Canon S90 with Ikelite housing using for snorkeling

[UWcanonS90]

Just got my new canon s90 and added an ikelite for the UW photography. First start will be using it for snorkeling in hawaii pretty soon. Im a noobie. If your just snorkeling in shallow waters do you need a strobe? i know you will need it to prevent back scatters n more colorful pictures. And should i invest in a WA lens or the fisheye? and what kind? I have been looking at the FIX UWL-04 Fisheye or the Inon 165AD-FE fisheye ultra wide angle lens. How bout the WA lens. Any suggestions?

 

[PatW]

Well, it depends on how deep you are able to go. Red light is pretty much gone at depths of 20' and greater. I would think that few snorkelers would get down more than 15'. Also, getting down there is not the only thing. You have to stay down long enough to compose and get off a shot.

If you use RAW, you can get pretty good photos by fooling with the white balance in post processing. So in your application, I would think that a strobe is not going to be that helpful. That is assuming that you are shooting in bright daylight.

For photography with scuba gear, I highly recommend a strobe. For underwater photography, I think that scuba is a big help. When I did free diving, I was moving and usually fairly fast.

You can often get good photos in scuba diving by going slow. Find a place with nice fish and just sit until they get used to having you around. Then, if you are lucky, they ignore you and come out and do their normal activities. That is a good way to get decent shots.

 

[Nemrod]

For the wide angle lens with that housing I think the Ikelite WAL-20 is acceptable, not super wide but noticeably wider than without and cost effective.

N

 

[slowhands]

For snorkeling, you don't need a fancy rig. I'd say just use the housing and camera you have, you'll get great shots. I don't know what island you are visiting, but there are so many beautiful places to dive there -- just keep it simple and enjoy!

 

[UWcanonS90]

Thank you guys for the advice. I might consider diving to get the pictures i want. Just looking at everyones UW pictures gives a noobie an inspiration. Guess im gonna have to invest on more items. gonna do more research. Strobe, fisheye, and do you think i will need a filter?

 

[UWcanonS90]

i will visit Hanauma Bay bc people say it has lots of fish.

 

[TropicalSnorkeler]

You really don't need a flash or even an additional wide angle lens with that setup while snorkeling. You will have enough light at the surface in most situations.

You can see at the link below the results I have got using the S90 with a magic filter, no flash, and just it's standard lens while snorkeling.

Canon S90 For Snorkeling - A Review

Free diving down is pretty essential though to getting better pictures while snorkeling.

Also, stopping down the lens a bit on the S90 yields much sharper corners with a flat lens port.

I love the thing.

Have fun.