Looking for a Canon point and shoot

[jenazah]

Get the A-Series. Whichever it is. A570IS, A590IS, A720IS or A650IS. It's the best budget camera. I own 2 of them A95 and A570IS. You will want to use the Manual Control later on.

Check my gallery, all the macro pictures were taken using A95, Canon Housing, Internal strobe. The wide angle shots were taken using the A570IS with Ikelite housing, WA Lens and External strobe.

 

[Rickg]

Get the A-Series. Whichever it is. A570IS, A590IS, A720IS or A650IS. It's the best budget camera. I own 2 of them A95 and A570IS. You will want to use the Manual Control later on.

Check my gallery, all the macro pictures were taken using A95, Canon Housing, Internal strobe. The wide angle shots were taken using the A50IS with Ikelite housing, WA Lens and External strobe.

Ditto what jenazah has to say above. Definitely go with the Canon "A" series unless you have the bucks to spring for a Canon G9. I ended up going with the A720IS but it was really a tough decision at that time between the A570IS, A630 and A720IS. The are all great cameras and offer great bang for your buck. You can see some of pictures I took with my camera by going to Picasa Web Albums - Rick and selecting the Sipadan 2007 Underwater folder.

Good luck with your search and hope you enjoy your new toy when you get it.

 

[diver 85]

get the 570 or 720......

 

[jefffalcone]

I have a SD850IS with canon housing. Pretty much the same camera as the sd1100IS. I love it.

Great pocket camera. I'm just getting started w/ UW photography and I took some decent photos with it. I'd go with the new one over the used one because I think it is a better camera and warrenties are nice to have.

 

[bliew]

Just to muddy the waters and throw another option out there.

The SD870IS can be had for around $250 USD and has a 28mm wide angle, which can be helpful for reef shots. The biggest downsides are the soft edges (which don't really matter underwater but might be a factor on land) and the very limited manual controls. The video quality is quite good, it's really small and if you're taking snapshots of people, the WA can come in handy. I've posted some stills and links to video here previously.

I've also written a review of my experience with the SD870 (and the Magic Filter) here: Canon SD870IS underwater in Belize

Really, given how inexpensive the combination of Canon + housing are nowadays, you really can't go wrong!

 

[Nemrod]

Most Canon P&S do not have housing with round ports, the 720 for example does not and neither does the G9 and this results from the longer than 4X zooms. Even the Ike housings for them have a long port. This means you cannot fit wet lenses to the Canon housing and on the Ike housings the long ports produce vignetting.

The Canon 570IS with it's short 4X zoom and round port Canon housing works great with wet lenses (Inon AD bayonet type) and the Ike housing for it should work with the larger 67mm screw mount wet lenses.Long zoom lenses are not a good thing for underwater use due to the compromised ports.

N

 

[peterbj7]

I looked closely at the Canon G9 as a "compact" to use alongside my Canon DSLRs (1Ds III and 5D), and rejected it as neither a true pocketable compact (it's too big and heavy for that) nor a high quality DSLR-substitute. To me it falls between the two camps. I bought instead a slightly-larger-than-minute compact from another manufacturer, which gives better results on land than I have ever had from any Canon or Sony compact. And it was way cheaper.

But there's no u/w housing available for it, and I want to upgrade from my present three u/w compacts (I rent them out) which all date from 5mp days. Hence my initial interest in the G9. I have now pretty well decided on another Canon, but this time a true compact. That's the SD950IS. A guest here had one a few weeks ago in the Canon housing and took some superb u/w photographs with it, as good as any I've ever seen taken with a compact. He used the internal flash at a range of subject distances and I couldn't see any shadows or vignetting.
And when not underwater it makes a tiny but high-performing pocket camera, very light yet durable thanks to its titanium case. I really can't fault it.

Sure, it doesn't have many manual controls, but I don't want that in a sub-compact. I want to be able to take good shots automatically as quickly as possible. It does have the important controls of being able to freeze exposure/focus and then reframe, and to bias the automatic exposure up or down by several stops. And it has a built-in very effective "underwater" mode. That's all I look for in a compact. If I want to fiddle or take more difficult shots I'll use a DSLR.

A camera can't do everything. To me the SD950IS is the perfect pocket camera for surface use, and the perfect compact camera for underwater use. Sorry to disagree with other people who've posted here.

 

[FiremanGreg]

If you think you're going to want to change lenses while you're diving, go for the short zoom models. If you're just looking for a great point and shoot, take your pick.

The non-round port of the A650 housing was not a factor at all for me, as I don't have any intention of changing lenses on that camera. I was simply looking for a good point and shoot that was reasonably compact, but still allowed me manual control of the settings.

Have fun with whatever your choice is!

 

[peterbj7]

See my comments in the "G9 questions" thread.

 

[kmmkiwi]

Thank you everyone for all your wonderful advice. I decided to go with the Canon A570, ordered it yesterday (my local fry's only had the floor model one left, but got a deal online and ended up only paying $130 for one tax free and free shipping. so it works out to be about the same ). Its not as cute and compact as the SD1100, but the setup is less expensive and everyone's recommendation here was to go with an A-series. While initially I probably won't use the manual features of the A570, its nice to know that I could use them should I change my mind.

Thanks!