Canon S40/S30

[ucladiver]

I'm looking into getting a digital camera setup for use on land as well as underwater. Does anyone have any experience with the Canon S40 or S30 cameras? Canon also makes an underwater case for these cameras, the WP-DC300. I know a lot of people on this board tend to favor the Olympus C-3030 or C-4040 with their housing but the main reason why I'm straying from these is because of the SmartMedia memory type they use. (I'm thinking about getting an Compaq iPAQ which can use the CompactFlash and I don't want to have to buy two different types of memory). Does anyone have any experience with these Canon options? They are supposed to do well in low light, although I couldn't find anything about connection points for external strobes. I want to make sure I'm not dismissing the Olympus options too soon. Thanks.

 

[Dee]

When I started looking at going digital for underwater, I felt the same as you. I already owned a Nikon CP-880 which taked the CF cards. I could only find one company making a housing for it and it was out of the equasion. Which led me to both the Olympus and Canon. At the time, there was very little info about the Canon available...and there still isn't much.

Everything I read about the Olympus set-up sounded good except for the SmartMedia card it uses. The fact that there was a resonable priced case for it and the clear case allowed me to get very good photos with only the internal strobe so getting started was relatively cheap. I recently purchased the Olympus C-4040, Oly PT-010 case. I will add a Sea & Sea YS90DX strobe. The pros of this set-up outweighed the cons of using two different media cards.

I have a friend, Allen Carera, who just purchased the Canon C-40 and knows something about the new housing for it.Click Here for his website. Send him an email and ask him about it. He'll more than likely call you to chat about it!

 

[alto]

I'm also thinking of buying the S30 for primarily use under water.
I found very good reviews about that camera, but like you I realize it hard to find people with experience with the camera U/W.
here is a link to some answers I got:
dpreview
If you'll get more information please share it ( and same with me of course )

dpreview

 

[alto]

Another forum with some data about strobes & lens for the S30 / S40

WetPixel forum

 

[ucladiver]

Thanks for the referral Dee, I dropped Allen an E-mail this morning. I will let the rest of you in on what he tells me when I hear from him.

At this point, I'm strongly leaning towards this option. I need an affordable option that I will happy with in and out of the water and this seems to fit the bill. Seems like strobes can be attached to it, which was my main concern in case the internal flash wasn't enough U/W. With an external strobe, not having the "Super Bright" lens of the Olympus shouldn't matter so much. I still haven't decided between the S30 and S40 yet. Anyone have an opinion as to whether the 4 megapixels are worth the $150 over the 3 megapixels? :banging:

 

[geebee]

HI:

I've had the Canon S30 for about two months now. I am VERY impressed with it. I have not used it underwater, but LOVE it on dry land.

I'm a former pro who is very picky about sharpness and quality even in a snapshot camera. I've had several 8x10's printed by dotphoto.com and am very pleased with the results. Even when cropped, they are fine. If you have unlimited budget, go for S40, otherwise I am sure that the S30 will be great.

I would use the money saved on a much bigger (128 MB) card , and an extra battery. And of course the housing.

I too looked at the Olympus, but wanted something smaller for easy shirtpocket carrying. The Oly has a definite advantage in the much faster lens. The Canon, however, can have the ASA set to 800 for indoor shots with no flash. (Not sure if Oly can do that) I've taken many shots in dim indoor lighting, even candle light. While they are a bit grainy, and a bit noisy, they capture the mood and are definitely acceptable. Outdoor and flash shots are perfect.

Canon has a nice 'stitch assist' to create panaramas from several shots. Great for those wide open Carribean vistas!

One negative is it has poor redeye reduction and flash in dim indoors usually has bad redeye. However, the Canon software is great and makes it very easy to remove the redeye.

If you need any other info or want to see samples, email me.

And a great website to compare cameras is www.imaging-resource.com It even has a 'comparomater' to see the same shot with two cameras.