Canon G7x - Why am I so frustrated with it? Help please!

[Snoobles]

I had a Canon S100 for years and loved it and used it with a sea and sea YS d1 strobe and a sola 800 video light. Sadly it suffered from what I think is dive brain as it works a lot slower after say 150 dives with it. This was my 3rd canon camera I have used diving. Normally I shot in underwater mode, RAW and kinda left it in that (i.e. didn't play with aperture or shutter priority - just set some settings like max ISO, and a few other small things.

Since it slowed down I did some research and bought a Canon G7x with a RecSea housing. On a 2 week liveaboard trip in Raja, I realized that the "auto" mode didn't have RAW as an option... so after encouragement from the others on the boat I switched to manual. Not sure I like shooting in manual (don't want to do that much thinking underwater). Issue was it seemed a) most pix were pretty grainy or not that sharp, b) macro focusing (with my 6x macro lens) was much harder, and generally just seemed less cooperative. After reviewing the 5000 pix I took on the trip (3000 underwater) I want to throw the thing away. Pity since the Arenui was a great liveaboard!

Honest - I am not a bad photographer - I have 500 or so dives so it isn't steadiness on my part... I took some pretty kick ass pictures with the S100 and the cameras before that.

I am pretty technologically savvy, and since all the reviews say what a great camera this is, I must assume that it is user error... I would rather not shoot in full manual (maybe aperture or shutter priority.... ideally neither and just take pix)... So:

1) are there settings I am missing? Anyone have a list of favorite settings? Images weren't that sharp both in Macro or non-macro shooting.
2) if I decide to abandon ship, is there a comparable point and shoot to the Canon S100 out there? The S120 is too far out of development for me to buy now and Canon hasn't made an S130.... I do want it to have RAW, macro mode, and not be super basic (i mean I do fiddle with shutter priority on land)....

Help???

 

[Cali_diver]

I don't know the camera and without seeing an example pic with metadata it is hard to know where you went wrong. Maybe this website can help you a bit.

Underwater settings for Canon S120 / G7x and Macro Photography | uw-pix.com

 

[Snoobles]

Tried to upload CR2 files but won't let me - what should I save them as from lightroom to get them to upload, yet have all the meta data?

 

[bunty99]

Why dont you try P, AV, or TV mode? P is almost like auto and shoots in raw, too.

 

[mattia_v]

Honestly, it sounds a little like user error.

For me, diving a camera means knowing it inside and out above water, and knowing how to quickly and easily change shooting parameters. A few thoughts/tips:

- Full manual is a big step if you only ever shoot in full auto. Would not recommend it.
- Aperture priority will let you control depth of field. Keep an eye on shutter speed, and lock ISO if you're using a strobe, or let it float (ISO on Auto) when you're going natural light, with an upper limit of 1600. Since you say you had grainy shots, I'm guessing you may have had the ISO set (unnecessarily) high at times.
- Bigger sensor cameras are harder to shoot macro with; at a given magnification the depth of field is shallower, so odds of miscfocus are higher. I had a heck of a time getting my RX100 with stacked Inon macro lenses to 'do what I want it to'; it's not an ideal macro camera (plenty of small sensor compacts will do it more easily), but when I nail a shot it's got great resolution, detail and color. So don't give up! These little 1" cameras can provide really great pictures.

 

[tarponchik]

I'm using s90/s95 in the same housing but hope to upgrade to G7x Mk2 or smth like that (Lumix GF6?) this year. I never shoot in M mode, cause, as you pointed out, it takes "too much thinking". I switch between T and A modes:

T is for actively swimming fish; I set exposure to 1/250 (which is the slowest you can use with moving objects) or 1/180 with the flash on.

A is for stationary objects, landscapes and macro. For macro and stationary stuff like Scorpionfish, I set f/8 ISO80 or 100 and adjust light by flash output. For larger object like a large coral or a sponge I set to f/4 and ISO to 200 or 400.

This still needs some thinking but results are generally better, than shooting JPGs in Auto mode.

 

[rob1967]

To get nice sharp shots underwater, you need camera settings that minimize ambient light and maximize your strobe light. The best and easiest way to do this is to shoot in full manual. i.e., ISO 100, aperture around 4-7, fast shutter, say 1/200 or faster. Then control your exposure by varying your: 1) strobe power for foreground, 2) aperture and ISO for overall exposure 3) shutter speed for background. Once you have figured out your settings, you will not have to change them that much. If you like a nice dark background (say for macro), just keep your shutter fast, you don't need to change it during your dive.

The problem with automatic modes is they will meter for ambient light, adjust settings accordingly, then add flash as needed. Nearly all automatic modes will seek to maximize ambient light and just add a bit of flash (useful on land but not what you want underwater). I think the reason you were able to get away with automatic mode with the S100 is that since it had a small sensor, it had to rely more on the strobe to properly expose the shot. The G7X has a much larger sensor, therefore it has better light-gathering ability, and the G7X is relying more on the ambient light to expose your shot, which is why your pictures are not as good. What are your settings on you pics in automatic mode? High ISO, slow shutter, wide-open aperture? That means too much ambient light in your shot.

All you have to do is switch to manual, and you will see a big improvement. You won't have to adjust your settings very much unless you change the distance from subject, i.e, switching from macro to wide-angle. After a while, you will know your go-to settings for macro and wide-angle. If you are a bit further from your subject, you can just open up your aperture a bit, or crank up your strobes a bit. I can easily do a dive controlling exposure by making only slight adjustments to strobe power and distance to subject, without touching in-camera settings. I hope this helps.

 

[tarponchik]

To get nice sharp shots underwater, you need camera settings that minimize ambient light and maximize your strobe light.

Yeah, squid and nudis look really cool over black background but this is only good in shooting isolated objects. If you'd like to take a shot of what the reef looks like, the flash is used only to highlight the foreground. Besides, if you are not below 20 ft on a sunny day, what's the point trying to substitute the bright ambient light with the strobe?

 

[scubadada]

I bought a G7X and Nauticam housing as my 1st "better" camera system. I only have one pretty weak strobe so take most pictures in ambient light. I use program mode and have white balance set as a one button shortcut. I have gotten very good photos, the videos are fantastic. I'm more than pleased with my choice. The Nauticam vacuum check system gives me confidence that the system is intact for each dive. I have taken some snorkeling photos (Spinner Dolphins at Sayaya in the Red Sea) using underwater auto setting, they turned out quite good.

 

[rob1967]

Yeah, squid and nudis look really cool over black background but this is only good in shooting isolated objects. If you'd like to take a shot of what the reef looks like, the flash is used only to highlight the foreground. Besides, if you are not below 20 ft on a sunny day, what's the point trying to substitute the bright ambient light with the strobe?

Quite right, if it is sunny midday, good viz, and you are shallower than 20 feet, you can get great wide-angle pics with ambient light. But for everything else, a strobe or 2 will help a lot.