S95 or G12?! Recsea or Fisheye Housing?

[curiousgeorgie]

I need a new camera because my A95 has died on me.

I've done a lot of reading on this forum but I see more posts about the S95 than the G12.

I'm coming from a Canon A95 with a Canon housing that I've used for the past 6 years. I never used an external strobe but the setup has served me well and I've been happy with most of my pictures. I always shoot in manual exposure mode choosing aperture, shutter speed and even flash power for all my shots. My only complaint was the shutter lag on this camera. Is the shutter lag decreased with the S95 or G12?

So I'm looking for a new setup with similar features to what I had. I want to be able to use the internal flash and be able to change the power output. I shoot more macro than wide angle and I'd like the option to add a red filter (wet, if possible) to the housing for taking natural light photos. I may add a external flash in the future.

So which would be better for me? The G12 or S95?

And which housing brand would be best for me? The Recsea or the Fisheye?

Thanks in advance for your advice and opinions.

George

 

[Gilligan]

Because you want to use the camera's internal strobe the S95 is the better choice with Canon housings. The S95 has less zoom than the G12 and therefore has a shorter housing lens tunnel.
The longer lens tunnel on the G12 blocks the lower right portion of the photo on close-up macro shots using the camera's built-in strobe. The S95 housing is not as restrictive.
The below photo shows the difference in the lens tunnel lengths (the S90 and G10 housings shown in the photo are the same size as the S95 and G12 housings).

 

[PatW]

OK, it is my understanding that the S95 and the G12 use the same sensor. The S95 has a lens with a wider aperture, The G12 is better for macro work. But I would suggest getting a supplementary lens if you want to do macro.

The Canon housings work fine by all reports. Gilligan uses them and I understand he has had good experiences. There are reports of leaks but those seem to be a minority of housings. It would behoove one to give a new Canon housings a thorough test before putting a camera in it (just to be sure).

You are already shooting Manual. Shooting Manual is a really good idea. Also, both cameras shoot RAW which is also a really good idea. RAW allows you to adjust white balance in post processing without penalty. It also allows you to adjust the exposure, shadows and highlights much more than JPEG.

I have a G11 and use an IKE housing with an IKE strobe. The external strobe is a really nice thing to have. Whatever you get, I would strongly advocate getting an external strobe. The internal strobe in the camera will reflect light back at the image yielding the dreaded "backscatter" where each little fleck in the water is high lighted. An external strobe being off to the side reduces backscatter. Better yet is having 2 external strobes.

Ikelite housings allow one to use the macro lenses like INON. Those are handy. They allow you to stand off a bit farther and get a tight shot.

I understand that some of the pricier housings allow one to put on an external lens that will yield a wide angle shot. That would be a big advantage. Those housings, from what I have seen go for over $1000. When you are getting up into that price range, you are pushing the DSLR level.

You asked about shutter lag. I don't know what your current system has. If you turn off the screen on the G11, the camera will shoot with virtually no shutter lag. The problem is that with the housing on, I have not figured out how to use the range finder to see the shot. The screen is OK once it gets locked on "target" and highlighted in green. Once that happens, the lag is really a problem. So on fish that will sit still briefly, I can usually get a lock. Some of the smaller guys like blue chromis and sergeant majors who move around frantically are pretty tough to get shots of. Large objects (sharks, rays, turtles and divers) are not that big of a problem. The camera seems to lock onto them pretty well. So a DSLR definitely has the advantage here because you can use the view finder. But the situation is functional.

Unless you are thinking of getting into really wide angle lenses and macro lenses, I would suggest either the Canon or the IKE housing and going with an external strobe.

On the IKE system, the IKE strobe will shoot electronically instead of by slaving off of the camera's strobe (for the G12 not the S95). That is a nice benefit. That way you don't get the power drain on the camera's battery.

 

[curiousgeorgie]

Thanks Gilligan and PatW for your input. I was really looking to go with a Recsea or Fisheye housing though. I don't think I want the Canon housing. Any opinion on which housing is better?

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks Gilligan and PatW for your input. I was really looking to go with a Recsea or Fisheye housing though. I don't think I want the Canon housing. Any opinion on which housing is better?

The current Recesea95 housing is made by the same company and is virtually identical to the former FIX90 housing. The new FIX95 housing is not the same lineage as last year's FIX products.

Both are very nice and both have some excellent features. The biggest operational difference is that the Recsea95 housing has a 44mm male threaded port barrel and uses the various port systems and mounts developed for the former FIX90 and is extremely versatile in that it can therefore use virtually every accessory lens ever made for P&S cameras, macro, wide angle, fisheye.

The new FIX90 in contrast has a built in 52mm female threaded port. This works fine for the Fisheye UWL-04 and I hear it is optimal for that lens. This is an excellent housing for that lens. You would have to use a 52mm to 67mm adapter to use a macro lens such as the Inon UCL165AD-67mm.

I try to approach these choices from a system approach. By that I mean, determine what lenses and strobes etc you intend to use and then pick the camera and housing to support them.

N