Canon A75-80 or S1

[okidoki]

Hello all,

who can tell me some thing about the canon powershot A 75-80 or S1, I have seen the prices are reasonable but what is your practical experiance with one of these cameras.

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Okidoki

 

[scubaran]

Hello all,

who can tell me some thing about the canon powershot A 75-80 or S1, I have seen the prices are reasonable but what is your practical experiance with one of these cameras.

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Okidoki

Hi,

I have the Powershot A80 and love it (my third digital camera to date). It's small and compact and the swivelling view montior is a nice feature to protect it, and get it in the shadows when you use it to shot with. I bought it mainly for above water use but I also have the Canon Underwater enclosure and have used it several times diving (90 ft max so far with no problems). The controls are ease to use and all are available through the UW enclosure (including viewing, deleting (important when you finish that last shot and the picture of a lifetime then comes along)). I've also added a third party strobe, sunpak G-flash, which I've just started playing with underwater but seems to function perfectly with the A80. I particularly like to shot with a 4 megapixel camera since sometimes the subject underwater doesn't cooperate in getting in the middle of the frame. with 4M to work with, it's easy to crop to center or fill the frame with enough pixels left over for a good hardcopy photo. In addition, apparently Canon expects their cameras to be used underwater and has developed an underwater guide for their camera (check out: http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.html ). I did have one problem with my camera, apparently a hardware problem, the flash was overexposing the pictures. I sent it in to Canon and they replaced the flash component for free, including labor, and the camera is working flawlessly now. I had two Kodaks and was looking at the Olympus digital cameras but the flexiblity of the A80, along with the manufacturer's underwater enclosure sold me on this camera. BTW, I don't work for a camera shop, just like my A80. :O)

Randall

 

[pma]

The S1 is new and very good. I would say that it is a nicer camera, and definately has a better lens, though they are both good.

I would also add though that it may be worth waiting for the s60 if you can afford it, as that comes with an underwater white balance mode.

 

[Tom Winters]

I bought an A70 plus the Canon housing last year. It's great - although the 130' limitation means that the camera stays ashore most of the time now. I'd opt for the A80 though - I like that swiveling viewfinder. Office Depot had it for $180 last month when they discontinued carrying it - that was a tough one to miss.

 

[okidoki]

Hello all,

Well I have purchaced the A80 and it's housing, I will keep you up to date with it's performance.

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Okidoki

 

[alcina]

Yes, let us know. As many here know already, I am a huge fan of the Canon A series but have not used an A80. A lot of people ask me and I always tell them the A70 is awesome, so it would be nice to have some info on the newer ones...

 

[mavjax]

I just got the A80 and underwater housuing as well. I am still getting used to the bolor balancing on the camera but overall I really like it. It's my second digital and was time to upwgrade from my 2mp Kodak. I can't wait to try it underwater.

 

[scubamomma]

Are you going to use a strobe or other flash? I am thinking of buying the same as you, but I dont know if i need an extra flash? I am very amateur, but i want good photos. I would really prefer to just point and shoot if i can.
Thanks

 

[scubamomma]

one more thing-i noticed that the a75 has an "underwater" mode, but I didnt see it in the a80. Maybe the a80 is too advanced for me? ugh. Figuring out which camera to buy is hard. I have a nikon 4300 that I love, but I dont want to take a chance with it underwater. I prefer to buy a special set up for water and then I can use it when i need to for land.

 

[PhotoTJ]

The A-75 has several modes, beach, snow, fireworks, and underwater, to name a few, they are basiclly white balance modes. The A-80, (which I am using), came out about 9 months before the 75, so this was not included. The 80 DOES have two fully programable settings, which are saved in memory, and accessed from the function dial. I have not tried it yet, but I intend to do a custom white balance setting at depth, with some other profile tweaking, and see what I can come up with. I've been shooting with a few Canon camera/housing combos, (I do work at a camera store!), I think they are all excellent.

A-75, A-70, S-110, and S-500

Really, find the one that you like best, that fits your hands and shooting style.
Good luck!