Canon S30 or S40
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Spectre
Contributor
I've not used the S30 or S40, but I've got a Canon A40, and it's great! Canon actually makes housings for the A10-A40 and S10-S40, so yes, you can get a housing designed specifically for that camera.
Gno
Registered
Dear Scott,
I have a Canon S30 togehter with the underwater shell for it.
Just l a little infor for you on the camera.
The difference between the S30 and S40 is only with respect to the pixels i.e. S30 = 3.2 mp, S40=4.0 mp. I was advised by the sales person that S30 would suffice for normal non-proffesional shots.
Unfortunately, Canon has not incorporated the red filter with the underwater shell as seen with the Sony P5 range.
Most of the pelagic shots would be quite blueish due to the absence of the filter.
The camera also does not come with the relevant plug-ins for an external strobe so you would need one which has the fiber-optic mode.
The cost of the external strobe would also be much more than the cost of the camera and the shell put together.
Conclusionwise, it is pretty good camera underwater provided you know which buttons to manipulate (which by then, the object may have already swam off).
Let me know if you need any further infor on the same. I can tell you from my experience taking shots with it.
BTW, purchase an extra battery. You would need it for trips as it is a power zapper.
Ciao
I have a Canon S30 togehter with the underwater shell for it.
Just l a little infor for you on the camera.
The difference between the S30 and S40 is only with respect to the pixels i.e. S30 = 3.2 mp, S40=4.0 mp. I was advised by the sales person that S30 would suffice for normal non-proffesional shots.
Unfortunately, Canon has not incorporated the red filter with the underwater shell as seen with the Sony P5 range.
Most of the pelagic shots would be quite blueish due to the absence of the filter.
The camera also does not come with the relevant plug-ins for an external strobe so you would need one which has the fiber-optic mode.
The cost of the external strobe would also be much more than the cost of the camera and the shell put together.
Conclusionwise, it is pretty good camera underwater provided you know which buttons to manipulate (which by then, the object may have already swam off).
Let me know if you need any further infor on the same. I can tell you from my experience taking shots with it.
BTW, purchase an extra battery. You would need it for trips as it is a power zapper.
Ciao
I own the Canon S40 and the DC300 UW housing and have used it on a few occassions. The camera has a lot of flexability and small, BUT watch the macro AF, it doesn't work well. I have seen better DOF with the Olympus 4040z but the UW housing cost more.
Nice camera and housing, great flexability and if you good in Program mode and Manual focus in Macro, go for it.
Nice camera and housing, great flexability and if you good in Program mode and Manual focus in Macro, go for it.
Eli
Guest
I have the Canon S40, WPDC300 shell, and Sea & Sea strobe. I am overall quite happy with this setup. My only problem has been fogging of the lens port. The housing comes with antifog. This cuts down on resolution. Without the antifog, fogging becomes a major problem. i havent found a silica gel pack small enough to fit in the housing.
Some S40 photos are at:
http://www.pbase.com/elif
Some S40 photos are at:
http://www.pbase.com/elif
Hi, I'm using, or attempting to use the S30 with WPDC300 housing diving in Indonesia at the moment. I'm having limited success - I don't think I'm using it properly. (I don't know anything about photography and don't really understand what the different functions and tools are actually used for). It seems to me that I'm gonna have to get a strobe . . .but I want to get the best out of it as is . . .
Gno I would really appreciate it if you could give me a few pointers. For instance, what functions do you use most, what do you consider the most useful button, what do you do when you look at the LCD screen and everything's just blue etc. in short how do you actually use it?
I lost my anti fog solution so have a lenses fogging problem too.
Any pointers appreciated!
Gno I would really appreciate it if you could give me a few pointers. For instance, what functions do you use most, what do you consider the most useful button, what do you do when you look at the LCD screen and everything's just blue etc. in short how do you actually use it?
I lost my anti fog solution so have a lenses fogging problem too.
Any pointers appreciated!
Gno
Registered
Dear Anni,
Beforehand, let me just let you know that my experience with the S30 is really by trial and error and by reading the manual which came with the camera as I am very new to the underwater photography world.
I think first of all, you should really look into getting the anti-fog replacement solution as I noticed that the lens port on the shell fogs up easily in our weather. That in itself is good enough to spoil the day!!
As for the settings, I'm just being lazy and have set everthing to the Auto setting on the jog-dial.
However, you would need to play around with the flash mode as certain pictures are taken best without the auto flash on i.e. macro pictures.
Speaking of which, use the macro switch (the right button on top of the LCD screen) to take close-up photos but note that the minimum space between the object and the camera should be around 10cm. Look at LED screen to ascertain the clearness of the object. Caution though, if you go too close, the picture will be blurred.
Other than macro shots, you really have to get close to the object to avoid the blueness and the backscatter as a result of not having the external strobe.
For pelagic shots, you will have to contend with the blueness of the shot due to the absence of the external strobe.
I don't have a external strobe with my setup but I am quite happy (being an amateur myself) with the shots so far without a strobe. The cost of the strobe is almost more than the whole camera and shell put together.
The button that I use a lot is the zoom lever on the top right hand corner of the shell which zooms in and out of the object. You need to play around with the zoom to get the best image possible. Again, you would need to rely on the LCD screen when zooming to get the best effects.
As I usually use the Auto selection on the dial, the focussing is automatic and as such, you would need to have stable hands and buoyancy to get a good shot i.e. if you shake or move a lot, the picture will be blurred.
I don't know what you mean when you say that all you see is just blue when you look at the LCD screen.
Hope the above is helpful. Let me know if you need more tips.
Good luck!
Anybody else's comments/input are welcome!
Beforehand, let me just let you know that my experience with the S30 is really by trial and error and by reading the manual which came with the camera as I am very new to the underwater photography world.
I think first of all, you should really look into getting the anti-fog replacement solution as I noticed that the lens port on the shell fogs up easily in our weather. That in itself is good enough to spoil the day!!
As for the settings, I'm just being lazy and have set everthing to the Auto setting on the jog-dial.
However, you would need to play around with the flash mode as certain pictures are taken best without the auto flash on i.e. macro pictures.
Speaking of which, use the macro switch (the right button on top of the LCD screen) to take close-up photos but note that the minimum space between the object and the camera should be around 10cm. Look at LED screen to ascertain the clearness of the object. Caution though, if you go too close, the picture will be blurred.
Other than macro shots, you really have to get close to the object to avoid the blueness and the backscatter as a result of not having the external strobe.
For pelagic shots, you will have to contend with the blueness of the shot due to the absence of the external strobe.
I don't have a external strobe with my setup but I am quite happy (being an amateur myself) with the shots so far without a strobe. The cost of the strobe is almost more than the whole camera and shell put together.
The button that I use a lot is the zoom lever on the top right hand corner of the shell which zooms in and out of the object. You need to play around with the zoom to get the best image possible. Again, you would need to rely on the LCD screen when zooming to get the best effects.
As I usually use the Auto selection on the dial, the focussing is automatic and as such, you would need to have stable hands and buoyancy to get a good shot i.e. if you shake or move a lot, the picture will be blurred.
I don't know what you mean when you say that all you see is just blue when you look at the LCD screen.
Hope the above is helpful. Let me know if you need more tips.
Good luck!
Anybody else's comments/input are welcome!
Eli
Guest
Anni:
Im a relatively inexperienced diver and underwater photographer so Im not the one to be giving advice. From what little I know I can recommend the following:
1. Practice using your camera in its housing above water. Especially practice using the macro setting. That way you will be more confident underwater.
2. Without an external flash, everything will appear blue beyond 3 feet. Thus limit most of your shots to within arms length. Setting your camera to macro mode, wide angle, will work best most of the time.
3. Use the antifog on the internal surface of the housing lens port. Dont apply it to the camera lens. It will leave a rainbow 'soap film" on the port and cut down on resolution but it is better than having the port fog and loose everything.
4. Use the highest resolution JPEG setting. Each image will take about 1.5 megs. An advanced user will use the RAW mode and adjust color balance later.
5. Follow the basics of underwater photography. Approach your subject slowly, or better yet, let it come to you. Get on the same level as your subject, subjects photographed from above are less effective. Pause your breathing while photographing so the bubbles dont scare or obscure the subject. Dont hold your breath while rising so you dont damage your lungs.
6. Having perfect buyancy control is a must. For those of us (such as myself)without perfect control, dive slightly overweighted. A finger placed on the sandy bottom while the other hand is holding the camera is an effective way of staying still, and not damaging the reef.
6. A dive light can be a cheap light source, and helps the autofocus in low light conditions.
7. You can fix most problems except blurred photos using Photoshop or similar program after the dive! Even a pro photographer will throw out at least 90% of his photos.
To see what a camera (the SONY, very similar to the Canon) can do without an external flash, and using just the internal flash and dive light, see Ellen Mullers gallery at pbase.
http://www.pbase.com/imagine/sony_dsc_p1_underwater_images
Im a relatively inexperienced diver and underwater photographer so Im not the one to be giving advice. From what little I know I can recommend the following:
1. Practice using your camera in its housing above water. Especially practice using the macro setting. That way you will be more confident underwater.
2. Without an external flash, everything will appear blue beyond 3 feet. Thus limit most of your shots to within arms length. Setting your camera to macro mode, wide angle, will work best most of the time.
3. Use the antifog on the internal surface of the housing lens port. Dont apply it to the camera lens. It will leave a rainbow 'soap film" on the port and cut down on resolution but it is better than having the port fog and loose everything.
4. Use the highest resolution JPEG setting. Each image will take about 1.5 megs. An advanced user will use the RAW mode and adjust color balance later.
5. Follow the basics of underwater photography. Approach your subject slowly, or better yet, let it come to you. Get on the same level as your subject, subjects photographed from above are less effective. Pause your breathing while photographing so the bubbles dont scare or obscure the subject. Dont hold your breath while rising so you dont damage your lungs.
6. Having perfect buyancy control is a must. For those of us (such as myself)without perfect control, dive slightly overweighted. A finger placed on the sandy bottom while the other hand is holding the camera is an effective way of staying still, and not damaging the reef.
6. A dive light can be a cheap light source, and helps the autofocus in low light conditions.
7. You can fix most problems except blurred photos using Photoshop or similar program after the dive! Even a pro photographer will throw out at least 90% of his photos.
To see what a camera (the SONY, very similar to the Canon) can do without an external flash, and using just the internal flash and dive light, see Ellen Mullers gallery at pbase.
http://www.pbase.com/imagine/sony_dsc_p1_underwater_images
Hi:
I have the S30 camera and housing as well and also love it.
A good tip to reduce fogging is to turn off the LCD display when you can. It generates a small amount of heat, which combined with the cool water generates fog.
I posted a gear review at Rodales which has samples and info. You can read it here: http://www.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=1556
I first used the camera on the Caribben Explorer liveaboard. They happened to use the same setup for rental and recommended the following settings, which I used and liked for most shots: Shutter priority (Tv), flash forced ON, white balance on CLOUDY. This is without additional flash.
And of course, stay LOW and get CLOSE!
Gerry
I have the S30 camera and housing as well and also love it.
A good tip to reduce fogging is to turn off the LCD display when you can. It generates a small amount of heat, which combined with the cool water generates fog.
I posted a gear review at Rodales which has samples and info. You can read it here: http://www.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=1556
I first used the camera on the Caribben Explorer liveaboard. They happened to use the same setup for rental and recommended the following settings, which I used and liked for most shots: Shutter priority (Tv), flash forced ON, white balance on CLOUDY. This is without additional flash.
And of course, stay LOW and get CLOSE!
Gerry
jrtonkin
Contributor
Although the Canon housings don't come with a built-in UW filter (promote red, suppress blue), you can fake one using the camera's "White Balance" function.
At the start of the dive find a nice patch of a reasonably constant colour... the exact shade of blue you want will depend on how much filtering you want to apply; the darker the blue, the stronger the filter. (Not technically 100% accurate -- technically the more saturated the blue, the stronger the filter).
Set the camera to "manual white balance" and use this patch of colour to set the white-point. You'll have to check the manual to find out exactly how to do this; I could only check that the camera has this feature, not how to get at it.
As long as you don't change the white-balance again (or turn off the camera, I think) you've now essentially got a blue-suppressing filter built into the camera...
Play with this on land for a bit, to get a feeling for how different intensities of blue affect the output image.
Note that this technique can be used to do other colour filters too... It's not as good as a devoted colour-filter, but it may get rid of some of the worst of the blue-ing of your images until you can get a strobe.
Good luck with it.
Jamie
At the start of the dive find a nice patch of a reasonably constant colour... the exact shade of blue you want will depend on how much filtering you want to apply; the darker the blue, the stronger the filter. (Not technically 100% accurate -- technically the more saturated the blue, the stronger the filter).
Set the camera to "manual white balance" and use this patch of colour to set the white-point. You'll have to check the manual to find out exactly how to do this; I could only check that the camera has this feature, not how to get at it.
As long as you don't change the white-balance again (or turn off the camera, I think) you've now essentially got a blue-suppressing filter built into the camera...
Play with this on land for a bit, to get a feeling for how different intensities of blue affect the output image.
Note that this technique can be used to do other colour filters too... It's not as good as a devoted colour-filter, but it may get rid of some of the worst of the blue-ing of your images until you can get a strobe.
Good luck with it.
Jamie
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