove me nuts about the DC500-that and the shutter button position..I cannot tell you how many shots I missed because I turned the darned thing off, instead of shoot.
Yes you have to use 2 hands to switch some settings underwater, but the housing is compact and tight, though does not feel as 'rugged' as the Sealife...BUT, i want to take better pics, so Im more careful with the housing...
I am by no means a 'photographer' underwater, and the only time the two handed switching became a hassle was in Cozumel current.
I am happy with the choice, and if anyones wants, I have a DC500 for sale...

 

[NWDiverBob]

I would also go with the 720. I like the idea of having a dual role camera and was also looking seriously at the 880 for above and below the water. While it can be done, I think it's best to have separate cameras. The 720 is a great camera and it is cheap. The manual controls are there if you want them and you can get a strobe slaved off of the internal flash. I have a 570 using just the internal flash. In our green waters, macro shots are all that I can pull off. It did perform well in Belize though. Good luck.

 

[Hatul]

Hi:

My wife, buddy & I are recreational divers with an upcoming Bonaire trip. We've been once before, a couple of years ago. We used a Canon A620 (underwater scene mode, built-in flash only) in Canon underwater housing, and a Sea Life DC 500 and an external strobe (the A620 performed well; the DC 500 wasn't impressive - poor color, not sharp).

This time, my wife's got a Canon SD1000 and Canon case (we haven't really tried it well yet; I'd like to know how it'll do), we've got the A620, and I'm thinking we need another camera & underwater case.

So I'm torn. The DC800 seems well-regarded by some, but gets some bad reviews on here from others.

The A720 is the successor to my 620, but it would be a bit redundant outside of diving.

A Canon 880IS would offer me a truly 'pocketable' camera, a 28mm wide angle lens built-in, and yet I've got to wonder whether the built-in flash would be a lot weaker.

We are strictly point-and-shoot people. We don't do manual settings, manual white-balance, optional add-on lenses, that sort of thing. Don't plan to start, either. Underwater photography is already so engrossing for me that I don't anticipate getting into manual settings (which I hardly even do on land photography).

So, any thoughts on which way I should go, or whather there's a much better option out there for the money?

Either of these 2 options should run about $450. I'm sure a G10 in an Ikelite housing with external strobe would be more powerful, but that just isn't going to happen!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Richard.

I like using the same camera underwater as above, so I went with an SD camera. Underwater I use the Canon housing and the Ikelite AF35 wireless strobe.

I like the single camera system, because digital cameras are complicated and I'd rather get to know one camera than having to learn to use two.

Adam