Fisheye Fix & Canon S100 questions

[Karen Dancheck]

Just getting acquainted with my new camera and housing before I take it underwater. Is anyone else bummed about the short battery life of the S100? I am coming from an Oly SP350 which seemed to last way longer! I shot with the same 2 batteries for YEARS and never had any issues.

I am shooting with a single Sea & Sea YS-01 strobe. Has anyone experienced flash bleed through from the other holes on the front of the housing? I was wondering if I needed to get a small rubber plug for the other hole.

Although this camera has a lot of bells and whistles, I plan to shoot in manual mode as I did with the SP-350. I got great results and assume I will with this cam too.

Any other tips or tricks with this cam/housing are greatly appreciated!

 

[Hetland]

The S-series cams have notoriously short-lasting batteries. This was the deal-killer for me, in what would otherwise be a perfect camera for my needs.

You may want to play with the on-board flash settings to see if you can dial them down for the camera (you can do this on the G-series). I believe that function works in AV, TV, and manual modes. On my last two Canons, I disabled the menu beeps, turned the display shut-off to the minimum time, and left the auto-shut-down on the maximum. I believe the camera uses more juice waking up and going to sleep than it does sitting idle with the display off, but I've never tested it to make sure.

If you're really brave you can turn off the display completely to save batteries

 

[Karen Dancheck]

So far I have turned down the flash settings as I have read that even at a min, the internal flash will still trigger the strobe. The Oly SP350 had a button on the back of the housing to turn on and off the display. Does not look like I can do it with this cam. Looks like it is either powered on or off.

I agree with you that I think the cam takes a lot more juice to turn on and off. That being said, do you turn OFF the AUTO POWER DOWN function?

 

[wills029]

Turning off the GPS location function will also help battery life.

I use manual mode and shoot in both RAW and JPeg and have been very pleased with the results. The HD video is nice upgrade from my previous s90. My set-up comprises the FIX Housing with tray having YS-01 Strobe and Sola 1200 Light (for video).

Best,
Wills029

 

[dfx]

Not sure what constitutes short battery life in your book, but I haven't had a problem with my S100. Granted, I'm a photo noob and just take pictures for the fun of it, but my S100's battery lasts for two 45-50 minute dives, internal flash on all the time, shooting in RAW, and still shows the battery as full or at least half afterwards.

What I did was to set the LCD brightness to the lowest setting and set the display/sleep timeout pretty short too. Only takes a fraction of a second to wake it up, so no big deal.

 

[Hetland]

I think the controls are the same as the G-cams. Try this:

1. Turn on your camera in photo-review mode
2. Hit the Menu button
3. Navigate to the Wrench and Hammer symbol

In that menu:

• Mute = ON
• LCD Brightness = as low as you can get it and still use the camera while diving
• Start-up Image = OFF

Under "Power Saving" Sub-menu

• Auto Power Down = Up to you
• Display Off = As short as you can stand it. This turns off the display when not focusing or taking a photo. If you touch a button, the display wakes up.

I do have autopower-down on, which seems to shut the camera down after about 5 minutes, but I'm shooting a G, and if I'm careful, I can get 4 dives on a single charge.

 

[Interceptor121]

Turning the GPS off is a good idea. I would not touch the strobe setting if you want to use TTL as that will have an effect. If instead you want to shoot manual you can set strobe power to minimum.
The other things you can try are:
Reduce LCD brightness but not to the point you don't see it
Set LCD off to the shortest time

Set the camera auto power off to Never, it may seem a bad idea instead if the camera goes on and off it retracts the lens and that is a major battery drain. Make sure lens retract is set to 1 minute and not to 0 otherwise it will go in and out if you display any picture after shooting

Also disable all red-eye and AF infra red light as they do not serve any purpose

 

[Karen Dancheck]

Made lots of power saving adjustments so we will see how it goes with the battery. I my husband and I shoot macro. I have two Inon 165 stacked macro lenses. I can lay in the sand in 15 feet of water and shoot critters for hours! This is why I run out of battery. For the last few years we have been shore diving in Bonaire and typically our dives are no less than 80 minutes as we don't dive very deep. Our next trip is back to the Blue Heron Bridge where you do one 2 hour dive a day. Dive is about 15-20'.

I also turned off the IS. Will just turn it on when I am shooting video...

Should I buy the monitor hood? I had one on my SP350 setup...

Wills029, seems like we have an almost identical setup as I am using a Sola 500. I use it as a spotting light during night dives.

 

[samplin]

Looks like I also have the same setup. Leaving for Lembeh on May 20th..

Anyone have any experience with this v=battery over the OEM?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NK5Z8Y/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also, These for the YS-01s Maha AA 2400mAh 4 Pack Rechargeable Batteries NiMH Low discharge

 

[Karen Dancheck]

What are the 5 MY MENU selections that you find most helpful?