General help with UW photo/ S95.

[Davey Jonesen]

I’ve been into photography for a while and have taken up diving in the last couple years, mostly vacation diving. Now, naturally, I want to combine my hobbies. I’m contemplating getting a Canon S95 but with underwater photography there are many more aspects as compared to taking pictures on dry land but less people in the hobby so I can’t find information on underwater photography to the same degree as I can for taking pictures on dry land. Also, I don’t have any friends that are into UW photography, just diving. Here are a few of my questions if someone could answer them:

If I wanted to get an Inon UFL 165 fisheye in the future, will this only fit on certain camera housings for the S95?
I’ve read that the S95 doesn’t have a hot shoe. Are there certain strobes that will work and certain ones that won’t?

A crash course on how strobes interface with cameras is really what I need.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[altaskier]

It might be really good for you to drop in to a diving camera shop, or call one up on the phone. I live in Chicago, and just went to Helix Camera to get an upgraded camera setup based on the Canon S95. Dennis is a diver, and he guided me through the options. There's also Camera Housings, Strobes, Arms, Trays & More! - Optical Ocean Sales Underwater Photo - 800-359-1295! and Backscatter : Underwater Camera, Underwater Video Housing, Underwater Photography, Waterproof Camera (look at their package deals, for example).

Underwater strobes often work by triggering off of the camera's internal strobe, so there's no hotshoe connection required.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

DJ--Welcome to SB & this forum (not that I'm the Walmart greeter here). If you haven't already, check out the UW Photo Guide: Underwater Photography Guide. Plenty of free help and great advice.

While there are lot's of housings for the S-95 many will not accomodate the specific WA lens you mention, so do your homework. You'll have to balance your desires against your budget (darn) when making decisions. Lack of a hot shoe is typically not a deal breaker unless you opt for higher end strobes & housings that have port access and sync cables to hard wire in the strobe. Going the fiber optic route is a common approach these days, however, so the lack of a hotshoe should not really be a factor for you.

Personally I'd look at a really solid point & shoot like the S95 to learn with and do some solid shooting with. A good external strobe (Sea&Sea YS-01 or Inon S2000?), a housing you can afford (yet do things with like add auxiliary WA and close-up lenses ), and a decent tray and arm set will go a long ways to letting you take great shots. Eventually you may opt for a dslr approach but by learning and working with a good p&s system you'll have a better idea what to jump to next, when and if that should be necessary for you.

There are many dealers out there who are also SB members (Scott Geitler w/ BluewaterPhoto + the UW Photo Guide and Jack Connick w/ Ocean Optical Sales come to mind). They and many other dealers are knowledgeable and helpful, especially with details like which housings can do what. Ask a lot of questions and do your research, then decide what is best for YOU. The enjoyment factor will be much higher that way. Good luck! // ww

 

[diver 85]

You can put a strobe in the slave mode & it will fire off the internal flash of the S95....

 

[Ryan]

If you are buying the components from scratch, Inon UFL-165AD is not the best option. It was designed for 35mm native lens cameras, and the S95 is 28mm.

Fix UWL-04 or Inon UWL-H100 28 LD are much better choices.

 

[BluewaterPhoto]

If I wanted to get an Inon UFL 165 fisheye in the future, will this only fit on certain camera housings for the S95?
I’ve read that the S95 doesn’t have a hot shoe. Are there certain strobes that will work and certain ones that won’t?

A crash course on how strobes interface with cameras is really what I need.

Thanks in advance for any help.

hi Davey

Your asking the right questions.

Any of major strobes out there will work with the s95 via a fiber optic cable.

If you purchase your strobe from any underwater camera dealer they will talk you through the strobe options and how to get it working properly, and get you the correct cable.

The Canon and Ikelite housings don't support fisheye lenses (which are my preferred wide-angle lenses). The Recsea S95 housing takes fisheyes like the Dyron 16mm fisheye lens, and the UFL-165, but you have to zoom in to 35mm use the UFL-165, so you do lose some of the precious angle of view.

Free free to call with any detailed questions on how strobes work.

Scott

 

[Nemrod]

Photos taken with the Inon UFL165AD:

Photos taken with Fisheye UWL-04:

Inon WAL100-67mm with dome kit:

For reference, flat port, no lens:

Above lenses were fitted to the former FIX90 housing which is virtually identical to the current Recsea965 housing so all applies as above. My favorite of the three remains the Inon UFL165AD because it bayonets on in the configuration I use and is quick and easy to switch to my Inon UCL165AD macro lens or to the plain port as I have explained here:

View topic - The Great Summer 2010 Wet Lens Shoot Out!|Underwater Photography Guide

and here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/317325-fisheye-fix-s90.html

Here are the lenses in a comparative shot:

The Dyron 16mm fisheye would yield similar results to the Fisheye UWL-04, both are fine lenses for the Recsea or FIX housings and certainly a good choice for either.

Note, the pool shots in the series above were hand held from the same position, no strobe, very dark inside the natatorium and I was not interested in anything but the field of view. Focus, color, blur etc were not my concern, ONLY, FOV. In fact, the UFL165AD in my opinion is the sharpest of the three, especially up close, and the camera seems to focus faster with it as well but it is prone to flare, it bayonets on. The Fisheye UWL-04 is the widest by a hair FOV and is a fun lens to use but it threads on--bummer. The Inon WAL100 with dome is heavy, has the smallest FOV, has virtually no issue with flare, does not focus as fast, especially up close and it is EXPENSIVE and it too threads on (but with the expensive FIX port kit it will also bayonet). None of the photos have been cropped or altered, what you see is what you get. Those are my results and I stand by them.

N

 

[muzikbiz22]

hi Davey

Your asking the right questions.

Any of major strobes out there will work with the s95 via a fiber optic cable.

If you purchase your strobe from any underwater camera dealer they will talk you through the strobe options and how to get it working properly, and get you the correct cable.

The Canon and Ikelite housings don't support fisheye lenses (which are my preferred wide-angle lenses). The Recsea S95 housing takes fisheyes like the Dyron 16mm fisheye lens, and the UFL-165, but you have to zoom in to 35mm use the UFL-165, so you do lose some of the precious angle of view.

Free free to call with any detailed questions on how strobes work.

Scott

Scott/BluewaterPhoto,

Can you clarify or elaborate "Ikelite housings don't support fisheye lenses" ?

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Above lenses were fitted to the former FIX90 housing which is virtually identical to the current Recsea965 housing so all applies as above. My favorite of the three remains the Inon UFL165AD because it bayonets on in the configuration I use and is quick and easy to switch to my Inon UCL165AD macro lens or to the plain port as I have explained here:

View topic - The Great Summer 2010 Wet Lens Shoot Out!|Underwater Photography Guide

and here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/317325-fisheye-fix-s90.html

I totally agree with this sentiment. The multiple lens choices of the AD bayonet trumps all, IMHO.

 

[PatW]

The S95 is a very good option. It shoots RAW. In my opinion, shooting RAW in underwater photography is a tremendous advantage. It allows you to modify white balance without penalty in post processing. It also allows far more adjustment of light and shadow. Exposure and white balance are far more problematic underwater.

Point and shoots are nice underwater in that they can take macro shots or wide angle on a single dive. If you are diving with a DSLR, you choose your lens and port and then you are stuck with your choice for the dive. I would think that if I went macro on a dive, every shark, eagle ray and turtle in the ocean would come and taunt me.

Ikelite makes a nice relatively inexpensive housing for the S95. The problem is that if you want to go with housings that accomodate really wide angle, you are going with pretty expensive, almost to the point of a DSLR housing. There are always tradeoffs.

I use my local dive shop to get most of my stuff. I have found that for photography things that they can't get Backscatter : Underwater Camera, Underwater Video Housing, Underwater Photography, Waterproof Camera can for me. The people there are pretty knowledgeable. Once you narrow things down, you might talk to them.

Pat