ISO housing/camera advice...

[danapiper]

Hey all -

New to the board and looking for some advice on cameras. Y'all seem like a knowledgable bunch so here goes.

Here's the situation. I'm ISO an u/w dig camera for taking pics of wild spotted dolphins for ID purposes (e.g. fairly hi res to ID spot patterns). Close-up capability not an issue, but a decent-working internal flash is ideal. I really want to avoid having an attached strobe - the less bulk the better with those critters.

I currently have a Canon Elph S110 that I love to death and have had for years. I know they make an "all-weather" housing (the AW-PS200) for my baby that is good down to 20ft(?) but I don't know, I don't really trust it. We technically shouldn't have any reason to go deeper than 15-20' but...I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my Elph. There would be tears, I'll tell you that much. Anyone have experience with the AW-PS200 housing? Flooding, depths gone to...? Recommendations for/against?

Next question is about the Elph S300 and housing. I've heard great things about the internal flash capabilities of this camera when used with the housing. What's the word here?

Any other recommendations? I've been thinking about Olympus too and even though I'm in love with the Elphs I'm willing to switch for the right camera...

All this keeping in mind that I would ideally love to be able to do this as inexpensively as possible (wouldn't we all?) which is why the AW-PS200 is appealing even in all its uncertainty. Being a student (read: poor) working for a non-profit (read: starving) I'm willing to go used and even sell my first love (the S110) to get something that will take good pics in good vis of those critters. Wondering where the best places to look are for any of your recommendations?

Thanks in advance guys!

KD

 

[Gilligan]

Not sure what you mean by "close-up capability not an issue".
Internal strobes are good to about 3 feet, at best. External strobes are brighter but don't add much distance.
How far away are you going to be taking your pictures?That question has to be answered first.

 

[friscuba]

I'll chime in along with Gilligan on this one. I get the feeling the strobe won't be of much help, internal or external. For the dolphins to be close enough for the strobe to have any effect you'll only likely get a portion of the dolphin in the frame.

I haven't tried swimming along with dolphins with a digital camera yet so I don't know if you'll effectively be able get a picture for identification purposes in anything but the best of water clarity. Somehow I have my doubts. I think you might be better off (not financially, unless you pick up something used off Ebay) going with video. Many of the video cameras pick up images quite well in low light situations. The problem I've had with still shots is that dolphins blend in with the blue background so well that if they're further than 6-8 feet away film can have a tough time picking them up (this was on a 70 foot viz day). Video will likely pick up more and then you can grab a frame. If it is only for ID purposes you should be able to get an identifiable shot more readily I suspect. The picture quality of a grabbed frame will be pretty poor, but patterns will be recognizable.

I could be incorrect in my thinking, but I know a few video guys who have more recognizable (Id purposes only) dolphin photos than the people I've met who've tried stills.

I took this photo several years ago, haven't gone out swimming with dolphins since. Anyway, using a wide angle lens I'd bet these dolphins were no more than 5 to 10 feet away and the further ones maybe up to 20 feet away max. This was among the best shots and I'm not sure if you'd be able to use anything of this quality for identification purpose.

Good luck,

Steve

Hey all -

New to the board and looking for some advice on cameras. Y'all seem like a knowledgable bunch so here goes.

Here's the situation. I'm ISO an u/w dig camera for taking pics of wild spotted dolphins for ID purposes (e.g. fairly hi res to ID spot patterns). Close-up capability not an issue, but a decent-working internal flash is ideal. I really want to avoid having an attached strobe - the less bulk the better with those critters.

I currently have a Canon Elph S110 that I love to death and have had for years. I know they make an "all-weather" housing (the AW-PS200) for my baby that is good down to 20ft(?) but I don't know, I don't really trust it. We technically shouldn't have any reason to go deeper than 15-20' but...I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my Elph. There would be tears, I'll tell you that much. Anyone have experience with the AW-PS200 housing? Flooding, depths gone to...? Recommendations for/against?

Next question is about the Elph S300 and housing. I've heard great things about the internal flash capabilities of this camera when used with the housing. What's the word here?

Any other recommendations? I've been thinking about Olympus too and even though I'm in love with the Elphs I'm willing to switch for the right camera...

All this keeping in mind that I would ideally love to be able to do this as inexpensively as possible (wouldn't we all?) which is why the AW-PS200 is appealing even in all its uncertainty. Being a student (read: poor) working for a non-profit (read: starving) I'm willing to go used and even sell my first love (the S110) to get something that will take good pics in good vis of those critters. Wondering where the best places to look are for any of your recommendations?

Thanks in advance guys!

KD

 

[danapiper]

Hey guys -

Thanks for the input and advice, I really appreciate this.

The u/w vis where we are is very good (Bahamas, 60+ feet on a given day) and light levels are good as well. We have had (and will have) video capabilities down there but have discovered that the still frames we pull are only decent to a point (see below - you can make out some of the spot patterns but you can't really see the notches in her dorsal...). Which is why we're looking into digital cameras, etc.

Pics are taken anywhere between 2 and maybe 7 feet away...I guess I'm not so much concerned with the flash anymore but with the performance of housings and cameras...

Again thanks -

KD

 

[Gilligan]

Just about any of the prosumer digital cameras and housings will do the job for you in that kind of vis so long as you use Manual White Balance, which involves you calibrating it off a dive slate underwater on each dive.

 

[jonnythan]

I have the S200 and the scuba housing. The built in flash is pretty worthless. Love the camera and housing, though. I don't like the fact that I can't attach an external strobe if I wanted to, though. I would have bought something else if I were looking for a dive camera, but I bought the Elph before I started diving..

 

[Gilligan]

danapiper,
I took the liberty of adjusting your photo in Photoshop with a process that basically puts red back in the photo which is lost at depth. This process was dubbed the 'mandrake process'. It is explained here for Photoshop and here for Paint Shop Pro.

You can use this process on pics taken w/o a strobe. I personally think the process works better on pics taken with 'manual' white balance settings. Quite often I don't even need to use it on 'manual' white balance pics.

 

[danapiper]

Thanks so much for all your help! Looks like I'm going to try for the housing this summer and see how it holds up - I'll let you know. Thanks for the tips on photoshop and everything. You guys rock

KD