Canon S70 - A620

[Silvertip57]

Well if it isn't too late to chime in.........I only shoot in RAW with my S50 and have seen great results from the S60 so would assume it can only get better with the S70. If you want to see what RAW format shots look like after processing to JPEG check my uploads.

 

[vkalia]

I havent really done too much underwater photography (played around with a 3MP Oly and a PT-00x housing for a while a few years ago) - so take my entire post with a healthy dose of salt - but I am a professional photographer on land (mostlye wildlife and nature). Personally, I dont touch any digital camera which doesnt have RAW - the greater flexibility afforded by proper RAW processing is something that, IMO, makes digital a step up from film.

For something like underwater photography, where Photoshop can play a signiicant role in removing color casts, fixing exposure errors, etc, I personally wouldnt want to live without RAW. If you are going to do any significant post-processing, you really should be shooting RAW.

Yeah, the shutter lag of the S70 bites - switching it to manual focus and leaving it at its hyperfocal length nd dropping to f8 usually reduces that shutter lag. I assume that would work underwater as well.

I just got me a pretty basic WP-DC40 housing and a Sunpak G-Flash strobe to play around with - this is more of a learning set for me, until I figure out what I want in a "serious" system (ie, is it worth for me to switch to Nikon for my u/w work; D50 ot D70 or D200; what lenses, etc).

I get it day after tomorrow - let's see how the S70 actually performs in the water.

Cheers,
Vandit

 

[midwestdvr]

just got back from my PI trip where I tested out my new a620. I say wow . Focus is fast and the movies are pretty decent. When I used my old a70 (it has the WAL attachment), I could really tell the difference with focusing time. The only problem I had with it was during the first couple of dives. The problem was with low light (it was cloudy most of my dives) and the camera had problem focusing, some of my shots were blurry. But I figured out later that a couple of taps on the zoom lever fixed that problem. Overall, I love the a620 and I would have loved it even more if I had a WAL attachment with it during the trip. Just my 2 peso worth of opinion.

midwestdvr

 

[Jiddy]

As far as the A610 compared to the A620, is there a big differance besides the 2.2 megapixel upgrade.


Did anyone get an underwater case for under $160? thats the cheapest i found and was curious

 

[midwestdvr]

As far as the A610 compared to the A620, is there a big differance besides the 2.2 megapixel upgrade.

Did anyone get an underwater case for under $160? thats the cheapest i found and was curious

I've played around with the a610 in the store and as far as functions go, there is no difference between the two. I just like the extra 2.2 megs since I've started experimenting with cropping images. As for the housing, I got mine for about 180 in october. 160 doesn't sound too bad if the dealer is reputable.

midwestdvr

 

[Jiddy]

I dont know much about cameras, is $60 more worth the 2pixels?

 

[Pinay_Diver]

I'm a newbie myself in terms of underwater photography. I'm quite amazed with Canon A620's performance especially with macro shots. Even with very little light source the camera can still focus and take a good picture.

You can check some pictures I took last weekend at this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32746142@N00/

I am very happy and satisfied with my A620 I look forward to taking more pictures with it.

 

[midwestdvr]

I'm a newbie myself in terms of underwater photography. I'm quite amazed with Canon A620's performance especially with macro shots. Even with very little light source the camera can still focus and take a good picture.

You can check some pictures I took last weekend at this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32746142@N00/

I am very happy and satisfied with my A620 I look forward to taking more pictures with it.

those are pretty good pics. I too love my a620. I envy you since you'll have more opportunity to use it more than I do :crying2: .

 

[Halthron]

Those were some nice pics, better than I've been able to produce with my 620. Just need to practice more

 

[BigTuna]

I second vkalia's remarks. I'm an amateur who uses a Canon S70 for land and UW photography, with a 1 gig memory card. I rely on RAW. It's captures exactly what each of the camera's pixel sensor saw, with no in-camera post-processing for producing JPEG picture files.

I do my own post-processing on all my pics, using Photoshop Elements on a Macintosh. RAW makes it easy to correct colors, which is often necessary (especially using flash indoors, where the S70 seems to produce a yellowish cast). My standard post-processing steps include orienting for accurate horizontal and vertical, cropping, contrast and exposure, and sharpening. For those once-only special pics where something's too dark or light, I use PSE's layer tools to improve them. The final step is to output hi-res JPEG files for professional printing.

The link is to a photo I took recently that illustrates the power of RAW. The subject is "Bob the Grouper." It's the result of some rather extreme post-processing. It would have been a total loss without RAW, and I couldn't "try again later."

[Incidentally, you might have heard about Apple's new (and expensive) "Aperture" program, which handles RAW as a standard file type, analogous to the way other software handles JPEG and other formats.]

For UW pix, I ususally use the S70's auto setting, ISO 100, and UW white balance (and RAW).

I do wish the camera would focus and shoot faster, alto that's not a real problem UW. Many subjects are relatively static, so I can point, press, and shoot. For moving subjects, I can usually prime the camera with a half push on the shutter, then take a quick snap. The most difficult subjects are other divers, because they and I always seem to be in relative motion. I cover that by taking 3 or 4 photos each time.