Canon S95 camera specifics

[Durwin99]

I've received my Canon S95 to play with while waiting for the housing and kit to arrive... I have some questions/observations and wondered if I'm going to have problems...

1. Firstly, the camera mode dial (to switch from Auto to Av, Tv etc) - on my camera, this is incredibly stiff! If I have even the slightest dampness on my finger/thumb (e.g. its a warm day) then I cannot move that dial. Because it is recessed in the camera, there's only about 6-8mm of "grip" on one side and I often just can't do it. What I'm worried about is how the RecSea S95 housing will manage with this stiff dial, let alone how I'm going to change modes when top-side in the 35+ degC temperatures where we normally holiday! Has anyone else experienced a problem with this?

2. Is it just me or is the whole video mode a bit poor? Looking at some test videos, the video jumps around noticably, as if it were something like 5 frames per second rather than the supposed 24 (in the UK) - its not the IS, that is on. When I pan the video, I see objects that seem to jump around rather than pan smoothly - particularly high-contrast edges like window frames. Plus, there's no continuous auto-focus in video, no optical zoom allowed (only digital if you turn it on, and that is awful) - I think it is adjusting exposure + WB but not entirely sure. Now, I'm not expecting the same quality of HD video that you get from say a $1000 Sony HD video (which I've used and have been comparing to) but this is another league - I don't see much point trying to capture video underwater other than for a "memo" of what you've seen, its pretty worthless. (Surprisingly, the output video has a bit rate around 20Mbps, which is not far off the 26Mbps I got from a Sony HD camcorder - I don't think its compression messing up the video...)

3. I'm a little disappointed with the noise the test images show at 80 or 100 ISO. I took some shots indoor of part of a white window frame and when viewing in Photoshop Elements at 1:1 ratio, I can see plenty of what I call "noise" on the white frame. TBH, I wasn't expecting to see any! I did the same with my older S70 and admittedly, the S70 does show more noise, but then its 7 or 8 years older tech... Maybe what I'm seeing is just the limits of the (slightly higher) resolution: S70=7MP, S95=10MP. I've attached images showing a crop taken from 1:1 ratio from each camera. Maybe I'm expecting too much, certainly I haven't noticed any noise on the shots people have posted here

I just want to check these issues are "normal" really, in case I've got a dodgy camera! Does anyone have any comments?

By the way, there are things I really about this camera, after using the S70 for so long - everything is a lot faster! Plus the IS, the F2 aperature, the size & weight. I can't imagine how big/small the RecSea S95 housing must be for this camera...

I bought a 4GB Sandisk SD card, putting the camera into one of the Program modes and setting RAW+JPG file type, the number of shots it thinks I can take is only 227 !! That's probably about 2-3 dives... I'm going to need lots of these, or some 8GB cards I think :shocked2:

 

[diver 85]

lol, I just bought 5 more 4 gig cards(now gets me to 9)---for that reason.....They were to good of a price to pass up...

EDIT:about the mode dial, guess it will depend on how it does in the housing-----

Plus, here's a video I shot last week with mine..
http://www.vimeo.com/19687020

Also, here's 1 someone(from SB--it's on this site somewhere) shot with the S95:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Ll6xXs3BA
---noticed another S95 video there in the right hand column someone shot in the Maldives....I think we'll be OK UW....

 

[acarter]

I also bought one too but haven't tried it yet. Will give you feedback once i've tested it.

 

[Gilligan]

I bought a 4GB Sandisk SD card, putting the camera into one of the Program modes and setting RAW+JPG file type, the number of shots it thinks I can take is only 227 !! That's probably about 2-3 dives... I'm going to need lots of these, or some 8GB cards I think :shocked2:

You don't need to shoot RAW+JPG. Just shoot RAW. When you post-process the RAW image you can covert it to JPG and have both at that time. The camera gives you a JPG thumbnail in the viewer.
Shooting RAW+JPG is an unnecessary waste of card space and serves no purpose.

 

[diver 85]

You don't need to shoot RAW+JPG. Just shoot RAW. When you post-process the RAW image you can covert it to JPG and have both at that time. The camera gives you a JPG thumbnail in the viewer.
Shooting RAW+JPG is an unnecessary waste of card space and serves no purpose.

If you change it just RAW, it goes to ~270 pics, if I remember correctly.........about ?~1400 for JPEG..

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Gilligan's point being you don't need to save in both file types for each shot, RAW is sufficient. Yep, RAW eats more space but "space" is cheap, especially w/ 8 or 16gb SDHC cards, Class 6 or higher. (You may be running into probs for the video if you have cards that aren't SDHC and at least Class 6?) Noise will not be a problem either when you shoot UW at ISO 80 or 100, especially if you are adding an external strobe. I dunno though, for white window work you may need to go DSLR...

The mode selection dial sounds odd. Do try it in the housing first thing and if the housing dial slips or seems hard to turn I'd have the camera back to the dealer or Canon. Just picked up a new S95 for my wife and double checked--shouldn't feel "incedibly stiff" to turn that dial. // ww

 

[slowhands]

Your mode dial should turn easily. Yours may be defective. I'd return it now while it's new.

Actually, you will only shoot 50-75 shots per dive in my experience, so a couple of cards is adequate. If I'm lucky, I get 10-20% keepers, so think quality not quantity. You probably need a laptop for storing and reviewing the day's pics, rather than a ton of memory cards. Better to see the images on the laptop screen anyway. Most divers work that way. Backup daily on a little external hard drive (Western Digital Passport, etc,) or use internet backup, say via the Symantec or Carbonite services.
http://www.carbonite.com/
http://us.norton.com/theme.jsp?themeid=n360v5lp&inid=us_ghp_link1_n3605

Video is not the strong suit of this camera. It shoots great stills, but if you want to be able to autofocus or zoom while filming, consider a Panasonic TZ7 or LX5. Both have great still capability and shoot way better video. I have a TZ3 that runs rings around the Canon on video, and it's the older model. This is the area Panasonic excels at, if it matters to you. As for me, video is not crucial, so I'm happy with Canon. Housings are a pain with Panasonic.

 

[Nemrod]

If you wanted video you should get a video camera, just my opinion.

I don't think it particularly wise to buy a camera and then buy an expensive underwater housing for it and then use that camera for a carry camera. The camera will get lost, dropped or stolen and then what? I have spare even at that.

The mode dial on the housing is "incredibly" able to move that mode dial easily. Mine are relatively stiff but don't know if they are incredibly stiff.

RAW and RAW plus Jpeg do indeed eat up card space, you will need to dump them off daily, I think I have 16 gig cards and they fill up--fast. I download nightly.

Small sensor cameras are always going to show noise, here is an image showing relative sensor sizes, the G and S series are 1/1.6 and the new Oly XZ-1 is 1/1.7 and they say it has a large sensor, lol, whatever:

You are up against the limits of what is possible, advertising hype aside, the only way to get lower noise is a larger sensor.

N

 

[Puffer Fish]

I own, in no particular order:


1. A Canon 50D
2. A canon G10
3. A canon S 90
4 Panasonic LX-5
5.Pansionic GH-1

Best video is a GH-1 hands down. Best resolution is the G10.

Best dynamic range is the 50D. Best Bokeh 50D (G10 is very close)

Best high iso is the 50D.

I have never sat down and shot them all at one image, but have compared them one to one, and for the most part, one cannot tell the difference..properly exposed at ISO 80, all make wonderful 13 x 19 prints.

He should not be seeing any noise at iso 80, unless the exposure was wrong or the image was over processed.

Two years ago I got my wife banned from a Canon forum, where people were posting images to show the superior depth of field and Bokeh of the DSLR, and she asked me to provide an image from a P&S, only with fake data attached to it.

It was a large version of this:

Was rather funny reading comments from experts about the image... well until they found out what took it.

Samples from the new Oly appear to have finally gotten over the high iso issue (there are some great iso 1600 on one site), so even high iso in the future may not be safe.

For general land shooting, I love using a DSLR, but the real differences keep getting smaller and smaller.

If you wanted video you should get a video camera, just my opinion.

I don't think it particularly wise to buy a camera and then buy an expensive underwater housing for it and then use that camera for a carry camera. The camera will get lost, dropped or stolen and then what? I have spare even at that.

The mode dial on the housing is "incredibly" able to move that mode dial easily. Mine are relatively stiff but don't know if they are incredibly stiff.

RAW and RAW plus Jpeg do indeed eat up card space, you will need to dump them off daily, I think I have 16 gig cards and they fill up--fast. I download nightly.

Small sensor cameras are always going to show noise, here is an image showing relative sensor sizes, the G and S series are 1/1.6 and the new Oly XZ-1 is 1/1.7 and they say it has a large sensor, lol, whatever:

You are up against the limits of what is possible, advertising hype aside, the only way to get lower noise is a larger sensor.

N

 

[fab50diver]

I also have the S95. My dials are not terribly hard to turn and in the FIX housing there is no problem.
I already owned 8 gig high speed SDHC cards but purchased 16 gig cards in order to shoot video without needing to change the card. I bought class 10 cards. I prefer SanDisk but these are Lexar, a little cheaper and came loaded with Image Rescue software which is incredibly handy if you ever have a card go bad on you.