s90 auto setting

[seedy]

I have just got an s90, ( nice camera) and a canon housing. I am
just learning. I have set up the P mode for underwater, pretty much auto everything
with u/w WB. I seem to get better results on Auto. which I thought shouldn't be the case. any opinions and settings advice appreciated....

 

[PatW]

I think in the S90 that P mode is aperture priority and the camera picks the shutter speed. There is a drawback to this in that you have to keep an eye on the shutter speed because the camera will select some really low speeds. I think that is why you might be doing better in auto. In full auto, the camera probably selects moderate F stops and avoids really slow shutter speeds.

You might want to go full manual. The camera will tell you if your exposure is correct (it has a little graph in the display. So you can manipulate iso, shutter speed or f stop depending on the effect you are after.

Another thing you may try is to examine your photo's properties whilst it is in auto. I do not know how the algorithm is set up. But it might be that the settings it chooses would coincide with yours for the vast majority of cases. If that is the case, you might as well go full auto with auto iso also.

If you want more control, you can shoot in RAW. RAW allows you to manipulate the white balance in post processing. It also allows far more reclamation details from shadows and highlights than JPEGs. In addition it allows more adjustment of exposure than JPEGs. This versatility comes at a cost. You have to adjust your RAW images and convert them to JPEGs which is more laborious. Also, because RAW images have much more data in them than JPEGs, they take up far more room on your storage card. You get about 10 JPEGs for each RAW.

 

[HowardE]

I used to have an S70. Try Manual with a 1/50 - 1/80 Shutter Speed, and F stop with the largest number value that is on the camera (probably not higher (smaller apeture) than 8 on a point and shoot.

Also I recommend an external strobe for the best results. Using the flash inside the housing... its just too close to the lens, and will give more backscatter than adding some distance.

 

[Nemrod]

I think in the S90 that P mode is aperture priority and the camera picks the shutter speed.
----------
If you want more control, you can shoot in RAW. RAW allows you to manipulate the white balance in post processing. It also allows far more reclamation details from shadows and highlights than JPEGs. In addition it allows more adjustment of exposure than JPEGs. This versatility comes at a cost. You have to adjust your RAW images and convert them to JPEGs which is more laborious. Also, because RAW images have much more data in them than JPEGs, they take up far more room on your storage card. You get about 10 JPEGs for each RAW.

No, P mode is Program mode which is a customizable/flexible Auto mode. The Av mode is Auto/aperture priority and the Tv mode is Auto/shutter priority.

If on your S90 you select Auto mode and then hit the Func Set button you will see that many options are not available or selectable and then you got to P (Program mode) and you will again push the Func Set button and find all of the options are available to select or customize which brings me to the next thing, your S90 can remember a custom setting up and all of this is covered in the easy to read, very complete manual that comes with the camera.

If you have any specific questions, fire away, I 100% understand Canon advanced P&S cameras, in particular the S90. I must be really smart huh, no, not really, I read the manuals --for all of them .

N

 

[Puffer Fish]

Just a suggestion, but you first need to go thru and change all the default setting that camera uses... like face detection and area focus and, well a lot of them.

Out of the box the camera sort of sucks for Underwater use.

And shoot raw, then you don't need to worry about white balance.

 

[Puffer Fish]

I used to have an S70. Try Manual with a 1/50 - 1/80 Shutter Speed, and F stop with the largest number value that is on the camera (probably not higher (smaller apeture) than 8 on a point and shoot.

Also I recommend an external strobe for the best results. Using the flash inside the housing... its just too close to the lens, and will give more backscatter than adding some distance.

Howard, this camera does fairly well with higher ISO, and it shoots raw, so you have a lot more options available to you.

Here is an image shot at 1/200, at F2.5, without any flash at around 105 ft, in water with about 40 ft of vis.

Forgot to mention - no in water white balance was done.

 

[tarekaly]

Here is a bit of what I realized about this camera after having about 8-10 dives:

1. At depth from 0-6 meters I use the P setting with the AWB balance set on the underwater mode, it gives very nice results with regards to color.

2. Upon going deeper than that I switch to the Custom White balance on the P mode also, but dont forget to press the menu button to set the custom WB adjustment bfr ur shot.

Hope this was helpful for u

 

[Nemrod]

My rendition on Puffer's Red Snapper photo:

And no oil blobs, super great!

N

 

[Puffer Fish]

You have a camera that shoots raw... so you can adjust the white balance any time you want, if you shoot in raw.

Here is a standard Jpeg, with auto white balance..

Here is the raw image, adjusted with the free canon software (same exact image, as I had raw + jpeg on)...

Note: this is actually a G10 image, but the effect is the same for the S90 and the G11.

The advantage is that you can do it at home, you can adjust it and it works exactly the same way.

Here is a bit of what I realized about this camera after having about 8-10 dives:

1. At depth from 0-6 meters I use the P setting with the AWB balance set on the underwater mode, it gives very nice results with regards to color.

2. Upon going deeper than that I switch to the Custom White balance on the P mode also, but dont forget to press the menu button to set the custom WB adjustment bfr ur shot.

Hope this was helpful for u

 

[Divernoob]

Holy carp! What a difference!

How large are RAW files compared to .jpg's?