Recommend powershot ?

[loquat149]

My wife teaches marine biology/oceanography at a local college and needs a quick recommendation for one of the currently available Canon Powershots that also have a corresponding Canon UW housing. I noticed at least one of the housing available at B&H don't allow full access to all the camera's functions.

Many thanks in advance,
Dave

 

[PatW]

I think you should consider the S95, the G11 or G12. All of these have the Canon housing. I have the G11 with an Ike housing. But the Ike housing cost about twice as much as the Canon housing. I believe one can access the full features with a work around. I think it takes a two step process rather than one step.

All of the above camera use essentially the same sensor. They all have RAW. Being able to use the RAW format is so much of an advantage as to be almost entirely essential. RAW allows adjusting white balance without penalty in post processing. Another thing she will probably want is a strobe. Even a pretty inexpensive strobe will do fine for MACRO subjects. The nice things about MACRO subjects is they often just sit there. So you can take photos of them to your heart's content.

I would think that Marine Biology would be high on marine invertebrates. There a piles of marine invertebrates that you can shoot in situ. With a modest strobe, you can get the true colors. They look quite a bit different that way then they do in a jar of formalin.

All three of the cameras also shoot video. It won't be great but you can have it. That would also be good for a class. Your wife could show panning shots of the reef.