Some very basic questions

[Bill McIntyre]

Canon had a sale on underwater cases for $89, so I bought one for my old SD750. My case was delivered today, and now I have some questions, particularly for those who have the SD750, although they may apply to Canons in general.

The instruction manual recommends using the camera's underwater mode for optimal white balance. Do you agree?

Do you use the flash? My previous UW photo career was with the Nikonos I and II, and I held the flash out to the side to keep from front-lighting particles and getting backscatter. Obviously that can't be done with this set-up, so I'm wondering if I'll get a lot of back-scatter in our typical murky SoCal coastal conditions.

If you do use the flash, so you use the diffuser that came with the case?

Any other tips would be appreciated.

 

[fcallagy]

HI Bill not sure on the cannon as I have a small fuji f30 but I always use underwater mode and always have the flash off. backscatter is bad if i leave it on. as for the white balance I don't even know if I can use it on the fuji but never had. I go on the shoot loads of pics and some will come out ok theory but I am sure more could chime in here.

 

[garett]

Hi Bill.
I use Canon G7 and I never use flash (here you can see my pictures - www.underwater-ireland.com) I don't use underwater mode, but often I use software to correct colors. Reading white balance can help and you'll get very accurate (real) colors but you'll need to do it almost every meter when you go up or down, or when you turn to different area or even different spot while shooting. I use "auto" for color and lighting, but again I use the software (photoshop) to correct colors.

P.S. I do free-diving and snorkeling only.

 

[azapa]

Bill, the underwater mode makes everything too red at snorkeling over reef depths (say a couple of meters). In that case use normal mode.

From about 10M down the U/W mode does a great job replacing the lost reds, in kelp for example.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Thanks guys. I think I'll start out with no flash and in normal mode and then see how it goes.

 

[speareasy]

I don't know if your canon has RAW mode, but the G9 has it and it is much better to use RAW mode and then figure out the white balance on your home computer. As for the flash, stay away from any on camera flash, all it will do is highlight particles near the lens and ruin your picture. If you really need flash then a strobe that is off to the side is the way to go. Here are two pictures before and after white balance adjustment in photoshop.

 

[Mr. X]

Lube the seals. A colleague (& SCUBA instructor) destroyed his camera when the seals leaked on his camera case.

[Seems odd using bright yellow SCUBA weights with a such a cool & effective camo/mimetec spearo wetsuit, in the images above.]

 

[Spiderman]

I use a Canon Ixus 850 and use the the flash quite a bit for close up shots in shaded locations. The water around here is rarely crystal clear but backscatter isn't too bad if you can get close enough. All these pictures were taken in normal mode with the flash on.