S50 Underwater housing

[treeduck6]

I purchased the Canon underwater housing for my s50 (still waiting for the UPS truck).
This will be my first attempt at underwater photography and I was hoping for lots of advice. All info will be appreciated.

Separate question - I have 2 Canon Batteries for this camera one loses its charge in short order. I was curious if there was a way to test their capacity under or a way to deep cycle them to restore their performance.

Thanks.

[Jon]

Start with this article from Canon (http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.html).

[treeduck6]

thanks Jon

[ByteTheBullet]

Yep, that is good stuff(link above). I really like mine, but I have to get another case for my S70 now, dang it. Just follow the directions. The up/down part of the multi button will not work so I usually get everything pre-set before I go out to the water/beach. I use the case on the beach also, no sand gets in this camera. My first digicam was dropped in the sand and it was never the same. Test in the sink/tub before you go out and it should be fine. Rinse when you get back. I have the same o-ring that came with mine and it seems to work fine. I do not use mine a whole lot, but I may get a spare o-ring to have, just in case.

Hope this helps.


ByteTheBullet (-:

[puttick]

General advice that you need to follow for any underwater photo gear, unless you want to experience the UW photographers' nightmare of opening a flooded housing.

After EVERY use, you should soak the whole thing in fresh water for 30 mins (not run it under a tap, running water can force its way in past an unpressurised O-ring). Then towel it dry before opening. Remove, examine, clean and grease the main compartment o-ring with the silicone grease they supply, making 100% sure there are no hairs, and, grit, lint, fluff etc. on it before the next use. After every trip dissassemble all the o-ring ports that you can (I don't know which for this housing) and do the same (remove, examine, clean, grease, reassemble). If you ever find a nick in an o-ring, replace it, do not take it underwater. Do not think you can just wipe an o-ring "clean" and smear some grease on it - you will get away with it a few times, but sooner or later it WILL leak!

Do not leave your camera/housing in the sun. The air will expand, and can push the o-ring out of place, which will then leak. Or when the warm air is cooled in the water, the air will contract, lowering the internal pressure and sucking water in.

All this applies whether swimming, snorkelling, or diving.

It is a little time-consuming, but worth it.

Underwater, red light is filtered out, so the deeper you go, the bluer your pictures become until there is no other colour - unless you add white light using flash. Also the light intensity porgressively reduces, forcing longer exposures, or flash. So the most colourful photos are taken with available light near the surface - say reef fish on top of the reef at 2-5m depth. The trouble with flash on a small camera is that it is close to the lens axis, and so is reflected back from any particles in the water - "backscatter" which can look like a snowstorm. With your camera you will only get good flash pictures in very clear water. At depth, with poor light, if you don't use flash you will need a large aperture, with reduced depth of field, or slow shutter speed with blurring. Another reason to stay shallow.

Getting in the water - have someone hand the camera in to you, don't roll of a boat with it. Hand it out before you get out. Keep it away from lead weight belts on a dive boat!

Always put in a freshly charged battery (or the manta ray will appear as the low batt sign comes on), and use a large memory card (ditto).

If any water gets in the housing, keep it upright, get out of the water, open it, and remove the battery and card. Then you can join the UW photographers club and buy the camera flooders T-shirt.

Have fun - you will!

Nigel

[Rob612]

Ditto on everything Nigel said.

You will have a lot of fun with your UW casing. A couple of other things that are quite important in UW photography are your asset and your finning style.

Do train - unless you are already and experienced diver - your asset and your handling of the BC jacket. It will help a lot in keeping the camera as steady as possible and help you in composing the image.

Do train - again, unless you are already an experienced diver - yout finning style, especially considering the fact that most of the shhots you are going to take, at least at the beginning (after a while, you will BADLY need an external light source) will be at very close objects/animals, the suspension that you can raise with your fins, especially if you dive in muddy/sandy bottoms will make your life really hard. Backscatter is a damn beast and once you have done somthing bad with your fins, in certain conditions you will probably run out of air before the water gets clear again.

In some cases - especially in night dives - a scuba torch will be of grat help (beside the fact that in a night dive you NEED a torch anyway :) ) for both some extra side light and for composing.

As far as the jumping in the water goes, sure the best way is to have someone handling it to you. But if that is not an option (and it happens) just slip the camera in a pocket of the BC. It will protect and distribute the forces while hitting the water, thus saving extra pressure on all the seals/commands.

I've tested mine well below the maximum depth certified twice (it was 40 meters, I brought it down to -48 and I had no problem but that something I won't recommend... ). In my case it was just necessary to do so (heavy drift, needed to get out of it and the bottom was down there... ).

Have fun and remember... UW photo is really much much worst at the beginning than land photograpy. Do not get depressed about bad results. Start with shallow and clear water and have fun.

Edit to add: take a look at www.scubaboard.com (http://www.scubaboard.com/) if you are not already there. It will be of great help.