Dave’s Blog 5 (100314)
Now that I am back from the Kasawari Night Safari trip and have sorted thousands of emails I could finally take a second look at what photos I took during the trip and what gear I have tested.
I brought along with me a fully rigged Canon S90 setup along with my Canon 5D MII and a Light and Motion Stingray plus with a Sony CX520 HD video cam. Yes I do not travel light. I will blog about these later.
I am no professional underwater photographer even though I always wanted to be. Same goes for being an UW videographer. Due to my work and other commitments I could not always go diving so I have not much time to practice but I do own the Scubacam shop so at least I get to test some of the latest gear in the market.
One of the most promising compact digicam for UW photography this year so far is the Canon S90. Although there may be other candidates such as the Panasonic GF1 or the Olympus EP 1, 2 or is it EP3 now? Or even the Canon G11 but for price and performance the S90 is pretty good value. It is a “little” sister to the Canon G11 and under the casing the S90 shares pretty much the same sensor and microprocessor. I could go into more of the technical mumble jumble but I will spare you as there must be thousands of sites and reviews on this camera. What I will show you here is what this little pocket rocket could do with the right combo of housing, lights and accessories.
I packed along for testing the S90, Ikelite (although I would love to test the Seatool FIX S90 version), Inon S2000 strobe, AD 28 converter ring for the Inon UFL-165AD Fish Eye Conversion lens, UCL-165AD Close up lens, lens holder and a mish mash of trays, arms and clamps and a LED torch that I made just for this trip. The whole lot weights less than 3 kg even with two sets of spare batteries for the strobe and LED light.
As the trip is called the Night Safari I thought a night shot was appropriate.
This was taken using the wet attachable Inon FE lens. It provides 160 deg angle of coverage and will vignette at the corners but at a night dive this is not a problem. The graininess is apparent as the camera struggles to bring out the details underwater at low light and only a fisherman’s boat lights shining down at the dive site. Still it is not bad.
This was taken during the day and the corner vignette is clearly visible so zooming in a little helped which reduces the FOV to about 150 deg. Both shots were taken without any strobe light other than the ambient or torch light. The S90 sensitivity is a boon and even at 600 0r 1000 ISO the picture grain is still smooth. With a bit more practice and patience the contrast of the sky to the scene could be more balanced.
I was so impressed with the camera setup I even attempted the half-in and half-out shots. As you can see the camera focus is confused by the water film on the FE lens and would only focus on the underwater subject. However with just three inches in diameter I was asking the FE dome to do the impossible.
Lastly I even attempted close up shots with the FE lens. This shot was taken during a night dive using just a LED light.
In conclusion I am very impressed with the Canon S90 and the Inon FE lens combination. I had the most fun with this rig during the trip. The freedom to just being able to switch from super-wide to macro on one rig will appeal to divers who “want it all” both macro and wide angle in any dive. Now all I have to do is find more time to practice.
Happy diving! 
I enjoyed reading your blog. I have nearly the same set-up as what you have with the exception of the tray. I used my old ikelite tray which works fine. I also added float arms to make it more buoyant.I am happy to learn what amazing photos can result from the S90. In fact I already acquired an extra unit before it becomes out modeled. Did you also install an adapter from bayonet to M67 screw type to fit your ikelite housing? What is the ideal focal length to set the camera at 35mm? Please continue to share your experiences with your uw gear. Thanks!