what housing should I get with an S100?

[Dive the World]

A simple question with a very complicated answer which never actually gets answered.

I am new to this forum - your patience is appreciated.

What housing should I get with an canon S100? (should I get an s100? or s95 good enough)

Let me tell you a bit about me so you have a better understanding of me and my needs.

As far as photo taking is considered - I have never owned a camera - other than the one that came with my $30 Samsung phone.

However - I purchase things and grow with them.
A good example would be my purchase of UWATEC Tech 2G when I started diving three years ago. I didn't even have a complete understanding of Nitrox and did not know why someone would even use 80%-100% O2!

Now I use my UWATEC - to dive regular air dives, nitrox and even Deco Dives while using two tanks (Stage) with two different mixes.

So I purchase something and grow with it.

Like I said, I am no photographer (YET!) but have come to the understanding that I can get the S100 *have been pondering since s95* and I will grow with the camera - it can be a simple point and shoot right now until i learn what an f stop is and how to correctly spell apreture and other fractions and what not and other advanced skills and knowledge that I lack

I know there are multiple option from Canon Housing, Ikelite, Fisheye FIX, Recsea and even Patima (which is a cool and raw looking)

The thing is - what is the diff? Should I spend $200 on an inhouse Canon or $800 for Fisheye Patima - is it really worth it?

What about all these lenses? Dry/wet all different kinds of ways to hook them up.

I will be mostly taking pics around the 30-40M (99 - 132Ft) for anything deeper I doubt I would take a camera just because of all the task loading -

So what kind of system can I build with and grow I could end up investing any where from $400 to $1000 - I would like it to last at least 4 years and like I said grow with it. How much more would I have to end up spending?

I dive in Dubai - decent viz - 20m on a good day - 2 on a bad - mostly around 10m mark. Like Wreck and dive on them most often but also venture out to Fujairah side which has abundant sea life.

This is probably the longest question asked - like I said thank you for your patience.

What housing should I get with an canon S100? (should I get an s100? or s95 good enough)

I have a headache just typing this up and thinking about all the different options out there -

Thank you so much for any comments - feedback - suggestions - insight - recommendation - views - opinions that you would provide.

Dive Safe

[rob1967]

I've been very happy with the RecSea housing. Pricey, yes, but definitely a quality piece of kit. Feels bulletproof and flood proof. I find I can just as easily manipulate the controls in or out of the housing.

I probably wouldn't trust a cheaper plastic housing to take down to 40m on a regular basis. That's pretty deep.

[Interceptor121]

What pictures are you planning to take at that depth??

[Dive the World]

What pictures are you planning to take at that depth??

Everything Anything.

What I have observed, on most of the dives, is that one moment I could be taking a picture of a nudi branch followed by morray eel followed by a school of snappers followed by scorpion fish followed by...

well the point is that it is going to be varied - I know individuals who only focus on macro - I would like to take a pictures of anything and everything and document it - learn their names - whether it be a fish or coral or human trash found at the bottom of sea.

I hope that helps.

Thanks

[Dean13579]

Hi

I went for the Fisheye Fix S100 housing, also a Fisheye wide angle lens, lovely setup, pure quality.

Might be worth holding on, Sony have just announced the DSC-RX100, Jessops have it at £550, steep but looks pretty amazing, not heard if any housings are available for it yet,

[Interceptor121]

most of the best shots are taken between the surface and 18-20 meters because of light
As a result your diving will change completely and you will find yourself spending more time on shallow water
There are many options to start up and you need to be aware that the availability of lenses is very important
As of now all the housing available for the S100 have some form of wide angle lens additional option however some are wider than others and some are easier to mount on the housing
Considering you are new to the topic you will be pretty busy understanding how to take pictures underwater especially if you are not a proficient photographer on land
When you start diving you buy mask and snorkel at the beginning and later on have everything
My advice would be to start with a plastic housing as by the time you learn to take good pictures it will be a couple of years by then probably you will want a new camera anyway
If instead you are a proficient land photographer go for the best right away which is recsea or fisheye housing an get also lens and strobe as without those all you can shoot is close ups

[Dive the World]

Thanks Interceptor - that is very helpfull - did not think of it that way.

I do not want to change my diving for photographs but rather want to document my dive with them.

I like your example of start diving with a mask and snorkel.

Practise for two years - since I have no photography skills - never have owned a camera but have taken good pictures instinctively

[mjh]

Reality is your budget will decide your path. But also be honest with how "into" photography you are. Which you may find changes radically once you take a camera underwater. I dove 20yrs without one and now can't imagine diving camera free

Due to the depths you are diving you may want to consider a metal housing or possibly Ikelite, I would avoid the less expensive housings.

As a new shooter will you take the time to learn all the camera functions or do you just want to shoot in Automatic? But if you want to grow then you may want a camera you can eventually shoot in Manual

That means you need a housing that will give you full Manual Control

At the depths you are talking you will need lighting; a good strobe and a focus/video light.

For lighting your housing will need to be on a Tray of some type. A Tray will give you better handling and give you attachment points for the lights.

The advantage of compact/fixed lens cameras is you can use wet lenses for Macro and Wide Angle photography but as you will see "glass costs", lol.

The following link will give you an Idea of where you would end up with a very capable system. In fact if you Upgrade the Strobe and Focus light that would be an excellent system. Yes I know it is for the LX5 vs. S100 but as far as price and "look" they are almost identical.

Optical Ocean Nauticam LX5 Package - Nauticam Packages - System Packages - Optical Ocean Sales Underwater Photo - 800-359-1295!

Hope that helps

[Foxfish]

I'm a novice, but have been trying to photograph underwater for a year. I had a point and shoot with a casing and then bought a 1200 lumen dive light.

There are a few things that make it hard to take photos underwater.

1. You move with the swell which blurs your shot.
2. There is less light than on the surface.
3. Colour gets filtered out. The deeper you go, the more colour you lose.
4. There is sediment in the water that shows up as 'backscatter' in your photo.
5. You often have to photograph a moving target.

So expect to get lots of blurred, underexposed, dull shots of the tail of fish with plenty of snow. There are ways to get around these problems so technique and equipment play a big part. That said, I've found that a lot also depends on what marine life there is and the conditions at the time. If you are in calm, clear, shallow water with lots of interesting marine life then you can get some great shots in spite of your gear and lack of experience.

With a point and shoot I found the best shots were taken within say half a metre of the subject.

[Dive the World]

Thanks mjh, budget always turns out to be the reality - :-) I will most likely be shooting automatic at first and move into using the functions and manual setting.

Full manual control! don't all housing give that - more or less. I know from reading on SB and other palces that some give control over the S100 front lense dial. But if you don't have that you can work your way around it.

Thanks for pointing out about the lights and lenses.

---------- Post added ----------

THanks foxfish - appreciate you pointing things out - I find the S100 interesting because it is a point and shoot but it can also be advanced. So that means I can grow with it. So hopefully start from beginer to novice to advance with the s100.