Underwater - IS important?

[ryannbaker]

The wife and I are going to Hawaii in May. Since I am still labeling myself as a hobbyist rather than ameture or pro with my photography, I have no interest in taking my 7D 70-100 feet below the surface to try and get some (much better) photos. So we will be taking a p&s in a case. I'm looking at the Canon A3300 IS or the A2200 as the camera. My question is this: Is the IS in the A3300 really important underwater?

I personally have never used IS in a camera or a lens so I don't know if it's worth the extra for the IS or not. Any input is very much welcome.

[rick_reno]

No, it's not important.

[ryannbaker]

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback.

[gnirtS]

IS is generally worthless underwater. The density of the water column dampens your motion massively. Add that to the limited negative buoyancy of the housings (usually) and its not an issue. In addition most of your shots the target will be moving anyway.

No point in IS for underwater at all.

(although RAW or 2nd best, manual white balance constantly are 100% essential!)

[g8trgr8t]

flash is more important than camera. Have you considered renting a camera w/ strobe when you get there?

[Noel Johnson]

Hello,
I have a small Fuji P&S I use in a 40metre housing when I go diving. As previously said you need to think about more light than IS for shots underwater.
Red is the first colour to be absorbed by the water colum, so you'll lose that first - but this can be compensated for using a cheap torch, a strobe light or a red filter (I have one from magicfilters - you can cut it to shape and it is very cheap)
There are various plug ins for photoshop to add the red channel back in as well, which can be used to good effect.
When lighting the sublect it's a good idea to have the light source on a different axis to the lens, therefore if you have any reflections from particles in the water they will be defected back to the light not the lens. Alternately you can diffise the cameras on board flash.

Just as an example of compact camera images:






I hope this helps,

Noel

[tonylong]

I don't have any experience with underwater photography, so my best advice is to do a forum search for "underwater photography" -- there are a fair number of POTN members who do this!

[supachim]

IS underwater is definitely not important. The most important thing is lighting - much like above water photography. Having a good strobe or two will make a significant difference. Also, I agree with gnirtS - having RAW capabilities for white balance alterations in post processing is very nice to have. I'm not familiar if either of those P&Ss have that.

[Theojt]

Your scuba skills will be equally important as your photographic skills. You should be relatively comfortable with your diving before taking on the additional task loading that underwater photography will require.

When diving, I often see others passing some of their best photographic opportunities - because they are too busy looking for something to photograph. Move very slowy, pick a place on a coral head and scan it for a few seconds, then move (slowly again) to the next spot. You need to also remain aware of your surroundings (and bottom time/depth/air), and most importantly - don't leave your dive buddy! I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone with a camera chasing some fish, eel, sea trutle, etc. completely abandon their basic safety training because they wanted a picture. Dive safety should always take precedence.

And if you get the opportunity, try shooting during a night dive - it's a completely different experience than during the day.

Have fun! Since it's almost the end of May as I post, will we see some of your pics soon?