New Canon S90 & Canon Housing

[WarmWaterPursuit]

Hi.... I recently purchased the Canon S90 on the advise of a couple of folks. I purchased the Canon housing as well.

I'm really happy with the camera. I'm not utilizing an external strobe or anything like that as I'm not a photographer or anything close.

Anyhow, I took the camera to Maui this past week and thought that I would share some of my pics. I'm really happy with the camera and would recommend it to anyone. Especially if you like to "recreationally" take pictures

Thanks,

 

[skynscuba]

Which of these photos used the camera flash? Were you using the diffuser?

 

[WarmWaterPursuit]

I never took the diffuser off..... Picture two and three are without the flash. The flash is on with the rest. I would have had a set of awesome pictures BUT, I kept the flash on when it was fairly light out and I got a bunch of dots....

 

[Altamira]

I have been considering the S90 and would appreciate knowing why you selected the Canon housing over the Ikelite or Fisheye FIX housing. Like you, I would use the camera for recreational use, but am somewhat concerned about the housing not keeping out the water. I am generally from the school that worries that saving a few hundred bucks on the less expensive housing may ruin a $450 camera. There are a lot of threads on the S90 and housings from people that seem very savvy on photography, more than enough to confuse me, so I would appreciate a new users viewpoint on the Canon housing.
Thanks in advance.
Guy

 

[WarmWaterPursuit]

Hi Altamira.....

Prior to purchasing the S90, I had an SD800 IS. So, I was familiar with the Canon housing as that was what I had before.

There were also a couple of other things that came into mind:

1. Based on what I read here, reviews wise, people were quite happy with the Canon housing. One review in particular said that the Canon housing had the best fit and the buttons were perfectly aligned. I found this to be pretty true.

2. Although you hear of some leaking issues, I didn't have any on this last trip and never had any with my original Canon housing.

3. Cost was an issue, for sure. Not wanting to spend a ton of money, this was a good fit. However, considering that I got my BlacKBerry wet with just a few drips on the boat and fried that, I'm really careful now!

4. Someone that I know runs their own diving company in Oahu and has the same camera and housing and is very happy with it. God knows he takes it on enough dives. So I figured that was a pretty good reference.

The only thing I can say that I don't like about it is the fact that it's positively buoyant. It's not terrible but a little more than I would like. I know that Canon sells a weight set. It doesn't bother me enough to buy it though.

So, I really don't have a lot of great reasons other than I had read great reviews, knew someone that owned it and was very happy with my last Canon housing so I just did it. You'd have to assume that if there were a ton of leaking issues then they wouldn't sell it... I would think.

Let me know if you have anymore specific questions about it and I'd be glad to answer them as I know I had some when I bought it....

Thanks.

Trust me, I read through a bunch of reviews prior to buying the housing and the camera and decided that I was making a good choice and I still stand by that. As ignorant as I am, I thought that I would have to buy something other than the Canon housing in order to put a strobe onto it later, but I found out that is not true. Stupid I know, but I really didn't know.

I guess the Ikelite would be nice as you would think that it would work better with their own strobe. I could be wrong, but that came to mind as well as I was thinking about it.

 

[skynscuba]

Altamira -

I think that the Canon housings are okay -- I have the S50 one, have used it on about 55 dives with no leakage at all and no maintenance. If you are paying $450 for the S90, you are paying $75 too much.

If you are not going to add any external lenses (wide angle, macro), then the Canon housing is much cheaper, works well, the internal flash seems fairly useful. If you are going to use add-on lenses, you have to buy a lens mount for the Canon. The Ikelite housing is ready for 67mm screw-on lenses, so it isn't much different in price from the Canon + lens mount, but the big snout creates quite a shadow from the internal flash, and the zoom control is reported not to have a re-centering spring action. The FIX housing is way more expensive, but has access to the rear control ring, seems reasonably okay with internal flash (as long as the mount adapter is not installed).

So, if no external lens contemplated, I would get the Canon (maybe not the choice of someone else) . If external lens, and only going to use it a few times over the years, I would likely get the Ikelite. If I were going to use the camera on a couple of hundred dives, I would consider the Fix S90 housing.

 

[WarmWaterPursuit]

I bought mine from JR.com for $373..... They were quick.

 

[chrishet]

Nice Pics WWP....Congrats!

 

[jd950]

Altamira: I have owned several Canon housings over several years and have had no problems. Like all housings, one has to use care in handling the O ring and sealing the camera. The vast majority of leaks with any housing are due to some object compromising the seal. Something as small as a hair or bit of sand can do it. Also, if one does not properly rinse a housing between dives, salt crystals will form and they can be rough and sharp enough to damage an O ring.

The main reason you see people getting Ike or Fix or other housings instead of the Canon housing is to gain more flexibility with add-on lenses, or to be able to take the housing below 130 feet, or perhaps to better utilize an accessory or particular strobe.

I have heard some people complain about Canon housings, but truly, if they leak it is almost surely a user-induced problem. No offense to anyone.

If you are just starting out and do not need the particular features of some housing, I think you should go with the Canon housing, especially since there is now an adapter that would allow you to use wide and macro lenses if and when you want to.

 

[ozziworld]

I too am looking at picking up an S90 and the canon housing. With the way technology is today. All these gadgets and gizmos are essentially "future trash" that will be technologically obsolete in a couple of years. As much as I like the Fisheye FIX housing in aluminum, I can't see spending that much money on a housing and camera that will be obsolete in a few years. Having said that, I am hoping to build a system of strobes and arms that I can hopefully simply "insert" a new camera and housing as the technology gets updated.

I have a bunch of "Film Era" housings and gear that have pretty much outlived there practical use. The last bits that were not technologically obsolete were the Strobes and Brackets. The housing and camera pretty much became obsolete together.