Oly 770SW vs Canon 570IS

[Nemrod]

Frankly, after a week of shooting both using the same lenses and flash and tray, winner, Oly 770SW.

Oly 770SW typical snap:

Canon 570IS typical snap:

Canon 570IS somewhere on the Mighty O:

Oly shoots the Eye:

Man on man, this photog stuff is real hard, just point and shoot, hmmm, well, self portraits are not so easy:

N

 

[sasscuba]

Nice shots.....cannot compare the first two as one is at surface and above and second is clearly at 15 feet plus. Cleaned up your second in photoshop, took 20 seconds, hope you don't mind. I like this one.

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks, I had not run any through my Photoshop, they are as they came from the camera. Yes, Photoshop can do wonders. N

 

[alcina]

Dang, I was hoping to see lots of examples of side by side shots. I agree - these photos aren't close enough to being identical conditions to draw any comparisons Do you have some "test" shots of same depth, similar subject/distance/light, too? That kind of thing is extremely useful to those looking at new options.

I'm not 100% sure but the Oly doesn't have any manual controls, is that right? I have the 720 Oly and I know it doesn't. I'm sure my bud has the 770 (it's far newer than mine) and hers doesn't either. That's a deal breaker for me.

The more I use my Oly 720 (which is older than the 770 Nemrod is talking about FWIW) the less I like it. I was just complaining about it to a friend today and saying that I need to find a better solution (which may, in fact, be the 770 but I need to do some real research/tests on my quest).

 

[Nemrod]

No, the Oly is full auto and as you can see it does a fine job. The 570IS preferred manual or AV mode and was just a fuss to deal with poking all of those tiny buttons. The Oly, just point and shoot.

Sorry, I was not really intending to do a point to point comparison, all I am saying is that one is awfully easy to use and produces nice results. Some of us are not really working to be a pro, we already have jobs, we just want some fun pics.Apparently and despite what one hears most of the time, full auto works just fine. I imagine if I were interested in macro crtitter pics things would change but that is not the interest of many.

Oly:

Canon:

Oly:

N

 

[alcina]

Are the photos in the second set taken in the same place? It looks like shallow springs for the Oly and the ocean (relatively deep by the size of the boat?) for the Canon?

Fresh water, sea water, depths, time of day, available light, subject, distance from subject, visibility/floaties in the water - all of these things are important in looking at comparisons. And I bring it up because that's the title of your thread and seems to be the point of the posts...to directly compare two camera systems.

I think that if you want to "test" which works better in full auto, or any other mode, you have to make it a reasonably fair test and that means the conditions and subjects need to be pretty similar.

Do you think the Canon is harder to use in it's full auto mode? If so, why?

Did you use both on the same dive ever? Those would be great photos to share.

I applaud you for taking the time to shoot two different systems to see what the strengths and weaknesses are and which suits you better and then again taking the time to try to put forth what you've found here. I just don't think your comparison shots are particularly good illustrations of each camera's abilities one way or another, but it does look like both cameras can produce nice images and that in itself is valuable information.

I like the divers on the line and divers coming through the cave/hole - very nice!

 

[ce4jesus]

Nemrod,
As an Oly guy, its tough to make any comparison between the shots you took. The olympus obviously was used in gin clear spring water while the canon was only in fair to poor vis in the ocean. However, whatever makes the camera comfortable to the user is important. You have a luxury most don't, getting access to two different systems. It would be interesting to find out how each performed under the same conditions.

 

[Nemrod]

The litmus test for me was ease of use. The Oly simply performed without any user adjustments.

As to side by side tests, I will perform those in a few weeks. I will use boh cameras side by side on the same scenes. That will perhaps please a few.

The viz on the "O" was 60 feet or more.

Again, one required constant fiddling, the other just point and shoot. I have not yet down loaded all of the hundreds of photos I shot with both cameras, those were just representative of the two cameras loaded on the same tray and using the same strobe (when I armed the strobe).

JFYI, I like the Canon 570IS enough that I bought a spare. I much prefer the higher quality of the Oly housing and the simplicity of just pushing the shutter button. The Canon is quicker on the shutter, longer to cycle, the Oly seems to really do well with the Inon strobe, syncs well. The Canon requires instaling the magnet to cancel preflash on the strobe for most modes other than auto thus I have no auto exposed shots with the Canon since once it was set I went with it.

Lens in all photos above was the FABULOUS Inon 165AD.

N

 

[Nemrod]

I shot a lot of the pics into the sun so I could see how badly the fisheye lens would flare. As you can see, the results are not bad. Flare seems well controlled for this type of lens. I did manage some when aimed directly into the sun or at a slight angle from the sun. For the most part, flare seems to be a non issue for a non pro user.

I may try and rig a tray extension and slave the strobe to both so I can have both cameras up at the same time. They seem to be representative of small P&S cameras. The Olympus seemed to focus better with the fisheye but not sure.

The Oriskany is so large and deep that trying to take photos on it that make any sense or have any perspective is a challenge due to the huge scale of the ship. The thing is HUMONGOUS X 2 and that is all I can say. Even the human eye is overwhelemed when coupled with less than 100 foot viz to find reference on something so large with no bottom in sight and a deck that is bigger than some quarries you guys dive in. In fact, the O would have more volume than most quarries I bet. The thing is simply a challenge to dive much less take meaningful photos that in any way do it justice. Perhaps this August I will get back when viz is usually over 100 feet and try and find some way to get a photo angle on it. Plus, there seems to always be a ripping current on it.

N

 

[alcina]

The Oly simply performed without any user adjustments.

I don't understand what happened when you put the Canon in P mode (no fiddling required)? Was it not giving you the desired exposures?

JFYI, I like the Canon 570IS enough that I bought a spare. I much prefer the higher quality of the Oly housing and the simplicity of just pushing the shutter button.

The Canon is quicker on the shutter, longer to cycle, the Oly seems to really do well with the Inon strobe, syncs well. The Canon requires instaling the magnet to cancel preflash on the strobe for most modes other than auto thus I have no auto exposed shots with the Canon since once it was set I went with it.

So you can't use the Inon strobe with the Canon on auto at all? How strange. That's something I wouldn't have thought about at all! How about in P mode? Did you try that? I hate auto and set people up on P if they don't want to shoot manual. I don't really know what the difference is but P seems to work so much better!

Thanks for taking the time to add more information!