Canon S1 IS

[zboss]

Oh, you mean something like this?

Do they "slide" in front of the dome?

 

[yakivet]

I'm using a canon S1 IS outside for a year now. I was wondering if this camera would be a gooo UW cam ? I know that there is a housing build for it, but I don't know if it is possible to add a strobe or extra light on it. Does anyone can help me ?

Thank you !!

QB- I've been using the S1 above for about 4 months. I purchased the Canon housing last month and used it for some pics in Belize. My Gallery:

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/36473

I'm happily surprised. At this point I'm just using the internal flash. The housing is rated to 130 ft but on the Blue Hole dive I hit 140. So far so good. Ken :42:

 

[liberato]

Do they "slide" in front of the dome?

The lens adapters screw on to the mount base. In the example, they have a wide angle UWL-100 with an optional dome unit screwed on to it. The dome widens the view angle of the wide angle lens by about 30% more but it also runs up against the lighting area limits of a single strobe.

 

[Tuckster]

I've seen Yakivet's Belize pics & they are super !! I was planning on getting the A95 but may go with the S1 IS.

 

[yakivet]

I've seen Yakivet's Belize pics & they are super !! I was planning on getting the A95 but may go with the S1 IS.

Thanks for the ego boost Tuck. :42: Ken

 

[ChrisA]

I've seen Yakivet's Belize pics & they are super !! I was planning on getting the A95 but may go with the S1 IS.

How do you use the built-in strobe. It appears to be a pop-up strobe. Does the housing allow it to pop up? What if you wanted to use an external strobe? Without a strobe you are limited to shallow water and daylight hours.

The internal strobe on the A95 works well, or at least as well as any internal strobe can.

 

[jkolgen]

How do you use the built-in strobe. It appears to be a pop-up strobe. Does the housing allow it to pop up? What if you wanted to use an external strobe? Without a strobe you are limited to shallow water and daylight hours.

The internal strobe on the A95 works well, or at least as well as any internal strobe can.

Built-in strobe is indeed a pop-up. But the UW housing has room for it to pop up, no problems there. Use of an external strobe is possible, as mentioned earlier in this thread. Have only used built-in myself so far.

Built-in strobe doesn't limit you to shallow water and daylight. On http://the-rock.student.utwente.nl/~robbert/gallery/album71?page=1 you can find some photos I shot with the S1. This was about the first time I used it UW (in spain, pretty clear water), so they're not that good, and very blue. But just to give som examples, on page 3 and 4 are some shots from a night dive, with built-in flash. Photo 0310 on page 1 was taken at about 30 meters depth, built-in flash is good enough to get a decent photo, but you need a little help from a dive light to get some colour.

 

[QuebecDiver]

Very nice pics Dr. Ken !!

Thank you !! ;-)

Actually, I am hesitating between buying the S1 housing or another camera especially made for diving like a Sea n Sea reefmaster. I'm diving in very hard conditions (very cold water and sometimes low visibility) so I'm a bit afraid to go there with my S1 which is my favorite camera to go bird watching. I'm a total newbie in photography but with this cam I took incredible birds pictures ! I even won a photography price in a local contest !!

 

[yakivet]

How do you use the built-in strobe. It appears to be a pop-up strobe. Does the housing allow it to pop up? What if you wanted to use an external strobe? Without a strobe you are limited to shallow water and daylight hours.

The internal strobe on the A95 works well, or at least as well as any internal strobe can.

The internal strobe on the S1 worked well for my first attempt. Infact, many times some of the close up pics were a little Over exposed. I leave the flash in the "up" position when I place it within the housing.

For all of the underwater shots, I was using the manual mode, setting the shutter speed and f-stop. A single button will allow you to either manually turn off or on the flash, depending on the pictures taken. I didn't ever use the flash for more than about 3 feet away. I'll eventually pick up an external strobe, but this seems to work great for now. Ken :42:

 

[QuebecDiver]

The internal strobe on the S1 worked well for my first attempt. Infact, many times some of the close up pics were a little Over exposed. I leave the flash in the "up" position when I place it within the housing.

For all of the underwater shots, I was using the manual mode, setting the shutter speed and f-stop. A single button will allow you to either manually turn off or on the flash, depending on the pictures taken. I didn't ever use the flash for more than about 3 feet away. I'll eventually pick up an external strobe, but this seems to work great for now. Ken :42:

Ken,
When you're in manuel mode, you can ajust the flash output to 1/3, 2/3 or full power...
Did you ever tried those different settings with your close up pics ?
QD