Canon G6 underwaterhousing / Canon Ixus70

[Belga]

Ive got a Canon G6 which is a pretty decent camera. Since ive started diving recently im considering underwater photography. As far as im aware no underwater housing is made for the G6.... That being said, a local supermarket chain has advertised the Canon Ixus70 (SD1000) for approx $300 which in my eyes is a pretty decent price. I feel that the G6 is sometimes that little to big for just carrying around while the Ixus is do damn small, i can put it in my shirt pocket.

Thus my questions:
1. Has anyone come across a underwater housing for the G6 ?, or

2. Should i rather go for the Canon Ixus70 - ie is this a decent camera and has anyone used this for underwater photography that can recommend this?

 

[zahner]

Ikelite made a housing for the G6, but it is discontinued: Canon G6 Underwater Housing

I used a SD500, which is quite similar to the SD1000, before upgrading to a G7. The SD500 is a great compact P&S to have in your pocket but the lack of any manual control really limits its usefulness underwater and i think the same would go for the SD1000. You can take good pictures with the SD- series underwater but you will be very limited in your creativity.

If you could find a well maintained used housing for your G6, I think that would a much better option.

 

[Belga]

Thanks for the advice.

Does one use the manual settings a lot for underwater photography? I thought you would pretty much use the fastest shutter speed available as it would be rather difficult to keep the camera still down below.

I user the manual settings on my G6 rarely, as P&S are really not good with depth-photography eg no matter how i set the aperture, you cant really get a good portrait photo while blurring the background

 

[zahner]

I only use manual mode underwater, either Av or Tv, now that I have the G7, I don't necessarily adjust camera settings for every picture of course. The problem with using the fastest shutter speed, is that you will need more light. With the camera on manual mode, it will detect the low light levels underwater and choose a slower shutter speed and your photos will be blurry.

check out Alcina's pink link for a good primer on camera settings