Have S40 but not married to it, get sea & sea?

[greasergrrl]

I have a Canon S40 but am not married to it, though I like the resolution (wouldn't settle for less than 4 megapixels) and already have CompactFlash cards. I dropped it a few times and the covering has seperated to expose a bit of the innards but it has worked fine for almost a year this way. I took it to a shop and they said it would end up taking more to fix it than it was probably worth at this point, especially considering the way I drool over the Rebel and the Elphs (I have a hard time deciding between them - features or portability? - or I probably would have bought another camera).

SO. I'm going to Maui in March and want to graduate from the disposable UW cameras we used last time.

1. Should I just get a housing for the S40 and call it done - the photos will probably be a huge step up from last time and it would be fairly cheap ($150)? If I get rid of the camera eventually I guess I could just sell the housing.

2. Should I get an external strobe or should I wait until I know more about which direction (camera) I'll go with in the future? Are they so ungodly expensive that I should just wait or will I regret waiting because they photos will be so bad without them that I'll get one eventually and wish I'd done it sooner?

3. What if I just used an underwater light - that's cheaper right? seems like that would be cool because you would see what the photo would look like because the light would be on already instead of just when you snap the photo. what about battery life since it would be on all the time - and i'd have to attach it, right? could I get an arm that would work with a strobe if I got one later? where do you buy this stuff anyway?

4. OR Should I get a Sea & Sea UW camera so I won't worry about the housing leaking or something tragic like that? I've read they aren't so great though - and I definitely want digital (the Aquapix? But it's only 3 mp) and I don't think they make one that uses CompactFlash cards.

Lots of questions! I'm sure this board has answers!

TIA

 

[diverdeb001]

I have a Canon S40 but am not married to it, though I like the resolution (wouldn't settle for less than 4 megapixels) and already have CompactFlash cards. I dropped it a few times and the covering has seperated to expose a bit of the innards but it has worked fine for almost a year this way. I took it to a shop and they said it would end up taking more to fix it than it was probably worth at this point, especially considering the way I drool over the Rebel and the Elphs (I have a hard time deciding between them - features or portability? - or I probably would have bought another camera).

SO. I'm going to Maui in March and want to graduate from the disposable UW cameras we used last time.

1. Should I just get a housing for the S40 and call it done - the photos will probably be a huge step up from last time and it would be fairly cheap ($150)? If I get rid of the camera eventually I guess I could just sell the housing.

2. Should I get an external strobe or should I wait until I know more about which direction (camera) I'll go with in the future? Are they so ungodly expensive that I should just wait or will I regret waiting because they photos will be so bad without them that I'll get one eventually and wish I'd done it sooner?

3. What if I just used an underwater light - that's cheaper right? seems like that would be cool because you would see what the photo would look like because the light would be on already instead of just when you snap the photo. what about battery life since it would be on all the time - and i'd have to attach it, right? could I get an arm that would work with a strobe if I got one later? where do you buy this stuff anyway?

4. OR Should I get a Sea & Sea UW camera so I won't worry about the housing leaking or something tragic like that? I've read they aren't so great though - and I definitely want digital (the Aquapix? But it's only 3 mp) and I don't think they make one that uses CompactFlash cards.

Lots of questions! I'm sure this board has answers!

TIA

The Aquapix uses Smart Media cards for extra memory. Is the compact flash card better. ???

 

[Gilligan]

My two cents if I was you:
1. The S40 works, you are already familiar with it, the housing is relatively cheap at $150., it's 4 MP so get the housing.
2. Good strobes are expensive. Your pictures won't be crappy w/o one. I just bought a strobe and will be using it today for the first time. All the pics on my website are w/o a strobe. You will have another learning curve with a strobe and your trip is no place for that. Know your camera well before a trip so you will use the trip time for fun and taking good pictures. So, no, I would not get a strobe yet.
3. No on the underwater light as a substitute for a strobe. From all that I have read it doesn't do the job. Some folks have used the UK Light Canon with diffuser for such purposes. It's a $200. light that uses 8 batteries. Perhaps someone will chime in here and give you their experience with it. My opinion is no on it. I checked into it and decided against it. It is more suitable for use with a video camera.
4. No on the Sea & sea. You already have a 4 MP camera. All you need is the housing.

For $150. and some practice with the housing controls you are good to go on your trip. You already have a camera and memory cards. Learn everything you can about your camera before your trip, especially on using manual controls and manual White Balance. Spend some money on a good photo editing program if you don't already have one. You will need one to get the most out of your dive photos (land ones too).

 

[greasergrrl]

Thanks for the great reply, Gilligan. I just got the underwater housing for Christmas a few hours ago so I'm ready to go. I'll have to read up on the manual settings and white balance - I haven't used those yet. So I need to use those while underwater and can't just touch them up afterwards with Photoshop?

And diverdeb001, CompactFlash is just the media that a lot of cameras use - i'm sure Smart Media is just as good or you can find different people that say different ones are good. I already am using Compact Flash in my cameras and have a bunch of flash cards so I won't buy a camera that doesn't use them.

In fact, I just got us a little Elph S400 for Christmas so we will have more than one camera for the trip. It's not going underwater though. Also makes me feel better about risking taking mine under - that way if mine breaks we won't be stuck without a camera on the trip.

You can never have too many cameras, especially if they are so little and cute!

 

[Gilligan]

I'm no expert at this but my experience so far has shown better results with Manual WB calibrated off my dive slate at the depth I am at versus Auto WB. This applies only to the photos taken w/o a strobe (internal or external). I have taken the photos into Photoshop and sometimes "Auto Adjust" is all they need. Other times I have used the so called "mandrake process" on them.
I started out using Auto mode on all my photos then switched to Manual mode, setting the F stops and shutter speeds. The results are much better. I am not familiar with the strength of the built in strobe on the Canon compared to the Olympus. I found that F7 and F8 at 1/80 and 1/100 were good spots for the built in strobe in Macro Mode. The Olympus housing has a flash difffuser built into the front of it which works well to eliminate backscatter.
I will reinforce my previous post by stating; know your camera and housing controls very well BEFORE your trip. The ability to quickly switch back and forth between settings is a must not to miss a good shot, for example taking a macro shot with the internal strobe at F8 and 1/100 then seeing a Manta Ray approaching, switching to F5 and 1/60 as well turning off the strobe and switching to Manual WB (which you calibrated off your dive slate right after descending).
Find the "sweet spots" on your camera for these type scenarios so you can quickly change to them and take second and third shots by tweaking the F stop and speed slightly up or down.