How Important is IS for U/W Photography

[undefined]

I'm returning to Canon after a brief stint with Panasonic.... now the obvious choices:

1. A710 IS
2. A640
3. SDxxx - No manual controls :no
4. G7 - Giant, not as good of a bargain as A series :shakehead

So the obvious question is - how important is IS? The A710 has IS, the A640 does not. The A640 has a higher pixel count which is good for cropping and twice the batteries as the A710, allowing for faster flash recharge. They both appear to be quite capable cameras.

If you were picking, how much weight do you give IS in the decision making process? I shoot with DSLR on the surface, so this is going to be used almost exclusively underwater. My wife uses a Canon S200 Elph for SI shots and doesn't see any reason to change her land based camera.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I shoot with a Canon Rebel XT in the water and I have been told more than once that you always turn off the IS U/W. I don't have any IS lenses topside. I shoot mostly daytime and with f/2.8 lenses.

I don't know about the P&S cameras and that is a very good question. I'm interested to hear some comments.

 

[victor]

IS is image stabilisation
Not sure I would bother to much about this underwater.
I don't normally use zoom except for macro.
Big downside of theA710 is no raw mode, I would say that is a must now.

 

[undefined]

IS is image stabilisation
Not sure I would bother to much about this underwater.
I don't normally use zoom except for macro.
Big downside of theA710 is no raw mode, I would say that is a must now.

That leaves basically DSLR and the Oly SP-350, eh?

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Hi, Undefined,

I've never used any of the models you listed but I had the S1 IS which I later replaced it with a S3 IS. On land, the IS is cool; it doesn't matter if my hand shook. Underwater, I kinda feel that it's not very useful, and though I didn't time it, I'd the feeling that having IS on, the camera response slowed down somewhat.

 

[dhokens]

If I were to pick amongst the Canon offerings right now for a strictly underwater camera setup, I would go with the A6xx series. Besides the extra batteries and manual controls, you also get the benefit of a bigger CCD than the A7xx, A5xx, and SDxxx series have. The 1/1.8" CCD is 1.5+ times the size of the 1/2.5". The A630 is a pretty good deal with a more than adequate 8MP CCD and everything else the A640 has other than remote capture which doesn't sound that useful underwater.

Like some of the other posters, I wanted a camera with RAW capabilities. Besides the Oly SP-350 which is getting harder to find, you can look at the Fuji E900.

 

[undefined]

If only the Oly or Fuji took SD or CF cards I'd be interested. I bloody hate xD (and the prices that go with it).

 

[DiverDun]

Could someone please explain why they think IS would not be useful underwater?

I would think it should help. On land it apparently can make a 3 stops difference. I would imagine that this could mean that in a low light situation instead of having to take a picture at say ISO 800: 1/125 sec. I could take the photo at ISO 100: 1/15 sec. That might be pushing it a bit but one would assume that a two stop difference may be possible.

What am I missing here?

I am considering several cameras including:
Panasonic TZ3
Oly SP 550
Fuji F31fd
Canon A710 IS

Thanks

 

[sharkbaitDAN]

I can think of a few reasons IS would not be very helpful in U/W photography.

First, it is best suited for telphoto lens lengths, which are not really suitable for U/W use due to the minimum focal distance of those lenses. I have a 70-200L f/4 IS, and its minimum focal distance is over one meter. I can get a better filled frame with my 100mm macro and since i will be closer to the subject I will have better color.

Second, IS is designed to deal with very small movements, enough to through your picture off, but not huge. In my experience, the biggest problem is with larger movements due to surge or current. In addition, IS is designed with hand shake in mind, and due to camera bouyancy U/W, this should not be as much of an issue.

Third, if you are using strobes you can use a high enough shutter speed that IS is useless. In addition if you are in clear water, you should be able to use a higher ISO rather than IS. In terms of lighting, IS seems to work best in medium lighting situations, where you really just need to go down one or two stops. While 3-4 stops is possible with the higher end IS lenses, you have to hold really still to make it worthwhile.

Fourth, IS uses more battery power than normal, and with a SLR, at least, there is no way to turn it off. I can easily get 3-4 dives on one battery right now, in fact my card is the limiting factor. I personally would not want to have to make the battery a factor as well. However, I do not have enough experience with IS in the real world to get any sort of inication on how much faster it causes a battery to be used.

Fifth, if you have IS on and are able to steady the camera against something, or if it is being held really still, the IS will vibrate the lens anyway and mess the picture up. This is why some o the highend lenses have auto-shutoff when connected to a tripod.

Finally, in the example above, it would probably be better to go to ISO 400 and take the picture at a medium shutterspeed, rather than slow the speed all the way down to 1/15. I find i do most of my shooting (w/strobes) at a minimum of about 1/125 and ISO100 or 200. From reading, the general rule of thumb is to have the minimum shutterspeed at 1/focal lenght (60 for a 60mm lens for example). This fact is important because i do not think there are many people who are actually using lenses longer than about 135mm for U/W photography.

BTW my setup is a Rebel XT, dual Ike DS-125s, and ports for a 100 macro and a 17-40L. I also have an older 35-135, the 70-200 and an old 50mm lens, and I've used my dad's 28-135 IS, and 100-300, all on land.

 

[alcina]

FWIW I think I am going to add a couple more A630s to my collection...the four AA batteries for longer between changing and the larger sensor and the pretty good price work for what I need to use for students and divers who want an easy to use and get good results in the shortest amount of time possible

I'm even going with the Canon housing as I won't be adding wet mate lenses to these rigs.

And I agree, for UW IS doesn't even come on to my radar.