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Question about using underwater camera case
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Tracy in WI
- Posts: 1624
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Wisconsin
Question about using underwater camera case
An early Merry Christmas to you all!
I bought myself a new canon camera and the underwater case that goes with it. I am wondering if those of you with these keep the camera in the case all the time when on the island or if you only use it when at the beach or snorkeling? I want good pictures, but also ease of use. I haven't read the manuals so I am being lazy.
Any other tips for first time users of these? DO I need the little packs to keep moisture out? What about weights?
Thanks for any and all advice!
Tracy
I bought myself a new canon camera and the underwater case that goes with it. I am wondering if those of you with these keep the camera in the case all the time when on the island or if you only use it when at the beach or snorkeling? I want good pictures, but also ease of use. I haven't read the manuals so I am being lazy.
Any other tips for first time users of these? DO I need the little packs to keep moisture out? What about weights?
Thanks for any and all advice!
Tracy
Tracy, Seaside Properties at Grande Bay
Hi there!
I just bought my first underwater case recently, and used it even more recently (last week!) A few things: DO bring and use the silica packs -- I forgot mine (didn't read the manual and thought they were just for shipping). My case was fine without it most of the time, but on one day it decided to fog up inside a bit, right on the glass in front of the lens, of course! (And it was during our awesome Waterlemon snorkel, naturally).
I did find it hard to see what I was aiming at underwater, so plan to shoot a lot just in case. It's kind of guesswork...I ended up taking a lot more video (see my "turtle" post below). Video is more forgiving than still frames, because you can move the camera and have a better chance of capturing the subject.
I kept the case on most of the time, because I was using it underwater a lot. The case makes the non-underwater shots a little less clear than they would be without the case, though. Do try to remember to wipe drops of water off the front lens glass if you're taking an out-of-water picture right after you come out of the water.
I'd also make sure you play with the camera a bit on dry land (the plane trip is a great time to do this!) so that you know how to operate it with the case on pretty well -- that way, you can enjoy the snorkelling and not miss things while you're fiddling with the camera!
My camera was heavy on my wrist out of water, and in the water it seemed to be fairly neutral weight-wise, although it definitely didn't float (use the wrist strap at all times!!)
Hope this helps a bit! Feel free to ask if you have other specific questions...
I just bought my first underwater case recently, and used it even more recently (last week!) A few things: DO bring and use the silica packs -- I forgot mine (didn't read the manual and thought they were just for shipping). My case was fine without it most of the time, but on one day it decided to fog up inside a bit, right on the glass in front of the lens, of course! (And it was during our awesome Waterlemon snorkel, naturally).
I did find it hard to see what I was aiming at underwater, so plan to shoot a lot just in case. It's kind of guesswork...I ended up taking a lot more video (see my "turtle" post below). Video is more forgiving than still frames, because you can move the camera and have a better chance of capturing the subject.
I kept the case on most of the time, because I was using it underwater a lot. The case makes the non-underwater shots a little less clear than they would be without the case, though. Do try to remember to wipe drops of water off the front lens glass if you're taking an out-of-water picture right after you come out of the water.
I'd also make sure you play with the camera a bit on dry land (the plane trip is a great time to do this!) so that you know how to operate it with the case on pretty well -- that way, you can enjoy the snorkelling and not miss things while you're fiddling with the camera!
My camera was heavy on my wrist out of water, and in the water it seemed to be fairly neutral weight-wise, although it definitely didn't float (use the wrist strap at all times!!)
Hope this helps a bit! Feel free to ask if you have other specific questions...
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jdbcypresstx
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:14 am
- Location: Cypress, Texas
We have a Canon with an underwater case that we used for the first time in October on our trip to St. John. I agree with Lark22 on all points. However, we took the camera out of the case after snorkeling for ease of taking other pics. We rinsed the case with warm soapy water when we got back to our villa to get the saltwater off of it to try and keep salt deposits from adhering to the plastic.
It did seem to be very difficult to see what you were focusing on and we took alot of pics for this reason. Of course wiuth plenty of memory, this was not a problem.
The pics do turn out great. Our Canon is a point and shoot with a setting for underwater photos and it really worked well.
It did seem to be very difficult to see what you were focusing on and we took alot of pics for this reason. Of course wiuth plenty of memory, this was not a problem.
The pics do turn out great. Our Canon is a point and shoot with a setting for underwater photos and it really worked well.
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Bob & Anita
- Posts: 611
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:20 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC
We bring two digital cameras, one for most of land base pictures and the Canon with the underwater case for our underwater pictures. But we do use our Canon for some of our land based pictures as well since it is our better camera; it’s newer with more mega pixels and has that panoramic stitch. We always take the Canon out of the underwater case when using it for land pictures, unless we are on the beach.
For the camera you are using for underwater pictures we highly recommend using rechargeable batteries and changing the batteries ever night, or every two nights. We’ve had the batteries run out on us while shooting underwater one time and you don’t really want to be changing batteries on the beach. So now we just change them every night so we know we won’t run out while shooting underwater. We bring 3 sets of rechargeable batteries; one set in the camera, one for charging and one on standby. Every time we open the case we redo the seal with the grease.
It is good if you can put in the silica packs into the case if you can find room and they don’t interfere with any of the camera operations. If not, then at least put the packs in at night to dry out the inside of the case. You really want to make sure the inside of the case is completely dry, the slightest drop will fog up your view screen area since that gets warm make it fog in that location only.
For the camera you are using for underwater pictures we highly recommend using rechargeable batteries and changing the batteries ever night, or every two nights. We’ve had the batteries run out on us while shooting underwater one time and you don’t really want to be changing batteries on the beach. So now we just change them every night so we know we won’t run out while shooting underwater. We bring 3 sets of rechargeable batteries; one set in the camera, one for charging and one on standby. Every time we open the case we redo the seal with the grease.
It is good if you can put in the silica packs into the case if you can find room and they don’t interfere with any of the camera operations. If not, then at least put the packs in at night to dry out the inside of the case. You really want to make sure the inside of the case is completely dry, the slightest drop will fog up your view screen area since that gets warm make it fog in that location only.
Bob & Anita
Tracy - in addition to B&As always excellent advice, I might add get an extra memory card PLUS will add the following about your question PLUS bonus information...
Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t see how you could fit the silicone packs in with my Canon casing even if I wanted to without really jamming them in. Logical precautions will avoid most fog ups – camera and housing should always be keep at similar temps and not taken direct from A/C villa or A/C car direct to hot beach and loaded up and right into the water.
Always be very careful to avoid any sand in the O ring wherever you place camera into case. Likewise when you come out and choose to remove from case, close up empty case and put it in a soft bag. I never keep the camera in the case when shooting on land – it inhibits creativity too much, I cant use the polarizer and other filters, and cant use the swivel out LCD on mine. But that’s me –I’m pretty picky about my photography. You may do just fine with it in the case.
Rinse the case and let air day every night. I lightly lubricated the O ring every other day, easing it off using a credit card. Only use a silicone lubricant like those sold for pool filter O rings at a pool supply store – don’t know if the big box (H Depot, Lowes) stores would have this
Some tips on using the Canon casing...one of the few wild cards to consider with underwater photography is the white balance setting. When you are snorkeling or close to the surface, the normal white balance setting for daylight normally yields the best results to capture the light as it appears to the human eye.
However if you are diving down to capture some images, you may find that the standard auto white balance setting on a digital camera tries to "correct" the blue-toned light to the point where it washes out the ocean color. In this case, you may want to try setting the white balance to a manual or “underwater” setting. In other words, for snorkeling, 90% of the time your auto settings should work fine, unless you do a lot of dive downs like Bob and Anitas crew have done.
I have an older model and found that I got best result in "P" (Program) mode and manually setting ISO to 200 and white balance to cloudy skies. Found that when I used the flash it tended to illuminate any particles in the water and can create "floaties" in the frame so I shut that down.
Naturally you'll get your best results midday under sunny conditions and getting close to stuff or zooming in a bit. Also nice results with vertical pics shot in a near horizontal plane when you have the surface of the water in the top of the frame. The schools of blue tang come out good.
If stuff stills looks blue-ish and colors arent popping when you review later in LCD, dont worry, your photo software helps tremendously to tone down the blue and make some of the colors pop, often even with just the "auto balance" or "quick fix" type of one click fixes.
More important of course is the quality of the original image. Use good technique (try not to shoot downward too much and get close to subject) under good lighting conditions (think midday) and minimal tweaking will be needed.
You will amazed by your underwater pictures.
JMQ
Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t see how you could fit the silicone packs in with my Canon casing even if I wanted to without really jamming them in. Logical precautions will avoid most fog ups – camera and housing should always be keep at similar temps and not taken direct from A/C villa or A/C car direct to hot beach and loaded up and right into the water.
Always be very careful to avoid any sand in the O ring wherever you place camera into case. Likewise when you come out and choose to remove from case, close up empty case and put it in a soft bag. I never keep the camera in the case when shooting on land – it inhibits creativity too much, I cant use the polarizer and other filters, and cant use the swivel out LCD on mine. But that’s me –I’m pretty picky about my photography. You may do just fine with it in the case.
Rinse the case and let air day every night. I lightly lubricated the O ring every other day, easing it off using a credit card. Only use a silicone lubricant like those sold for pool filter O rings at a pool supply store – don’t know if the big box (H Depot, Lowes) stores would have this
Some tips on using the Canon casing...one of the few wild cards to consider with underwater photography is the white balance setting. When you are snorkeling or close to the surface, the normal white balance setting for daylight normally yields the best results to capture the light as it appears to the human eye.
However if you are diving down to capture some images, you may find that the standard auto white balance setting on a digital camera tries to "correct" the blue-toned light to the point where it washes out the ocean color. In this case, you may want to try setting the white balance to a manual or “underwater” setting. In other words, for snorkeling, 90% of the time your auto settings should work fine, unless you do a lot of dive downs like Bob and Anitas crew have done.
I have an older model and found that I got best result in "P" (Program) mode and manually setting ISO to 200 and white balance to cloudy skies. Found that when I used the flash it tended to illuminate any particles in the water and can create "floaties" in the frame so I shut that down.
Naturally you'll get your best results midday under sunny conditions and getting close to stuff or zooming in a bit. Also nice results with vertical pics shot in a near horizontal plane when you have the surface of the water in the top of the frame. The schools of blue tang come out good.
If stuff stills looks blue-ish and colors arent popping when you review later in LCD, dont worry, your photo software helps tremendously to tone down the blue and make some of the colors pop, often even with just the "auto balance" or "quick fix" type of one click fixes.
More important of course is the quality of the original image. Use good technique (try not to shoot downward too much and get close to subject) under good lighting conditions (think midday) and minimal tweaking will be needed.
You will amazed by your underwater pictures.
JMQ
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
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Bob & Anita
- Posts: 611
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:20 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC
We agree with your assessment on the silica pack; we've never figured out how to fit them into the case with the camera without jamming controls. Be interested if anyone has figure this out.jmq wrote:Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t see how you could fit the silicone packs in with my Canon casing even if I wanted to without really jamming them in.
Bob & Anita
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Tracy in WI
- Posts: 1624
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Wisconsin
I just want to say how AWESOME you all are with your quick responses. I am so looking forward to taking my new camera snorkeling and your tips are going to be great.
I have tried the underwater disposables, then used those with the special Sea and Sea processing, then I bought a Canon 35mm for underwater shots. With all of these I was really disappointed.
So again, I look forward to some great pictures and will share what I get after our trip in January.
Thanks again!!
I have tried the underwater disposables, then used those with the special Sea and Sea processing, then I bought a Canon 35mm for underwater shots. With all of these I was really disappointed.
So again, I look forward to some great pictures and will share what I get after our trip in January.
Thanks again!!
Tracy, Seaside Properties at Grande Bay
Late followup: I followed B&A and jmq's advice on my last trip. The photos were quite good. The Canon case for my Canon S410 did quite well. Silica packs? Not me, no problems. I just made certain that I did not open the camera at the beach. I carried a first generation Kodak 3mp camera for land - big, annoying, not greate photos. I expect I will buy another Canon for land use before our next trip.
Cheers, RickG
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
Rick - thanks for props.
Will do the same in future trips as I recently got the Canon S3 IS (IS stands for Image Stabilization) as early Xmas gift and will use the trusty old A80 for beach and underwater.
The 12x zoom on the new Canon rocks - this was taken looking up at a steeple from at least 150 ft. away (no UW casings avail for S series BTW)
Will do the same in future trips as I recently got the Canon S3 IS (IS stands for Image Stabilization) as early Xmas gift and will use the trusty old A80 for beach and underwater.
The 12x zoom on the new Canon rocks - this was taken looking up at a steeple from at least 150 ft. away (no UW casings avail for S series BTW)
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
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Bob & Anita
- Posts: 611
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:20 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC
We have one of those bulky first generation Kodak digital cameras (1.7 MP) as well. Can't believe we spent $700 on it some 8-9 years ago. I think the camera in our cell phones now have more MP.RickG wrote:I carried a first generation Kodak 3mp camera for land - big, annoying, not greate photos.
Bob & Anita
Ya, cameras are getting bloody cheap.
I think I'm using a weight belt for our next snorkel-focused trip. I was very frustrated trying to get the proper camera angles with my positive bouyancy. I have a weight belt I use for scuba, might as well put it to work. Though, traveling with extra weight on purpose...
Cheers, RickG
I think I'm using a weight belt for our next snorkel-focused trip. I was very frustrated trying to get the proper camera angles with my positive bouyancy. I have a weight belt I use for scuba, might as well put it to work. Though, traveling with extra weight on purpose...
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
camera case
Does anyone know if there is an underwater case for a
Canon PowerShot SD600 6MP Digital Elph Camera?
I guess I am getting one for Christmas.
Thanks.
Canon PowerShot SD600 6MP Digital Elph Camera?
I guess I am getting one for Christmas.
Thanks.
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Bob & Anita
- Posts: 611
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:20 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC
Re: camera case
Look here: http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.htmlsea-nile wrote:Does anyone know if there is an underwater case for a
Canon PowerShot SD600 6MP Digital Elph Camera?
I guess I am getting one for Christmas.
Thanks.
Here is Canon's underwater photograhpy main page: http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.html
Bob & Anita