Help - Honeymoon Camera: Canon A vs SD series

[isuchopper]

Hi All-

I'm a long time lurker but first time poster. Thanks much to all the folks who have made this such a great forum. As you might expect, I've got a question for you.

My new wife and I are heading to Bonaire and Curacao for our honeymoon and we'd like to do better than the disposable UW cameras that we've used in the past. What I'm curious to know is whether I can get as good of performance out of an SD series Canon as I could from an A series. I'd like to use an SD870 over an A570 since I greatly prefer that form factor for above water use. It seems that very few folks on this forum use the SD series so I'm a little suspicious that the lack of manual controls may ruin it's usefulness.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[maged_mmh]

give the G series a thought; costs more though.

 

[isuchopper]

maged_mmh-

Thanks for the reply. I'm afraid that the G series is a bit out of my price range- $250 would be more like it. I'm interested in the SD series because it's a much better pocket camera and I was actually planning to buy one anyway. It would be nice if I could kill two birds with one stone on this one. If the SD cameras don't work underwater, though, it's not worth it.

Does anyone here dive with an SD series camera?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Rynomar]

isuchopper,

Go for the SD series camera. My wife and I have used several of the Canon SD models while diving with decent results. Manually adjusting the white balance will make much more difference that the camera model and can yield some great shots with ambient light. The A series cameras and the G series cameras have more manual controls, but the SD cameras work well and are very compact. Above water the SD series cameras are great for dropping in a pocket and taking anywhere.

My wife currently dives with a G7 and she has taken some great shots with it but I don't think that they are any better than the pictures from the SD series.

Also, my wife and I spent our honeymoon on Bonaire and had a great time. You might also want to look at www.dpreview.com, they have great review of most of the cameras available today. I am sure that you will be happy with either camera. Have a fun trip.

 

[isuchopper]

Rynomar,

Thanks for the note. It's great to hear that someone is diving with the SD cameras. So you haven't had any issues with the lack of manual controls? Any tendancy for the camera to make some silly choices that ruin a photo?

Where did you stay on Bonaire? We'll be at the Plaza and are really looking forward to a some time away from work.

Good to meet another fan of dpreview. I love the site- I found them a few years ago and am so happy that they've managed to stay around all this time.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Rynomar]

isuchopper,

The shutter lag on the point and shoots in general can be frustrating, but with some planning and a little luck it is managable. The main problems that I have had with the point and shoot cameras are over exposure, accidentally using the flash when the white balance is manually adjusted for ambient light, and accidentially switching the camera to video mode. The onboard flash on the SD cameras will work if you get nice and close to a subject but make sure that the manual white balance is turned off. With a little practice you can switch back and forth pretty easy.

If you plan on getting an external strobe at some point, you will probably want more manual controls that the SD cameras have to offer however.

We stayed at Buddy Dive and really enjoyed it. We are talking about going back around the first of the year if time allows. Bonaire is a great place, I really enjoyed the shore diving and the flexibility of diving our own schedule. You guys will have a great time.

Ryan

 

[alcina]

You've hit the nail on the head for the difference in the two series - lack of manual control.

Will this be an issue? yes. Will it be a deal breaker? Maybe not. Really depends on what you want out of your photo experience.

The SD range with manual white balance controls can achieve some fine results and it's a great option for those whose priority is small form factor but with reasonable results. I would not buy an SD that did not have manual white balance control (I think some don't - can't remember off the top of my head).

The A range has complete manual controls along with various presets. This is a better option for those who aren't concerned with slightly more bulk, who want to be able to grow in a single system as they travel along the uw photo path and for those who are happy to take a little more time to choose settings to give them the best possible results each time rather than trust the camera to make good choices for them.

 

[isuchopper]

Rynomar-

We almost stayed at Dive Buddy ourselves- it looked like a great spot. I'm really looking forward to tooling around the island. Should be a lot of fun.

Since you have dove with multiple SD cameras, do you have any experience with the canon housings or have you always used Ikelite? For use on only one or two dive trips per year, I wouldn't mind saving the $100 difference if there isn't an issue. Jen and I don't really ever go over 100 ft down, so the depth rating shouldn't be a problem. On the flip side, i don't want to risk my camera. By the way, have you used the any IS models UW? Any big improvement?

alcina-

Thanks for the note- and for your post on UW photography. It's very informative and wonderfully beyond my needs right now...which just means that I'll get to learn some groovy things in the future. Thanks for the tip on manual white balance, I'll be sure to pick one that has it.

At this point, I'm just looking to this system to allow me to take better photos than the disposable cameras since that's worth a couple hundred dollars to me so I don't have any plans to expand it later on. If I get more into this in a year to two, I'll invest a bit more and definitely get something with all the controls that I'll need. It sounds like the SD series mainly makes decent decisions and that I should be alright working around any poor tendencies. Would you agree?

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[isuchopper]

Sorry- another question to add to the list:

Is proper focus or crisp images difficult to obtain with an SD-style camera UW?

This seems to be the Achilles' heal of these sort of cameras. Some of the SD line has gotten some reviews of soft focus and even poor focus in some situations and I'm curious if you often see the same behavior underwater. Seems somewhat reasonable: lower light, some camera movement since it's hard to hold perfectly still, etc.

Does anyone have experience with this?

As always, thanks for helping me out,

Mike

 

[bliew]

My wife and I both dive, and we have the SD870 and A620, both with Canon's UW housing.

I really like the SD870 underwater, notably due to the WA and wide screen; I also like that you can program the [print] button to instantly record video, so I never have to toggle between photo or video modes. And the Image Stabilization is great for video.

I was concerned about the lack of manual controls, but realistically with manual white balance, unless you're both an expert diver and expert photographer, the SD's images are quite good. I never had a problem with either focus or crisp images, except those that were "diver error" ;-)

The biggest problem with the SD870 in terms of image quality is slight softness in the corners, and distortion of the horizon line, all due to the 28mm WA. But I figured that underwater, there are no horizon lines to worry about and soft corners mostly wouldn't apply, and that pretty much seems to be the case...

I've posted my review of the SD870 underwater and links to photos and videos before, let me know if you want the link/s.

Cheers!
Bryan

p.s. as an added bonus, the SD870 does make for a convenient and small land camera - although the problems noted above are much more noticeable on land.

Sorry- another question to add to the list:

Is proper focus or crisp images difficult to obtain with an SD-style camera UW?

This seems to be the Achilles' heal of these sort of cameras. Some of the SD line has gotten some reviews of soft focus and even poor focus in some situations and I'm curious if you often see the same behavior underwater. Seems somewhat reasonable: lower light, some camera movement since it's hard to hold perfectly still, etc.

Does anyone have experience with this?

As always, thanks for helping me out,

Mike