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Canon Powershot S100
Ocean Optics Underwater
Photography Centre's
Recommended Compact
With A Choice of Housings
Canon Powershot S100 and
Canon WP-DC43 Housing
Inexpensive High Quality
Underwater Photography
3 Benefits At A Glance
• Great low light performance
• Full creative control
• Choice of INON wide - angle and close up lenses
The Canon Powershot S100 in Canon's own WP-DC43 underwater housing offers a combination of essential features and benefits for serious underwater image making at a very reasonable cost. Providing brilliant image quality, even under very poor light conditions and capable of excelling at subjects as diverse as shipwrecks, divers, reef fish and the tiniest critters, the Canon Powershot S100 is a superb investment in successful underwater photography.
The heart of the Powershot S100 and the reason for its outstanding image quality is its oversized sensor. It's usually true that the larger the sensor, the higher the image quality. The 12.1 MP count of the S100 might seem modest beside some compact cameras that cost less, but it's cramming to many pixels onto to small a sensor that actually creates a major headache for underwater photographers - noise. Noise is a big problem for underwater photographers because, as explained in detail on our underwater photography courses, we often work in low light levels. Noise causes red spots to appear in your pictures and these are very obvious against the blue, green or black backgrounds we shoot against underwater as well as on the subject itself. So Canon, in aiming the S100 at the serious photographer (it is the kind of compact many professional SLR owners would use for back up), have developed a practical camera that takes great pictures knowing full well that photographers this camera is aimed at won't fall for mega pixel hype! And the S100 even shoots 1080HD video.
The Canon Powershot S100 is equipped with a very high quality 24mm to 120mm (35mm equivalent) zoom lens. This makes for a versatile land camera, able to take great holiday shots around the dive boat and pictures of buddies on the dive deck. Under the water the range of the Powershot S100 lens is ideal for small to medium sized fish photography from Napoleon wrasse to moorish idols. Able to focus as close as 30cm when zoomed in to telephoto, the S100 is excellent for close up photography. INON wide - angle lenses enable the Powershot S100 underwater camera to adapt easily to shooting in low visibility, take in sweeping reef scenes, capture shipwrecks and take on megafauna like great whales. For lovers of critter diving, the use of INON UCL close up lenses makes high magnification macro and super macro photography very straightforward. Reassuringly, INON have upped the ante by developing even higher image quality wide - angle lenses to ensure the Powershot S100 image sensor and built in lens are in no way optically compromised by using inferior wet lenses.
The Canon Powershot S100 in Canon's inexpensive WP-DC43 housing is small and lightweight. Useable to 40 metres, all camera controls can be accessed under the water, with the exception of the rear command dial. We'll show you how that isn't really a problem. The S100 WP-DC43 housing can be equipped with an extensive range of INON strobes and video lights. There's sometimes a lot of confusion over the best way to light underwater pictures meaning divers often buy equipment that can't really meet their needs. Steve or Mark can explain which lighting options will work best for your style of shooting.
To get the most from your Powershot S100 and WP -DC43 from Ocean Optics, Mark or Steve will want to set up some of the cameras custom functions. If you can visit us, we'll spend an hour or so talking you through these and also offer tips on preparing your housing for diving - our advice has saved a lot of cameras! With Underwater Studios filming tank on site, why not book a test dive with your new camera? It's reassuring and means any points the tank session raises about techniques or equipment can be immediately answered by Mark or Steve. If you can't call in, we'll arrange to phone you at a time that suits you and go through all the details.
Equipping the Canon S100 and WP - DC38
with INON Underwater Camera Lenses
A big benefit of using compact cameras, like the Powershot S100, is that you can use INON wet lenses. Unlike most compact system cameras and D- SLR's, which predominantly rely on using land lenses contained within the housing and, of course, on you accurately predicting what your subjects will be, compact cameras use add - on lenses which can be changed under the water. This lets you use your built in camera lens for small to medium sized fish photography for example, then add an INON UCL high magnification close up lens for macro photography of a porcelain crab. For larger subjects or creative close focus, wide -angle photography, you can quickly add an INON UWL - H100LD lens. It's a liberating way to take pictures underwater and let's you react instantly to unexpected photo opportunities.
INON LD Mount Base
A newly developed INON Mount Base for the Canon Powershot S100 not only allows you to attach INON lenses to your housing, it also sets the optimum distance from the rear optic (exit pupil) of your INON lenses in relation to the S100's own lens. INON's attention to detail has won them their reputation and the new mount underlines the company's perfectionist approach. Claims from some quarters that INON mounts made for the earlier Powershot S95 are also suitable for the Powershot S100 WP -DC43 were speculative and were not made with INON UK's approval.
The INON Mount Base fits snugly over the port of the WP-DC43 housing. It incorporates a flash diffuser which, when an INON UCL close up lens is used properly, eliminates shadows and hot spots from the built in flash. This makes for a very small and effective macro rig. If you plan to use an external flash, the Mount Base is also the connection point for your INON strobe cable. The bayonet fit lenses mount and dismount near instantly with just a slight twist. This is much quicker than working with screw mount fittings. A safety lock prevents loss of your valuable
INON lenses
An accessory shoe is built into the Mount Base. This is the perfect place to mount an INON LE Series video light for shooting video with your INON UCL close up lens or to help your S100 focus. The INON Mount Base secures to your WP - DC43 housing tripod socket for maximum safety. It then also forms the mounting point for your camera tray and lighting system.
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