S90 settings

[Jorgy]

Lots of good info......

thanks.........M

 

[Puffer Fish]

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

Hamish, most of what Nemrod has posted is very valuable stuff.. but would like to add a couple of underwater comments:

The single biggest issue I have taking a good picture underwater in the norther Gulf, is focus...if I take one or two bad exposures, that would be a lot for me, but focus...about half of my images do not pass my criteria (which is for large prints and not small internet images).

What I use up here, and what works in clear, bright water is very different.

Boy, have I learned that lesson the hard way... more outside light means beware the slow shutter speed and any iso besided 80. I knew the 80 rule...struggled with the shutter speed issue. And then had color balance issue and even worse focus issues.

After three trips, I finally got where most images are good..but I did lots of bad ones.

Up here, there are two fish in particular that reflect on how one uses their camera, Butterfly's and blue gobies. Butterflys are difficult to get exposed correctly and don't like anyone close to them. You have to get both exposure and focus and motion blur under control to get many butterfly pictures of any quality. Blue gobies you cannot focus on,as their bodies don't have any contrast.

I am sure every dive area has some fish that are similar. Blue chromis in the Bahamas come to mind.. flighty little tiny things. One sees great pictures of eels, lobster, several other fish, and nothing of a dozen or so others that are difficult.

My suggestion to anyone new to photography is first to take slow moving things..or things that don't move at all and then find something more difficult (but not impossible) and work on getting good images.. then work your way down till there is nothing left. I've found that takes a lot more time to do than one would expect.

 

[Nemrod]

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..

If you configure your camera something like suggested it will get better battery life. The flash is the big killer. Those of us with external strobes will set the camera strobe to manual under Menu and then select minimum power under Func Set. This will greatly, greatly boost your battery life if you use a lot of flash.

Turn the LCD brightness down a notch, underwater it is plenty bright even set on a lower setting.

Turn off that focus assist.

Quit zooming the lens in and out.

I purchased two high capacity batteries on Amazon, they have Japanese cells and are 1200mah vs the Canon 1,000mah. They run quite a bit longer and are much cheaper than the Canon branded battery. I think there will be a 1,500mah released later this year(I hope) for the S90 and if so that will cure all ills.

Actually, my battery life has been quite good, on par with or slightly better than my 570, not that is was some gold standard or something, lol.

I believe the 1,200mah battery will get me through two 45 minute dives, I am usually pretty deep. It maybe needed to swap batteries if you are diving hour long dives in 20 feet and shooting every critter with a full flash burst.

N

 

[Nemrod]

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. )

Well, I was just trying to get him going. I am just a guy like you with a camera trying to figure it all out. Nothing more. As Puffer says, "most" of what I post is OK. Thanks Puffer .

BTW, that brings up a point, anything a person tells you, me, him, anyone short of God, you should verify for your own specific purpose. The "settings" I suggest are one way, there are probably other ways to skin this cat.

On the battery thing, this S90 is going to be battery critical. If you configure your camera smartly, use the strobe smartly, get an external strobe with either the Inon sTTL or configure the strobe for manual you will find the battery life is much better. And as I said, the high cap batteries I bought, two for the price of one Canon standard battery, they rock!!!!!

While on the battery thing, be careful, the S90 comes with a 1,000mah NB-6L battery. Canon makes this battery in a 750mah and a 1,000mah. Don't confuse them. After market NB-6L can be gotten in 750, 1,000, 1,100, 1,200 and I saw a 1,400 but cannot find it for my life now. They will charge in the Canon charger. Make sure you get the ones with Japanese cells---important. The batteries seem to take about three to five charges to get up to full capacity from new. I went to a garden show with my wife and shot over 200 shots, mostly full flash, no problem. :cool2:

On the ISO, it is good to shoot at a low ISO but just for comparison, which cannot be done really by posting images, just my observation, the S90 has less noise at ISO 400 than the A570IS at ISO 80, maybe some exaggeration there but it is noticeably better than "typical" digi cams and it presents itself, the noise, at these intermediate ISO settings, almost more like grain than noise. That is just what my eyes see, other eyes might see different.

N

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I am an Underwater Picture Taker. I don't take Photographs I take Pictures. Think the differnence between A diner with good old home cooking (Pictures) and a Michelin rated resteraunt with fancy dishes etc... (Photographs)

With the G11 using Ambient light and manual white balance I think I have got some pretty decent Pictures. I used Program mode then White Balanced at the depth I wanted to take the pictures I also selected Macro. I did play with the Aperature setting when I had too much light. I posted these Pics in the following thread.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/321542-amerature-g11.html

I am new to this and respect Nemrods and others advice just though I would add to the disscussion. I am also looking into adding a strobe/strobes (read saving $$$).

 

[Nemrod]

You know, the battery life thing, G11 vs S90, yep, the G11 will have a longer battery run. Here is the thing, I don't flipping care because the lens, THE LENS, the only lens I really care about, the amazing, stupendous, one and only, incredible, crazy wide, sparkling clear, focus from dome to infinity is the Inon UFL165AD-FE and since the G11 cannot accept that lens, it is a looser and was eliminated in my book. That is me, that was my main, overriding, overarching absolute must requirement above all others, that a full manual control on separate rotary controls. I don't care about the stupid battery, if I have to run a cord to the bottom of the ocean to shoot that lens, so be it. I bought the camera and housing because I believed it would accept that lens and I am gratified to learn that indeed, I think it will work satisfactorily.

I am old fashioned, in the old days, it was the lens. Nowadays it is the features, the color, the HD movies, the styling, the buttons and more buttons and who the celeb is that hawks it. For me, it is the lens and only the lens and everything beyond that is secondary or tertiary. If the camera cannot shoot the lens I want to use then it is of no value to me. Might as well toss it over the side and watch it deep six. So, when I post something, about a camera, consider that I am extremely biased in that it was purchased to shoot some particular lens/lenses for some particular purpose(s) and nothing else really mattered in my purchase evaluation, especially the styling and color of the plastic. OMV.

LOL, I would as soon shoot Auto or P as stick a staple in my head, lol.

N

 

[KhunNeal]

About the battery life, I got 2 extra 1000 mah batteries from Amazon.
When I went diving in Koh Chang, which was a really boring dive and I did not take many photos, I got an empty battery warning on the second dive.
I was using an INON S2000 strobe and had internal flash power to -1 (-2 did not work out too well, dunno why).

This week I am in Koh Lanta which is great, and I am taking 50+ photos a dive.
I will continue to switch batteries each dive, its not worth the risk of losing that great shot at the end (which in this case was the Moray Eel in a cleaning station).

 

[ScubaJoy65]

You know, the battery life thing, G11 vs S90, yep, the G11 will have a longer battery run. Here is the thing, I don't flipping care because the lens, THE LENS, the only lens I really care about, the amazing, stupendous, one and only, incredible, crazy wide, sparkling clear, focus from dome to infinity is the Inon UFL165AD-FE and since the G11 cannot accept that lens, it is a looser and was eliminated in my book. That is me, that was my main, overriding, overarching absolute must requirement above all others, that a full manual control on separate rotary controls. I don't care about the stupid battery, if I have to run a cord to the bottom of the ocean to shoot that lens, so be it. I bought the camera and housing because I believed it would accept that lens and I am gratified to learn that indeed, I think it will work satisfactorily.

I am old fashioned, in the old days, it was the lens. Nowadays it is the features, the color, the HD movies, the styling, the buttons and more buttons and who the celeb is that hawks it. For me, it is the lens and only the lens and everything beyond that is secondary or tertiary. If the camera cannot shoot the lens I want to use then it is of no value to me. Might as well toss it over the side and watch it deep six. So, when I post something, about a camera, consider that I am extremely biased in that it was purchased to shoot some particular lens/lenses for some particular purpose(s) and nothing else really mattered in my purchase evaluation, especially the styling and color of the plastic. OMV.

LOL, I would as soon shoot Auto or P as stick a staple in my head, lol.

N

So let me get this straight, Nemrod - it's all about the lens?! I appreciate your passion... I hope you and your lens make many beautiful pix... And that you will continue to regale us with your insights and tips, no matter how biased you may consider them to be.

 

[Puffer Fish]

About the battery life, I got 2 extra 1000 mah batteries from Amazon.
When I went diving in Koh Chang, which was a really boring dive and I did not take many photos, I got an empty battery warning on the second dive.
I was using an INON S2000 strobe and had internal flash power to -1 (-2 did not work out too well, dunno why).

This week I am in Koh Lanta which is great, and I am taking 50+ photos a dive.
I will continue to switch batteries each dive, its not worth the risk of losing that great shot at the end (which in this case was the Moray Eel in a cleaning station).

I did a test of one of the 1400 mah replacement batteries...by shooting maximum flash images (shooting a wall farther away than the flash could properly light.. and then looking at the image... zooming in.. then taking another image..got 126 shots, and was getting the flashing battery light, but it still took pictures.

Shooting slower would provide more images... making sure the flash is not fired at maximum would provide more images.. not reviewing the images would provide more images. I don't take more than 40 or 50 shots during a dive, so these batteries should easily last two dives and then some.

 

[Puffer Fish]

One of the things about Nemrod's passion for a lens is that it seems 67mm is the defacto standard for add on lens. One can now go from an S90 to the latest micro 4/3's Panasonic DSLR in a 10BAR housing and use the same add on lens. Kind of neat, and very cost effective.

In a world of constant changing models, it is nice to see at least one aspect that seems to be holding.