Canon S95 Camera with Canon WP-DC38 Housing

and Sea & Sea YS-01 External Flash

A Happy Ending to a Photographer's Worst Nightmare

Due to an unfortunate accident on a recent scuba diving trip to Indonesia, a member of our intrepid test team irreversibly damaged her Canon ELPH SD500 digital camera. But apparently, what started out as a disaster turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because when she returned home, she got an opportunity to replace her lost camera with a new Canon S95. But this is her story, so we’ll let her tell it—Ed.

MY NEW PHOTO outfit consists of a Canon S95 camera with a Canon WP-DC38 housing and a Sea & Sea YS-01 External Flash. This package is marketed as the “complete kit for shooter's who want to travel light but still capture stunning photos.“ That’s me all over.

Going from the ELPH SD500 to the S95 was a big upgrade for me. The S95 is super compact—four inches wide, two and a half inches tall, one and a half inches deep. This is slightly larger than my ELPH SD500 (when not in its housing) so it gives me a little more to hold onto so I don’t accidentally drop it, something that happened more times than I care to admit with my ELPH SD500—but that’s another story.

Getting to Know You

The Canon S95 is not only compact, it’s easy to set up, requiring little to no instruction. Okay, I admit it, I’m one of those types who likes to open the box and take out my new toy and start playing with it—NOW! Instruction manual? Who’s got time for that! Let’s go diving, I’ll figure it out when I get down to depth. (Only a slight exaggeration.)

With the S95 it’s simple to load the battery and memory card as well as open the side panel to access the USB port. Loading camera into the WP-DC38 housing is also simple; lift/slide the small button and open the side hatch like a book. The S95 slides into position with no “wiggle” room, so you don’t have to worry whether or not you’ve loaded it right. Once the camera is in the housing snap it closed and you’re ready to roll. Note: there is one O-ring inside the housing that requires cleaning and/or replacement as necessary, with a “thumb” crevice to aide in O-ring removal. This is a good thing, since I am not only one who recoils from owners manuals, I’m also not one to spend a lot of time on cleaning and maintenance.

The Canon WP-DC38 housing is clear plastic with a large window for viewing the LCD display. The Shutter button is bright yellow on top, exactly where you’d expect it to be with the “Zoom” lever right next to it. The On/Off button is also located on top, flanked by the Shutter button and Ring Function button. All of these buttons are raised and have enough space between them so they can be activated individually wearing 3mm or 5mm gloves. You can also access the camera’s programmable functions such as Video, Special Scenes and a handful of others by spinning the knob on the top of the housing. It’s easy to find and rotate wearing gloves and the front LCD display will show you alternating icons as you scroll through the different functions.

The front of the housing has nine raised buttons located next to the LCD display to change Flash settings, switch into Macro mode, access the Functions menu and review pictures when underwater.  There are small notations on the housing to help you remember which button carries out which function—a nice little roadmap.  These buttons are close enough together to press with your thumb while holding onto the camera. However someone with big thumbs might want to use an index finger to eliminate the chance of depressing two buttons at the same time.

Let’s Get Wet

As an avid beach diver I love the size and portability of this rig. I took it into the water for the first time last February. I entered off the beach at Point Dume (Malibu, CA) through a two-foot shore break, and felt totally secure in the knowledge that the camera was safe in its housing as I negotiated the surf and surge.

Underwater, the S95 is really easy to use. You can set it in Automatic mode for simple point-and-shoots, and in Special Scenes modes it has an “underwater” setting where it adds red tint to help adjust for light loss. There are also manual settings for Aperture and Shutter speed, and you can set the system up with your own custom settings as well as Aperture and/or Shutter Speed priority. I used the camera in the Special Scenes “Underwater” mode and was able to get some pretty good pictures right away. It was obvious that the camera was just itching to deliver great shots—in this case it was the person behind the lens who was slowing up traffic.

There’s a large LCD display for framing photos and reviewing them underwater if you like to check your shots and do reshoots (assuming the critter you’re shooting hasn’t already scittered away). You can Zoom as well using the adjustment next to the Shutter button; it adjusts gradually from distant to close so it’s possible to stop anywhere in between for the perfect shot. However the adjustment tab on the housing is a little small, so you have to learn where it is and trust that your finger is on it because when wearing gloves it’s hard to be sure.

The camera also has a “Ring Function” that lets you change from a 28mm lens all the way to a 105mm lens in lieu of the Zoom function. Or better yet, switch to 105mm and then zoom the camera too. I’ve used this technique topside to capture a close-up shot of a distant subject, and it was extremely effective.

The Settings menu is easy to access and use, even underwater wearing gloves, primarily because the housing buttons are raised and there is that “roadmap” to remind you what each button does. The menu is simple to understand and relatively intuitive. I found it particularly easy because my previous Canon had a similar menu and navigation system.

I set up my S95 with a Sea & Sea YS-01 external flash using a fiber-optic cable to link to the camera. The internal camera flash needed to be blocked with the flash tape and Velcro tape that came with the YS-01. Tip: after blocking the internal flash, make sure the fiber-optic cable is far enough forward to capture the flash from the camera housing so it can send the signal to the external flash to fire. Thanks to my dive buddy I got my system set up correctly the first time.

As a novice shooter with no experience using an external flash, it took about three dives for me to dial in the system. However, I’m still working on the “aim factor,” as in where to aim the light for best effect.

The only drawback I found to this system is when the camera goes into Sleep mode during a dive (to conserve battery power) it automatically wakes up in the Normal mode—Flash Auto and whatever special Scene or Auto-Fire function you were set up in. So, if you were shooting in the Macro mode or Force Flash you would need to reset those every time the camera shut off. Luckily, resetting is just a matter of pushing a couple of buttons and voila! you’re back to where you were.

Bottom Line

All in all, I’ve had a great experience with the S95, and I’m thrilled to have been steered toward this system (thanks Backscatter!). It’s a perfect size for me to drag in and out of the ocean (yeah, I’m a die-hard beach diver), and the price tag left me with plenty of cash for a cool external flash and a couple extra air cards. While its functions and capabilities are well beyond my limited scope, there are tons of features I was able to use right out of the box, and many more advanced features that will enable me to improve my picture-taking skills. It’s a great package to grow into, yet it’s capable of coaxing nice shots out of an amateur like me from virtually the first click of the shutter. SGR

Canon S95, $400

Canon WP-DC38 Housing, $200

Sea & Sea YS-01 Strobe, $600 with arms

www.backscatter.com

Canon S95/WP-DC38/Sea & Sea Strobe Package Performance Chart

(1 = Poor – 10 = Excellent)