Canon S1 Housing

[lukeROB]

Mmm... I haven't tried the auto mode at ~7m depth. Most of my pictures were taken around 12 to 30m with different viz.

"Auto white balance" means the default setting? (Sorry if dumb question I'm new to photography) A friend recently suggested to take something white down the water to "correct" the "white balance" because under the water, there's too much "blue". I still haven't quite figured out what that means. :embarass: Does the white balance cause a picture to be under- or over-exposed?

The white balance changes the sensitivity, or weighting of the photocells. That is by telling the camera what should be "white" a dive slate it will then readjust the colour spectrum to fit with this new set point of white. Underwater this means it will add more red.

Water is a massive blue filter attached to your lens. From your dive course you remember how res, is the first to go, etc, etc. Your eyes however are pretty good at white balancing so you see more of what the actual colours are than the camera will. So having lots of water between your lens and your subject means lots of colour besides blue is absored and hence a very blue photo. That is why it is best to get very close and use zoom only in limited situations.

Daylight has a temperature of around 5500 K (I think). Increasing on the colour temperature on the Kelvin scale leads to a cooler(bluer) looking picture - try this with your mointer. Lower on the Kelvin scale leads to a warmer (reder) pictures. This is why under decandesent light, or candle light we get a red image cast, the opposite of the blue cast underwater. They colour temperature of the light is different to daylight and this shift leads to the colour cast. So white balance is attempting to shift this colour cast back to the more natural 5500K of daylight. This is all not prefectly true of how it works but is a good start at the explaination.

 

[sbloomer]

Mmm... I haven't tried the auto mode at ~7m depth. Most of my pictures were taken around 12 to 30m with different viz.

Doh.... I just noticed that I said. "Auto, not Program" I meant the other way round - If you use Auto, you can't change any settings, including white balance. Changing white balance shouldn't affect your exposure - I find tho' that the S1, tends to overexpose a tiny bit, and I always reduces the exposure by about 2/3s of a stop - It tends to improve the colours.

Oh, BTW, Pemba is an island just off the coast of Tanzania, north of Zanzibar...

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Like maybe it's a lot darker farther down and that will help?

Hi, mrskti, My camera came with a "shield" (not sure what is the right term for it... it's a little black rubber piece that can be fitted on the underwater housing) for the screen that helps to prevent reflection.

I really like this camera, but one part and that's the zoom, that little sucker is so fast!!! I'm up your nose before I get a chance to stop it. Do you get use to that too???

I have that problem too so I don't use the zoom much; I practise using the zoom and found that I just have to very lightly press the "switch" and it will zoom a little slower.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

That is by telling the camera what should be "white" a dive slate it will then readjust the colour spectrum to fit with this new set point of white.

How "white" (or clean) should the slate be? Does it have to be a new slate? I noticed that the pencil markings are quite difficult to erase... or maybe I should use something other that the eraser to clean the slate?

How often do I have to adjust the white balance? At different depth? Or different time of the day?

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Forgot to ask... if I adjust the white balance underwater, how would it affect the photographs taken on land? Would the picture be redder? Then does it mean that if we adjust the white balance, we have to re-adjust it for taking pictures on land?

 

[lukeROB]

How "white" (or clean) should the slate be? Does it have to be a new slate? I noticed that the pencil markings are quite difficult to erase... or maybe I should use something other that the eraser to clean the slate?

How often do I have to adjust the white balance? At different depth? Or different time of the day?

Forgot to ask... if I adjust the white balance underwater, how would it affect the photographs taken on land? Would the picture be redder? Then does it mean that if we adjust the white balance, we have to re-adjust it for taking pictures on land?

I suppose the whiter the better. But your slate should be fine even with a few marks on it - use the back maybe. You are just getting the white in the ballpark you will still need some adjustment in photoshop later, but at least you will have a red channel to work with now.

People here say to adjust about every 10ft - which sound pretty good. Remember only do it for natural light shots you should use daylight WB (or flash WB if you have it) when using the internal strobe.

Every dive you will have to redo the white balance, don't rely on the one you set before.

As to your next question if you use the WB you set underwater the photos will be very red on land. However the camera all come with auto, daylight, shade WB, etc which are preset modes so just change to one of them when shooting on land. Auto should be fine as the camera is made for land specifically and does a pretty good job of determing the WB here. It doesn't do a good job underwater so we need to set it manually.

 

[Overlord]

Well, I just got my housing for my S1 and I'm going for my first dive with it this weekend. Lots of good info already in this board, but I did have a few quick questions.

1) In general, at depths of 25-30 ft, would you recommend flash or no-flash?
2) What mode are most of you using (AV, Auto, P, etc)?
3) I did get the weight kit after I saw the size of the housing. It seems like that case would be pretty bouyant. Has anyone added weight to the case and if so, how much?

Thanks,

A Total Newbie

 

[sbloomer]

1) In general, at depths of 25-30 ft, would you recommend flash or no-flash?

Well...it depends mostly on the subject matter and where you're diving. The internal flash is subject to problems with backscatter, so using the internal flash is mainly advocated for macro use. However, this brings in a separate problem where the housing lens barrel cuts off light the bottom third or so of the picture. If the light is good I now generally don't use the flash.

2) What mode are most of you using (AV, Auto, P, etc)?

At this stage, I'd stick with "P" and "Av" and then get a bit more creative later. Don't use "Auto" because you can't change the white balance.

3) I did get the weight kit after I saw the size of the housing. It seems like that case would be pretty bouyant. Has anyone added weight to the case and if so, how much?

I don't use the weight kit. While the housing is bouyant, it is not excessively so. When I have finished building my tray, I will have added a bit of extra weight.

The point is really that you need to experiment and see what you prefer. Also, I'd like to add that once you have taken your pictures, post them here (in your gallery) so we can also have a look. Don't be afraid that it's your first attempt or two. While the photographic learning mantra is take loads of pictures, if no-one can see them, they can't help you improve.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

1) In general, at depths of 25-30 ft, would you recommend flash or no-flash?
2) What mode are most of you using (AV, Auto, P, etc)?

Hi, When I first got the S1, I tried using the Auto mode. I found that with flash, it goes over-exposed... and without, it was too dark. I can't remember the depth of the dives but afterwards, I just switch to using Manual for all the shots. It's my first camera and knowing next to nothing about photography, I ended up taking the shots by trial-and-error.

I'm still not quite sure why the photographs end up over-/under-exposed on Auto mode... :06: I'd like to hear about your experience on how your photographs turned out if you happened to try shooting on Auto. Thanks.

3) I did get the weight kit after I saw the size of the housing. It seems like that case would be pretty bouyant. Has anyone added weight to the case and if so, how much?

I ddin't get the camera weights (not available here) so I used an additional weight when I dived with the camera (without the bracket and strobe).

 

[the_cat_keeper]

People here say to adjust about every 10ft - which sound pretty good. Remember only do it for natural light shots you should use daylight WB (or flash WB if you have it) when using the internal strobe.

Hi, thanks!

What does it mean to adjust the white balance for only natural light shots? And, what should I use for an external strobe? Canon S1 has the following options for white-balance: Auto, pre-set (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Flash), custom. I found that I've got my camera set to "Cloudy" for all the dives.

Thanks once again...