Help! Canon PowerShot A510 or PowerShot S1 IS?

[Namaste]

I'm in the market right now to buy a new camera ... I have narrowed it down to the 'Canon PowerShot A510' or the 'Canon PowerShot S1 IS'. I'm purchasing my camera at CostCo due to their fantastic return policy should I decide later against a camera and need to return it. Therefore - these are the two I need to decide from. Anyway ... the A510 has an "underwater" shooting mode where as the "PowerShot S1 IS" does not, but is it really that useful? Of course the PowerShot S1 IS has a much better optical zoom - but the A510 is lighter in weight (about 1/2), also - the A510 is much newer I believe - but there is no mention of 'image stabilization' in it's specs. The price difference is not a factor in my decision. I would just love to hear of others experience with either camera and sample underwater photos if ya have 'em to share. I can already see above water examples at dpreview.com. Also - what strobes are available to to each camera?

Here is the side-by-side of the two on their site: http://tinyurl.com/98pwx

Please please help me narrow this choice down. I would much appreciate anything folks can tell me.

Thanks!!
Brooke :06:

 

[get_tanked]

Well, I'll start by saying that I don't actually have experience with either of these two cameras - but I do have some information that might be helpful. I have the Canon Powershot A95 camera with the underwater setting. I'm really happy with it, and there are some good examples of underwater shots taken with it over on the wetpixel.com boards.

The reason that I replied to your post is that I too was considering the S1 IS camera. I was told by someone I trust at my camera shop that the S1 IS has horribly slow shutter lag and write-to-memory times. However, the 12x optical zoom, while not very useful underwater, is great on land.

If you want to spend some more money, Canon just came out with an S2 IS that corrects these problems.

Now, having said this, I'm sure that someone is going to reply and tell you how great the S1 IS really is. You might try asking around on the wetpixel site.

Good luck!

Bill

I'm in the market right now to buy a new camera ... I have narrowed it down to the 'Canon PowerShot A510' or the 'Canon PowerShot S1 IS'. I'm purchasing my camera at CostCo due to their fantastic return policy should I decide later against a camera and need to return it. Therefore - these are the two I need to decide from. Anyway ... the A510 has an "underwater" shooting mode where as the "PowerShot S1 IS" does not, but is it really that useful? Of course the PowerShot S1 IS has a much better optical zoom - but the A510 is lighter in weight (about 1/2), also - the A510 is much newer I believe - but there is no mention of 'image stabilization' in it's specs. The price difference is not a factor in my decision. I would just love to hear of others experience with either camera and sample underwater photos if ya have 'em to share. I can already see above water examples at dpreview.com. Also - what strobes are available to to each camera?

Here is the side-by-side of the two on their site: http://tinyurl.com/98pwx

Please please help me narrow this choice down. I would much appreciate anything folks can tell me.

Thanks!!
Brooke :06:

 

[Taxgeek]

Hi!
I have an S1 IS. It is great - for video. I haven't yet managed to make it shoot one decent underwater still shot. The aforementioned shutter lag is truly horrid - sometimes it seems like hours. However, I haven't given it much chance to do a good job - I need to play around more with shutter priority mode.

The video it shoots is pretty darn great, however, for not being a real video camera. I wish I had a link to send you, but I don't have any video online.

The onboard flash doesn't work with the housing because the housing casts a shadow over half the shot, at least for closeup stuff. So as you mentioned, you definitely need a strobe.

I'm considering getting a separate camera for stills - definitely not going to keep the S1 for that. FWIW.

Happy shooting!
Taxgeek

 

[the_cat_keeper]

I have the Canon S1 SI. The main complaint I have is its buoyancy and the poor macro mode. For buoyancy, the problem was resolved when I bought a strobe. The poor macro mode was resolved with the installation of a underwater macro len.

As for quality of pix, I leave you to judge since most of the pix have not been touched up (if "Advanced Photo Information" for that particular pix were available, it was not edited). http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/5628

The pix at Manado was my first try of the camera (also first time to use a camera both above and under water). Then in July '04, I bought a strobe so subsequent pix were taken with the strobe. I bought the macro len in March '05 and the pix taken in April onwards had the effect of the macro len.

 

[Taxgeek]

Hi Cat Keeper!
I'm curious about this macro lense you mention. I didn't know one existed for the S1 - who makes it and where can I get one? ;-)
Thanks!
Taxgeek

 

[Namaste]

I have the Canon S1 SI. The main complaint I have is its buoyancy and the poor macro mode. For buoyancy, the problem was resolved when I bought a strobe. The poor macro mode was resolved with the installation of a underwater macro len.

As for quality of pix, I leave you to judge since most of the pix have not been touched up (if "Advanced Photo Information" for that particular pix were available, it was not edited). http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/5628

The pix at Manado was my first try of the camera (also first time to use a camera both above and under water). Then in July '04, I bought a strobe so subsequent pix were taken with the strobe. I bought the macro len in March '05 and the pix taken in April onwards had the effect of the macro len.

Cat Keeper - Thank you SO much for taking the time to reply to my message!! What strobe and macro lens did you end up purchasing (model numbers)? So I take it the camera in the housing was too buoyant before the strobe?

I'm so new at scuba and underwater photography - so I'm not looking to start off at the high end, mostly because I can't afford too. *grin*. What about what people have said about the shutter lag? Have you found that to be an annoyance, or is it not noticeable to you? Have you been happy with video that you have shot?

Thank you for sharing your pictures ... they are wonderful!!

~Brooke

 

[Taxgeek]

The poor macro mode was resolved with the installation of a underwater macro len.

Hurray, I found it - Inon UCL167M67. or UCL 330M67.

I guess you have to buy some sort of adapter ring.

SeaOptics was the first site that popped up on my google search that has it: http://www.seaoptic.com/products/digital/InonWPDC20.html

Taxgeek

 

[alcina]

I just had a Dive Master who had the A510. It did a great job of the big stuff (mantas, whale sharks, turtles, groper etc) and the little stuff (nudibranchs, chromis, eels).

You can compare these two cameras side by side at www.dpreview.com - here they are: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/com...byside&cameras=canon_a510,canon_s1is&show=all

You can also read their indepth reviews on both models.

The macro focus range is better on the A510 and closer is better underwater. As is smaller, for me. The only negative I see is the cards...

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Cat Keeper - Thank you SO much for taking the time to reply to my message!! What strobe and macro lens did you end up purchasing (model numbers)? So I take it the camera in the housing was too buoyant before the strobe?

I'm so new at scuba and underwater photography - so I'm not looking to start off at the high end, mostly because I can't afford too. *grin*. What about what people have said about the shutter lag? Have you found that to be an annoyance, or is it not noticeable to you? Have you been happy with video that you have shot?

Thank you for sharing your pictures ... they are wonderful!!

~Brooke

Hi, Namaste,

You are welcome and thanks for the compliments. :blush:

I bought the Sunpak G-flash. It has a guide number up to 22 - I typically do macro shots and use 3 to 5. The strobe is adequate for whatever pictures I wanted to take during day dives. At night, the S1 needs a light to help it to focus. This strobe does not have a target light so I use my torch to do that and it sometimes result in a "bright spot" in the pictures.

The camera housing was still a little buoyant after adding the strobe. (Canon.com.sg recommends 4 pcs of weights for the housing. Unfortunately I couldn't find any shops in Singapore selling those weights). As for the len, I bought the Inon UCL165 M67 close-up len which gives 2 x magnification. In order to mount the len, you need to get the Inon M67 mount base.

The shutter lag was a bit annoying initially. By the time the picture was taken, the fish had moved away. And now what I have done is learnt how to approach the subject very, very slowly. And it works.

As for video, I had only taken the video once... I think it was a 1.5 minute video of a manta ray. I played with the zoom while filming and the resolution was much better (my PC crashed and I lost the file. Otherwise I could email it to you) compared to the still shots.

Since I take mostly macro shots, I was considering upgrading to S2 but the Canon websites do not indicate if a housing is available. In the end I decided that the macro len works well enough (by the way you can stack multiple lens and since it is wet-mountable, you can swap macro/ wide-angle len underwater!) and I can save the money for another dive trip!

Hope this helps!
Cat.

 

[TheRichOne]

I had the opportunity to use the S1 for one week in God's country, Palau. I was there one week, so I collected hundreds of digital images on the S1. My attraction to the S1 was, more than any other aspect, its ability to take a macro shot. I put the lens within inches of the subject, and it found the focus. The other Canons could not do that. I have to admit I did not try the A510. But, I did try the other "A" models and they could not "find" the focus. They required 8-10 inches distance to subject. The only drawback to macro on the S1, is that the flash is partially blocked by the lense cover. I learned to keep the macro subject in the upper 2/3 of the frame and the results were fine. When the subject is 1 ft to 3 ft away, the lense "block" is not a problem. The recommended distance for the built-in flash is, in my opinion 2 feet. A slave strobe would by recommended for distances greater than that. However, my results were the best I've experienced in 15 years of u/w photography, primarily limited to Nikonos V shots. A feature of the S1 that is wasted u/w is it's ability to pull telephoto shots 10x optical. However, I will be using the S1 for years to come. Once allowances are made for the lense cover blocking the flash on the close-ups, the results were more than acceptable.