I'm looking into getting a housing for my Canon SD780IS so I have the opportunity of doing some casual shooting. I'm not a serious photographer on land and don't intend to be one underwater either, just looking for dive souvenirs.
At the moment, I'm aware of 2 housings made for my camera, an Ikelite and a Canon. The Ikelite's rated to 200ft while the Canon is only to 130ft. How conservative are the ratings? Looking at the two housings, it looks like zoom and shutter button controls on the Canon are designed to mimic those on the camera itself (a side-to-side lever and a button) while Ikelite is a bit different (a knob and a pull down lever). Is either one easier to operate (with bare hands or in cold water with gloves)? Is there any benefit to one versus the other, or any other manufacturers' housings I should look into?
Also, my dad made a comment that maybe if I'm going to get a housing, I should have dedicated topside and underwater cameras so that I'm not opening up the housing all the time(he figures this will damage the seal). Since you have to open it up to charge the battery or access the memory card, is this a valid point? And lets say I want to take a couple of shots on the boat between dives, will still being in the housing affect the photo quality at all?
Thanks in advance. This is making me feel like an absolutely dive newb all over again.
At the moment, I'm aware of 2 housings made for my camera, an Ikelite and a Canon. The Ikelite's rated to 200ft while the Canon is only to 130ft. How conservative are the ratings? Looking at the two housings, it looks like zoom and shutter button controls on the Canon are designed to mimic those on the camera itself (a side-to-side lever and a button) while Ikelite is a bit different (a knob and a pull down lever). Is either one easier to operate (with bare hands or in cold water with gloves)? Is there any benefit to one versus the other, or any other manufacturers' housings I should look into?
Also, my dad made a comment that maybe if I'm going to get a housing, I should have dedicated topside and underwater cameras so that I'm not opening up the housing all the time(he figures this will damage the seal). Since you have to open it up to charge the battery or access the memory card, is this a valid point? And lets say I want to take a couple of shots on the boat between dives, will still being in the housing affect the photo quality at all?
Thanks in advance. This is making me feel like an absolutely dive newb all over again.
