Different UW camera housing question--straps & buttons

[ddgg]

I just bought a housing for my Canon A510. I did a search and found a lot of great information on the care and feeding of the housing & O-ring. However, here's two questions I didn't see anywhere.....

 

1. There's a lot of comments about the O-ring, but what about all those camera buttons? Other than rinsing well in fresh water, do those button seals need to be replaced or maintained?

 

2. The instructions say not to use the neck strap so you don't strangle yourself. Anybody have problems using the neck strap? I figure that would be better than the wrist strap.

 

Thanks

[bruce-r]

I just bought a housing for my Canon A510. I did a search and found a lot of great information on the care and feeding of the housing & O-ring. However, here's two questions I didn't see anywhere.....

 

1. There's a lot of comments about the O-ring, but what about all those camera buttons? Other than rinsing well in fresh water, do those button seals need to be replaced or maintained?

Keep the main o-ring clean and slightly lubed and you pretty much just have to rinse the housing in fresh water to take care of the rest of the buttons.

 

 

2. The instructions say not to use the neck strap so you don't strangle yourself. Anybody have problems using the neck strap? I figure that would be better than the wrist strap.

 

You don't want to use the neck strap underwater. You want to look at something like: http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=CRLO3 for diving. If you are snorkeling, you want a wrist strap.

[ddgg]

Thanks for the info. The housing didn't come with a wrist strap. Since I have to take the wrist strap off of the camera before putting it in the housing, I could just use that one on the housing, I guess.

[scubaran]

I just bought a housing for my Canon A510. I did a search and found a lot of great information on the care and feeding of the housing & O-ring. However, here's two questions I didn't see anywhere.....

 

1. There's a lot of comments about the O-ring, but what about all those camera buttons? Other than rinsing well in fresh water, do those button seals need to be replaced or maintained?

 

2. The instructions say not to use the neck strap so you don't strangle yourself. Anybody have problems using the neck strap? I figure that would be better than the wrist strap.

 

Thanks

 

Hi,

 

I assume this is the Canon Underwater enclosure for your camera. I've been using Canon Underwater enclosures for years (on my third one). Just rinsing the enclosure is fine if you've been in salt water, no maintenance needed if doing fresh water diving unless you've been dragging through the muck. However, with that said, usually after I get done diving and I'm back home, I close up the enclosure without the camera, fill up my kitchen sink, put a glass or something heavy on it to keep it from floating and soak it in clear fresh water for a 1/2 hour to disolve any left over salt crystals and junk. When I'm done, I give it a good swish or two before I wipe it down and let it air dry.

 

As far as the strap, the wrist strap works fine. If you're not doing a shore dive, hand the camera to someone on the boat and ask them politely to hand it to you when you get in the water. Jump in (give the ok sign) then reach up, get the camera and tighten the strap on your wrist (important, because they're negatively bouyant, I've almost lost mine a couple of times because the strap wasn't tight). Since the Canon enclosures are negatively bouyant they won't be floating around your face as you decend. I put the camera on my right hand so it doesn't interfere with my inflation hose and to make it easy to flip up and be ready to photograph something. If it were around your neck, besides the obvious choking thing, you'd have to get it over your regulator each time you'd want to take a picture.

 

Another thing, you need to get some desicant packs. You put one of these in your case and it will keep your camera case from fogging up. I missed some great nurse shark pictures one time due to fogging and never go under the water without them. You can get them at B&H photo and underwater supply sites. Canon doesn't make their own but I found the Olympus ones work very well. Ensure you put them where they won't interfere with closing the case and not block the flash (might require massaging the pack to confirm with the air space in the enclosure).

 

I found that I like to take above, underwater and half in/out water pictures (like at the base of a dive boat looking up or a dive site from the water level). To keep beads of water from accumulating on your lens portion of the case, I got some rainX wipes. Wipe down the lens portion, wait until it dries and then lightly wipe away any cloudiness. The treatment should be good for at least a day's diving. (you can do the enclosure portion where your LCD viewer is to keep little bubbles from collecting around it making viewing underwater a bit clearer).

 

Finally, when you put your camera into the enclosure check out EVERY button, whether you think you will use the button or not. I was underwater one time and ran out of pictures (had been using the card for awhile). Of course, just then a 4-foot grouper stops right next to me on a cleaning station. So I went to go to the review controls on my camera to delete one picture to take the picture of the grouper. But assuming I wouldn't be reviewing pictures while underwater I didn't check this switch and of course it didn't work. So the grouper's only in my mind's eye, not on a picture. Lesson learned.

 

BYW, Canon's take great underwater picts. You can check mine out at http://www.randallgamby.com.

 

Randall

[ddgg]

Wow, great photos.

 

I should have clarified that although my huband may use this camera diving, I will only be snorkeling. That's why I figured the neck strap would be easier and less likely to fall off. I don't have a wrist strap that will cinch down to prevent slipping off.

 

I originally planned to use one of those bags instead of a rigid housing, so I already got some small silica gel packs. They should be small enough to fit inside the camera housing.

 

There's a lot of advice about not using a flash because of the backflash. This Canon housing came with a diffuser that mounts in front of the flash. Will that solve the backsplash problem?

[Ryffian]

BYW, Canon's take great underwater picts.

Do you have a specific model in mind when you say that? I'm in the market for a new one.

Thanks!

[scubaran]

Do you have a specific model in mind when you say that? I'm in the market for a new one.

Thanks!

 

Hi,

 

I have a Canon A620 7.1M pixel camera. I was shooting with an A80 before that. The big thing is to shoot in Manual mode where you can set the f-stop and shutter speed (I use F5.0 and 1/125s) along with the flash output. Pretty much on all the Canon point and shoots.

 

Randall

[scubaran]

Wow, great photos.

 

I should have clarified that although my huband may use this camera diving, I will only be snorkeling. That's why I figured the neck strap would be easier and less likely to fall off. I don't have a wrist strap that will cinch down to prevent slipping off.

 

I originally planned to use one of those bags instead of a rigid housing, so I already got some small silica gel packs. They should be small enough to fit inside the camera housing.

 

There's a lot of advice about not using a flash because of the backflash. This Canon housing came with a diffuser that mounts in front of the flash. Will that solve the backsplash problem?

 

 

Humm... My canon enclosure came with a wrist strap with a slider on it to tighten it down on my wrist (maybe you were missing yours). As far as flash, sorry, unless the water's really clear, you'll have backscatter using the internal flash (it's just too close to the lens). I actually blacked out my flash except for a small hole and use a flash-triggered strobe on a foot long arm (overkill for you). If you're snorkeling I'd turn off the flash and use the underwater setting under scenes (if your canon has that setting).

 

The diffuser is for close up underwater pictures where the flash would totally white out a subject (like 6" from something under the water). This is more useful for divers. I took this picture without a flash while snorkeling in the bahamas so flash isn't aways necessary for underwater photos. http://www.randallgamby.com/car2007-pages/car080.html

 

Randall

[ddgg]

Turning off the flash, leaving the diffuser at home, and using the underwater setting will make things a lot simpler for me, thanks :) . Your snorkeling photo is amazing. Can I get that kind of quality with my A510 or will I need to do a little PhotoShopping?

 

I bought the housing on eBay--new & never used, but no wrist strap. Since I don't know how long it had been sitting around tightly closed, I'm going to invest in a new O-ring for it. I'll see about picking up a wrist strap as well.

 

I really appreciate the help you guys have given me. This will be the first time I've taken a camera into the water (other than a disposable that took awful & very blue pictures!).

[bruce-r]

Wow, great photos.

 

I should have clarified that although my huband may use this camera diving, I will only be snorkeling. That's why I figured the neck strap would be easier and less likely to fall off. I don't have a wrist strap that will cinch down to prevent slipping off.

Get a wrist strap like this:

 

http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/AQUWL.html

 

 

There's a lot of advice about not using a flash because of the backflash. This Canon housing came with a diffuser that mounts in front of the flash. Will that solve the backsplash problem?

 

For snorkeling, it won't matter that much if the flash is on or not because it is likely to be bright enough for the flash to not go off automatically. For diving, if you want any color other in your photos, you'll want to set the flash to always fire and use the diffuser.

 

here is my St Thomas Underwater photo gallery I was using an Olympus C5050 in the Olympus UW housing with the flash on.

[scubaran]

Turning off the flash, leaving the diffuser at home, and using the underwater setting will make things a lot simpler for me, thanks :) . Your snorkeling photo is amazing. Can I get that kind of quality with my A510 or will I need to do a little PhotoShopping?

 

I bought the housing on eBay--new & never used, but no wrist strap. Since I don't know how long it had been sitting around tightly closed, I'm going to invest in a new O-ring for it. I'll see about picking up a wrist strap as well.

 

I really appreciate the help you guys have given me. This will be the first time I've taken a camera into the water (other than a disposable that took awful & very blue pictures!).

 

Hi again,

 

BruceR is correct, that's pretty close to what my wrist strap looks like. As far as will your shots look as good? Well, it depends. Get closer, closer still, and then get even closer. The less "blue water" between you and the subject, the better the color. I took this picture about 5 feet underwater on a clear day in high vis water (duck dived under the water when I saw the trumpetfish). Also I've had many years of experience. Knowing the delay of your camera and the habits of the fish (one darts sideways, some freeze, some turn tail, other's attack) makes a different anticipating what the fish will do. I took about two years of tails trailing out of the picture frame before I started getting them in frame. :) Also Photoshop doesn't hurt either. If you have photoshop look for the action underwater.atn (readily available on the net). It's a photoshop action developed to eliminate the "blue" in a picture. Works great! Anyway, good luck. I go on my cruise in three weeks and hope to have a bunch of "better shots" (always learning) in the near future.

 

Randall

[bruce-r]

If you have photoshop look for the action underwater.atn (readily available on the net). It's a photoshop action developed to eliminate the "blue" in a picture. Works great! Anyway, good luck. I go on my cruise in three weeks and hope to have a bunch of "better shots" (always learning) in the near future.

 

Randall

 

Thanks for the Photoshop Action tip. I'll look for it because I'm pretty sure it will work with Photoshop Elements as well.

[ddgg]

bruce-r, thanks for the link. I just ordered a strap from them.

 

scubaran, thanks for the photography tips. I can use any and all suggestions about how to shoot in water. What I meant by my earlier question was whether my A510 was capable of getting that kind of color quality on the underwater setting without a flash. I used to do a lot of black and white photography with my Minoltas, and I know how hard it is to get one or two good shots on a roll of film--above ground, without movement, and all the time in the world to get the composition just right. On my first underwater photography attempt, I fully expect to get a lot of shots of "empty" water or, if I'm lucky, a shot of a fin as it exits stage right or left!

 

I think we're going to start with Sting Ray City. I'm hoping that will be a good place to start getting a feel for using a decent (non disposable!)camera while in the water.