new basic set up - ixus/sd range?

[mslise]

Looking for a rec for one of the current canon sd/ixus range and canon housing.

I've had a basic kit, an ixus 750 (aka sd550) for many years now and have loved it. Specifically I got good macro results from it as it had a pretty strong built in flash and the 'underwater mode' actually meant reasonable colour.

It's now gone to the great sea in the sky and I want to replace it. At the moment, all the buzz seems to be about the s95 or the g12 which I freely admit are probably wonderful options. But what I want is point and shoot which will produce photos that give me a reminder of my dives, I don't want to start getting into needing strobes (and the list begins!) I'm worried that given the manual controls on the s95 and g12 they won't really satisfy my 'point and shoot' requirement.

Has anyone got any experience of good results from any of the current sd/ixus range underwater? Would love to see some examples of photos if anyone has any to share.

 

[Gilligan]

The S95 will satisfy your basic point and shoot needs without having to use the manual and semi manual settings. An external strobe is also not necessary.

All you really have to do is be willing to shoot your shots in the RAW mode, especially the non-strobe ones, then do some post processing in the Canon software that comes with the camera. You will have far more than "reasonable" shots.

The S95 takes great topside photos as well.

 

[slowhands]

....what I want is point and shoot which will produce photos that give me a reminder of my dives, I don't want to start getting into needing strobes (and the list begins!) I'm worried that given the manual controls on the s95 and g12 they won't really satisfy my 'point and shoot' requirement.

I agree with Gilligan: the S95 can be used in simple Point and Shoot mode and give outstanding results. And Canon makes a good inexpensive housing for it, the WP-DC-38. It's hard to beat, and I see a lot of them when diving.

Just leave the Camera in P mode, and it will do the rest rather well. If you are diving deeper than say 5 feet, the water will absorb the red light. Your pictures will look blue. If you don't care, well, so be it. But there is an easy fix. You can either use custom white balance when shooting JPEG format images, or simply shoot in RAW format and tweak the image later in software. You don't have to do this, but it looks so much nicer.

Frankly, if you want a less expensive camera Canon makes other decent ones too, like the SD1200 in a WP-DC29 housing. The lens is not as good, but maybe you don't use the camera to the limits anyway, so saving a little might be good.

About the housing, some Canon housings have annoying tiny leaks due to some so-called "mold release lines" at 4 places under the O-ring on the camera. These are a byproduct of the plastic molding process, just some almost invisible raised lines where the mold pieces fit together. They cause drip leaks sometimes if they are present, just like a hair or thread might. You just burnish them off with a metal scraper, like the back of a knife, or edge of a metal rule. It does not take much time but is often necessary. You can read about this problem elsewhere on this forum. Don't let this little issue warn you off, the Canon housings are otherwise a good bargain as you know.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/315202-canon-housing-leaks-easy-diy-fix.html

 

[flareside]

As an S90 user I agree the S95 is a great option, but it is only a great option for those who normally want to put a fair amount of effort into their photography both in the shooting and the post processing phases. For the true point & shoot user however, the S95 amounts to spending more money on a camera that is far less versatile. Sure the S95 will offer a little better image quality and “can” be used in simple mode but when compared to the new 300HS, the 300HS has a better zoom range (24mm-120mm), better macro capabilities, better movie modes including full HD and slow motion, 8fps burst mode, and optical movie zooming all in a package that is far more pocketable. All this is a lot to give up in exchange for RAW capability which a true point & shoot user will never use.

As to answering the original question, there is not much out there regarding the capabilities of the current generation of sd/ixus cameras as Canon didn’t make underwater housings for most of them (the exceptions being the SD1400 and SD1300). The Elph 300 HS (Ixus 220 HS) which is apparently an update of the SD1400 has just come out within the last few weeks so there is not a lot of information on it yet but based on the specs, it sounds very promising so it might be worth waiting for it to be reviewed properly.