P&S Under Water Housing
skysailor
Registered Users Posts: 139 Major grins
I would like to get an under water housing for my G9. Pretty sure Canon has one out there somewhere. Anybody had any experience with them? It'll be pretty casual shallow water work. 60 feet or less. Thanks. Lyle
Gear: D200, G9, Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6, Nikkor 35 f/1.8, Vivitar Series 1 28-105 f/2.8-3.8, Sigma 18-200 f/3.5-6.3
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Yep, the WP-DC21 (Amazon lists it, BTW). I've not used this housing myself (a friend has and likes it), however I have used others with P&S, SLR, and TLR cameras over the past 40 or so years. It should work very well for you.
Big tip is keep the o-rings clean and lubed as per the instructions, and make sure you wash off all fine grit and sand in fresh water before you open it. Also, I think that housing comes with a flash diffuser ... be sure to use it ... underwater shots lose reds the deeper you go and the flash helps keep the colors correct while the diffuser helps prevent backscatter/reflections.
Oh, on edit, one other thing: if you use PhotoShop, there are several excellent underwater color correction actions ... they work nicely if you have not used flash to correct colors. Here's one free:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1042430
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.
Not really ... but you will need some kind of fiber optic trigger since the housing has no external flash contacts to my knowledge. SLR housings often have a through-the-shell connector to which you can attach underwater flash units, but inexpensive P&S housings don't ... at least the ones I've used/seen.
I know nothing about it, but a quick search for inexpensive units with fiber triggering turned up this: http://www.amazon.com/Intova-Underwater-StaySlim-Batteries-Cleaning/dp/B002IAUYUG
However, better ones like the Ikelites I prefer (they have fiber optic slaves, too) are significantly more expensive. I suspect you will find more specific help over at Wetpixel Online http://wetpixel.com/ or one of the several other underwater photography magazines. And Ikelite's (expensive) housings for certain P&S cameras like the G9 DO have flash connectors: http://www.helixcamera.com/UW/ikelite/housing/canon/614709.html ... but now we are getting expensive!
Oh, one other tip ... the flash should be on an arm so you can angle it sharply toward the subject, otherwise you will get lots of reflecting sparklies off the particles in the water.
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.