Canon S100 Underwater Review with Ikelite Housing

The high end compacts category of cameras is currently very popular for underwater use.
Naturally, due to the price of housings and the amount of traveling scuba divers do, the ability to generate good underwater shots for a decent price in a small package is sought by many.
The Canon S100 wins this battle leaving everyone behind by being the smallest possible camera will almost full manual controls and impressive image quality compared to its sensor size.

I will not review this camera thoroughly as it has been done much better that I would have by many web sites, a good review can be found on dpreview here:http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons100

The Canon S100 camera

I will start by listing, from an underwater photography standpoint , the unique features of the Canon S100:

12.1 MP 1/1.7″ Canon CMOS sensor (Bigger than most compact cameras and in line with the high end models like the Canon G12 , Nikon P7100 and the previous S90 and S95 models)
24-120mm (35mm equivalent) lens range, F2.0-5.9 – This is where this camera really shines for underwater use, a 24mm lens is almost a wide angle lens and this allows getting along with this camera without an external wide angle lens in most situations. Having 24mm instead of 28mm (like in the G12 and P7100) is a big difference and is immediately felt both above and underwater.
1080p Video Recording – In line with most modern cameras, the S100 features Full HD video shooting.
Almost full manual controls – with a front and back dial ( not all housing supports both ), this camera, at least above water allows manual shooting quite comfortable.what it is lacking is the ability to quickly change ISO , white balance and other features that cameras like the G12 and P7100 offer with dedicated dials. One nice thing that was added to this model is the one touch video button which allows you to shoot video in any mode instantly, very useful for underwater.
Large clear LCD screen, not as good as the 921K dot LCD’s that some of the modern cameras like the Nikon P7100 have but still an excellent monitor.
RAW shooting capability – Excellent for correcting the white balance when post processing. RAW shooting is quick with this camera , almost as quick as JPG shooting, quite impressive for a compact camera.
Super Quick – As with all Canon compacts , this camera has very straightforward menus and very slick and quick interface.
The biggest feature of this camera is that while having all the above features, it is small and compact , an actual pocket camera. When seeing this camera perform as good and maybe better than cameras like the Canon G12, it makes it very difficult to buy a camera double its size.

The Canon S100 is probably the best pocket camera in the industry but what’s amazing about it is that it performs as well as high end, much larger compacts, like the Canon G12 and Nikon P7100. What it is lacking, and the size is obviously a limitation here is manual controls.

One thing I don’t like about Canon cameras is the fact that they do not support automatic flash exposure in Manual mode, this is something Nikon did great and I cannot understand why Canon do not include this feature. While Canon do allow automatic flash in Av and Tv modes , that is not enough as it is impossible to reduce the amount of ambient light that comes in on Macro shots, for example, F/5.9 is just not enough. Of course when shooting manual flash and manual settings the sky is the limit.

The Ikelite Housing for Canon S100

As always, Ikelite were the first to release a housing for the Canon S100. No major surprises here , Ikelite make decent housings for so many years at affordable prices and their housing make this bundle retail for around 730$ which is an incredible price for the quality of this camera.

Due to the ergonomics and nature of this camera, I found the Ikelite housing to be some what limiting and as such I would recommend more advanced photographers to invest a little more and upgrade to the Fix or Recsea housing which supports more of this cameras manual controls.

The S100 is a high end compact, it is recommended for underwater use as it can produce incredible results but… In order to produce incredible results underwater, there is no other way but to shoot manual.

One obstacle that I mentioned is that the Canon cameras do not allow TTL in manual mode but that can be overcome by shooting with manual slave strobes. The second obstacle is that the Ikelite housing does not support control of the back dial of the S100.

This limitation in Manual means you need to constantly go through the Ring Func. button to change the function of the front ring which is very uncomfortable. Also , Canon designed the menus in a way that it is not possible to modify the EV +/- without the back dial or front ring, so this means that also in the other modes ( Av,Tv,P ) in order to expose the image more or less , one needs to go through the ring func button..

To me this limitation made shooting the S100 in manual modes very uncomfortable. It means that every few shots, one has to go through the Ring Func. dial back and forth.

My way to shoot with this setup was to set the Aperture at f/5.9 and shoot manual with manual strobe exposure with the front ring set to shutter speed. This way, I was able to control the amount of ambient light with the front dial. One trick is that the camera remembers the aperture and shutter speed value between modes so you can switch to Av , use the dial to set the aperture and switch back to manual. This is a tiny bit easier that using the Ring Func. button and by mastering that one can make good use of the Ikelite housing.

In addition to these limitations , I found the Ikelite buttons, especially the focus button and flash button to be very difficult to press. By adding a little piece of paper below the rubber button contacts, I was able to improve this. After consulting with Ikelite staff, they suggested to use the included pointed tips on the buttons rather than the flat ones, I will be testing this and updating later.. These buttons are not that commonly used underwater and as such this was not such a big deal.

As with all Ikelite ultra compact housings, this housing does not have a fiber optic connection, as such I used the special Inon adapter ring that offers a Sea and Sea style fiber optic connection to this housing. This can be seen in the pictures above, this ring works perfectly, not expensive and I compliment Inon for coming with such a simple solution.

The bottom line is I think this housing works well for this camera but only when shooting in automatic modes, if one want to fulfill the full potential of this camera and shoot manual its not the perfect fit and it is quite disappointing as there are no other alternatives under the $899 Fix or Recsea housing.

Product Link: Canon S100 Housing

This link will show all available Canon S100 Underwater Housings

Conclusions – Canon S100 Underwater

The Canon S100 is a brilliant camera for underwater use, it has all the features and performance level of cameras like the Canon G12 and Nikon P7100 but it lacks the manual controls that make it easy to work with and fun to shoot with. It also requires you to manually control strobe power when shooting in M mode which is a serious obstacle for beginners just wanting to learn the idea of manual controls without wasting 10 dives of crappy, under or over exposed, shots.

Update, May31, 2012 – After comparing a couple of compact cameras on a fashion shoot out in a local pool, I have a few more compliments to say about this camera. The lens produces sharp, very sharp images. The 24mm wide angle is a huge difference from the more common 28mm, that much of a difference that one can get along with no wide angle lens pretty well. The underwater white balance mode and in general, the auto white balance of this camera is spot on accurate, better than Nikon P7100 and others that I’ve tried. Almost no processing was necessary when preparing the pool shots for final prints. The 10fps in continuous mode makes this a great camera for taking fish, sharks and of course people underwater. I left this shoot out extremely happy with the S100 and got spectacular results for a compact camera.

The Ikelite housing is a bit of a disappointment. It works, and its reliable but its limiting. Due to its price range and the lack of competition similar in price, I will still recommend it as this camera is good enough to justify a limiting housing. However, if one can afford the Fix or Recsea housing , I would highly recommend going in that direction.

Here are some sample shots from my few dives with this setup: