S90 settings

[hmoffatt]

Hi,
I just bought an S90 with the Canon WP-DC35 housing. It's my first underwater camera. I took it for a night dive on the day I got it - challenging to say the least

I would welcome some input on good settings to use. I used the underwater scene mode on the first dive, which was convenient but I discovered a few problems:

1. I found it really hard to half-press the shutter through the housing to focus. If you press it all the way the camera will just take an out of focus shot. This seems daft to me - why would I ever want to take an out of focus shot? On my EOS 350D, if I just press the shutter release all the way, it will focus then take the shot.

Is there a setting to force it to focus before taking the shot? I will have to practice the half-press.

2. The underwater mode has flash auto. You can change it to forced off/on, but if the camera powers down, it's back on auto when you switch it on again. Is there a way to make it permanent?

3. Similarly, the camera changes the focus mode back from auto - macro mode won't stick. Is there a solution to that?


What does the underwater scene mode do that P(rogram) mode with the underwater white balance doesn't do? Maybe auto-ISO and not much else? It seems more likely to remember the focus/flash settings, although I haven't checked that.

Any other advice would be most welcome.

Thanks
Hamish

 

[Nemrod]

I can answer most of your questions but you ask so many it would be best for you to read your manual, get some coffee and sit down and read it over and over.

Take the camera off Program. Set the camera to Av. The UW mode is just a color balance setting and nothing else best I see. It just alters the white balance. Set your front ring control for exposure compensation (+-). Set your shutter to about 1/60 or 1/125. Set ISO to 100 or 200.

I used to shoot slide positive film a bunch and I kind of like the "P" setting for color positive under Func Set and My Colors. This is JPEG only, if you shoot RAW you will need to process the image in Photoshop etc.

Put the camera on center focus if you like.

Turn off all the focus assist, safety focus and other such foolishness and set the display to remain on so you can wake the camera with a 90 degree turn.

Get an external strobe, set the camera strobe to manual and power to lowest setting.

Learn to use the half press. Yes, the Canon housings suck for the direct push shutter button, the Ikelite and FIX have a lever that provides more shutter feel making a half press easy(ier) to accomplish.

With wide angle lens, focus depth of field is so great, just push the darn shutter and most times the focus is OK. I often preset the focus on my 570 and I will try that with my new S90. With the wide angle lenses I shoot I can set a focus that is acceptable from about a foot to beyond 20 feet at about f4. Push shutter, get shot, super fast, no focus hunting. Just a little trick I learned.

It is beginning to sound like Inon may offer an adapter for wet lenses after all for that housing, if so, they are very useful improved results. A strobe and a wide angle lens make photography much easier because you can get close and you have lot's of light.

BTW, the S90 is NOT an underwater camera, it is a surface use camera and once it goes underwater it is not in it's optimal habitat, you need to practice with different approaches to get the best from it.

The metering has spot, center and evaluative. I usually use evaluative but also use the CW and spot quite a bit and I plan to continue to use my Sekonic light meter as the master.

Hope this helps, good luck with your new outfit.

N

 

[hmoffatt]

I can answer most of your questions but you ask so many it would be best for you to read your manual, get some coffee and sit down and read it over and over.

Take the camera off Program. Set the camera to Av. The UW mode is just a color balance setting and nothing else best I see. It just alters the white balance. Set your front ring control for exposure compensation (+-). Set your shutter to about 1/60 or 1/125. Set ISO to 100 or 200.

Thanks for the info. I did read the manual, but the questions I asked weren't answered in there, hence my post. Also they don't discuss any techniques for good underwater results.

I'm a little confused by your suggestion above. You set Av mode but then suggested a shutter speed - did you mean Tv mode?

Put the camera on center focus if you like.

Turn off all the focus assist, safety focus and other such foolishness and set the display to remain on so you can wake the camera with a 90 degree turn.

What's wrong the the focus assist?

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks for the info. I did read the manual, but the questions I asked weren't answered in there, hence my post. Also they don't discuss any techniques for good underwater results.

I'm a little confused by your suggestion above. You set Av mode but then suggested a shutter speed - did you mean Tv mode?


What's wrong the the focus assist?

Yes, sorry, I was meaning the f stop, yes, sorry, not thinking. I shoot the Tv mode a lot also but mostly the Av because it is possible then to match the f stop to the strobe (external) setting (f stop).

Yes, I realize you do not have a strobe but nonetheless I find the Av/Tv modes more responsive overall and easier to control for the desired outcome I see in my head. On either, I like the ring control set for exposure compensation so I can quickly make a, if you follow, a manual override.

I turn off all the features in the Menu, all they do is slow the camera down, just my opinion. I got my S90 in December, shot it a bunch now on the surface but not underwater yet. But, like all advanced Canon P&S it sets up and behaves pretty much like all of them. If it were silver instead of black I would confuse it with my A570 in the way it responds to various settings and functions.

I shot fully manual cameras for years and just don't much care for the full program and auto modes. I find the results I get in those modes to be generic and frustrating.

Your focus issue, you either have to use the half press or a "slow" shutter push or go to manual focus or focus lock. The S90 will take the shot, focused or not if you push the shutter button full down.

I don't much care for the "Scene" modes but on page 77 I set the camera to UW or cloudy. With this new camera if shooting RAW I will just leave it in AWB I suppose.

On page 80 I set "My Colors" to the P for positive film but you may prefer OFF.

On page 84, turn off the AiAF.

Page 86, that is a useful feature, focus lock, especially with my fisheye lens. Since focus extends from the dome to near infinity, the camera is in focus, lol. Push the button, take the shot.

Page 91, I find CW to be very useful and it seems to me faster than Eval mode, might be my imagination there.

Page 95 and 96, I like the Av mode 90% of the time with my ring control on (+/-).

On page 96, I turn off the "safety shift".

Page 97, Manual mode is great!!!!!!!

Page 102, I turn Safety FE Off.

Page 103, Manual flash control is a god send with external strobe with auto modes like the Inon D2000.

Page 103, set the Red crap to OFF.

Read Chapter 8, page 145 carefully.

Page 147, I use lens retract 0, Power saving OFF, page 148, screen shut off, leave it I think on one minute but since on page 147 you have Power Saving off, the screen will go black after one minute but rotating the camera 90 degrees tuns the LCD back on. DON'T forget to turn the camera off when done shooting--.

Page 151, turn off red eye.

Page 152, turn on the histogram.

Page 153, turn the IS to shoot only.

Page 153, register to S button, read carefully, very useful options here.

Page 156, turn off the stupid sounds.

Page 166-169, memorize, that is the master function and operation list.

That is just for starters, good luck.

N

 

[JackConnick]

Wow, Nimrod, this took some time to put together. Very useful for all starting s90 shooters.

Jack

 

[KhunNeal]

I'm using my S90 UW right now and getting good results, but using a Strobe (INON S2000) makes the big difference.
My Settings
using AV,normally f 4 to 8
(S) key set to ISO, usually shooting at ISO 200
EV -1/3
Center Weight
RAW+JPEG (post process with photoshop)
No Sounds, Red Eye Off
Auto Off after 3 minutes

Also get a spare battery or two, I change batteries after each dive

Picasa Web Albums - khunhappy - Koh Lanta Feb...

 

[hmoffatt]

Also get a spare battery or two, I change batteries after each dive

Oh yeah, I did two dives today of each around 90-120 minutes and the camera went flat during the second dive. The battery life is awful. It's good that there are cheap OEM batteries on fleabay..

 

[dogdrjohn]

I did two dives yesterday of 65 and 80 minutes and still have lots of charge - do you shut your camera off when not taking pictures? Use lots of strobe? I figure 3-4 hours of use on a single charge is pretty darn good - do you remember the old days of film cameras when you had 36 shots max before you ran out of film, then had to try to reload film during your surface interval?
I think you should count your blessings in this modern digital age. No more saving the last few frames for that "special" shot that never materialized.

 

[ghnouer]

Oh yeah, I did two dives today of each around 90-120 minutes and the camera went flat during the second dive. The battery life is awful. It's good that there are cheap OEM batteries on fleabay..

This is one reason why I bought G11 and not S90.

GHN

 

[ScubaJoy65]

I just got my S90 and am learning how to comfortably use on land before taking it underwater in an Ikelite housing.

Nemrod is a fabulous resource when it comes to cameras and underwater photography. Thank you, Nemrod, for taking the time to put the information together re: where to read page by page. (I realize you didn't do it for thanks and were probably proving a point, but I will certainly benefit from it. )