2001 was a pivotal year for on-the-water digital cameras (digicams). Little cameras were cautiously popping out of dry bags, and paddlers rafted up to view the results on tiny liquid crystal display (LCD) screens on the backs of the cameras. Digital images produced by these hi-tech wonders could be e-mailed to friends and family or even sent from expeditions via satellite phone to be loaded daily onto Web sites. Digital does away with film and developing expenses-just transfer the files to your computer, and you’re ready to go again. With in-camera editing, movie modes, “stitched” panoramas, reasonable prices, and new compact waterproof cases-digital has come to kayaking.
For 2002, prices are dropping, and the number of features are rising. The cost of memory, a big bugaboo just last year, has dropped through the floor. 128-MB memory cards sell for under $60 and have the capacity to store a dozen to hundreds of images, depending on image dimensions.
Waterproof cases for select digital cameras from Canon, Sony and Olympus first hit the market in 2000. Underwater housings for digicams have been available before, but they’ve been much bulkier and more expensive than the new compact cases. They hold the cameras securely, are lightweight, and take up only a little more space than a 35mm point-and-shoot. This year’s models are depth-rated to 100 ft or more, great for snorkeling, diving-or kayaking. External, O-ring sealed buttons control most or all of the camera functions.
Digital Primer
When you are shopping for digital cameras you need to understand how they work in order to choose the one that best suits your needs. The following is a list of features that you need to consider.
• Megapixels and resolution: The light-sensitive sensors that make up the CCD (charge-coupled device) in the camera are referred to as pixels. More pixels means higher resolution for bigger and sharper images. Digicams usually list the dimensions of the images they record in pixels: the Canon S30’s 2048×1536 image has 3,145,728 or roughly 3.2 Megapixels. If all you want is to send e-mail pictures, 640×480 is fine. Good 8×10 prints, require a 3 or 4 Megapixel digicam.
• Focal lengths of digital cameras differ from film. The CCD area is smaller than 35mm film, so a 7-21mm zoom may be equivalent to 35205mm in 35mm. Digicams usually list 35mm equivalents.
• Optical zooms use moving lens elements. 2x or 3x optical zooms are typical. I like 3x, in the 35205 range, for nice wide-angle to short-telephoto coverage.
• Digital zoom extends the range of optical zoom only by cropping and consequently reduces resolution. It’s useful only if you want low-resolution images for things like e-mail. Optical Zoom is the real deal.
• LCD and viewfinders: LCD screens consume valuable battery power and are tough to see in bright light. You’ll use the optical viewfinder to save power and frame pictures in bright light. That said, try to get a bright LCD. You’ll use it on the water to check framing and exposure. A waterproof case may partially block the viewfinder especially at the wide angle end of the zoom.
• Batteries: Many digicams require proprietary lithium-ion batteries. They are compact and have excellent storage capacity-twice that of NiCd’s- but with the LCD screen on and some in-camera editing, a few hours is all you’ll get before the battery runs down. This is fine for day trips, and possibly overnights, but for extended paddles you’ll want a few spares (at about $50 apiece). Recharge from an AC outlet takes 1 to 2 hours. Some digicams take AA batteries.
Digicams eat power too quickly for regular use of alkaline AAs, so it’s best to use rechargeables. NIMH (Nickel-Metal Halide) have 40% more capacity than NiCad’s (Nickel-Cadmium) and can be recharged without being fully discharged. And you’ll be charging a lot. A NIMH charger and a dozen batteries will handle weekend-long excursions. For expeditions, solar chargers available commercially for NIMH batteries would tip the scales toward AA’s.
• Image storage format: JPEG, a compressed format designed for photographic images, is the most common. Compressed images take less storage space, but at the expense of image quality. If you want top-quality images, digicams with TIFF compression will retain the highest image quality.
• Memory: The removable memory cards differ: Canon uses CompactFlash; Olympus uses SmartMedia; Sony has a proprietary Memory Stick. You can process your images with your computer and printer or take your memory card to a digital mini-lab or kiosk to make low-cost prints.
• Variable ISO: The light sensitivity of the CCD is listed in equivalencies of ISO ratings for film and can be changed to suit the image. You’ll have the flexibility to capture action in low light at ISO 400, and, moments later, a tripod-mounted, color-saturated sunset at ISO 50.
• USB (Universal Serial Bus) port: Most new digicams come with a cable to connect to the computer USB port for downloading images. If your computer was manufactured in 1998 or later, it almost surely has USB.
• Video port: Some cameras have a video port so you can view the pictures on your TV or transfer images to a video tape.
• Web publication: If you want images for e-mail or Web use, any low-end digicam will surpass your need. E-mail and Web images are best kept small. A 480×640 pixel, low-quality JPEG is usually as big as you’ll need and will download quickly.
• Print publication: Most magazines, including Sea Kayaker, print photographs at 300 dpi (dots per inch). This means the top-quality 2048×1536 image from the 3.2 Megapixel Canon S30 (reviewed below) will print no larger than 5″ x 7″, or half a page. Newspapers print at 150 dpi, so a 3.2 pixel image will work for 10″ x 14″. For home printing, 200 dpi generally makes very satisfactory prints.
• White balance: Many digicams allow you to adjust color balance, a great feature when indoors. For kayakers, it’s a plus in the pool, or while snorkeling, or while ashore in shade.
• Waterproof case: Finally, the reason to consider on-the-water digital in the first place: the availability of compact waterproof housings that allow camera operation by way of external buttons. This years cases are rated for submersion to 100 feet or more, and made from ABS plastic that should take some abuse. The cases aren’t pocket-sized, as the cameras are, but the extra bulk makes the camera easier to handle. The extension of the case around the zoom lens is likely to partly block the viewfinder. In addition, some of the camera functions may not be accessible via the buttons.
CANON POWERSHOT S30
Canon’s 3.2 Megapixel Powershot S30 and WP-DC300 waterproof case represent the best of what waterproof digital photography has to offer. (The 4.0 Megapixel S40 fits the same case.) The S30 has a range of automatic and manual controls that surpasses most film SLR’s. Canon’s A1, A2, S110 and S300 also have housings available, and are more like point-and-shoots in capabilities.
The S30’s brushed aluminum casing feels solid. The lens is protected by a cover that slides to reveal the lens and turn the camera on. The LCD is large (1.8″ diagonal) for the size of the camera.
The camera comes with a 16 MB CompactFlash memory card, Lithium-ion battery and charger, USB cable, Video cable, wrist strap, and Canon and ArcSoft software for the Mac or PC. It’s Windows XP compatible, and allows direct printing to the Canon CP20 Card Photo and S8210 Bubble Jet printers. The manual is easy to understand, with a good index. Other features are three-point autofocus, and an array of 13 exposure modes for automatic to complete manual control. Exposure sensitivity can be varied from 50 ISO to an amazing 800. The flash has all the right control options: auto, on, off, and auto or on red-eye reduction.
The camera’s shooting mode dial has icons that are intuitive, like a portrait icon for portrait mode or a mountain for scenic mode. Some you’ll need the manual to explain, like the palette-shaped icon that allows you to change your color intensity or black-and-white or sepia. There is also a movie mode and panorama stitch-assist mode. In replay mode you can view histograms (light profiles) and add voice messages for each image.
The shutter speed covers a wide range from 1/1500 to 15 seconds, and you can shoot in manual aperture- or shutter-priority modes. Apertures go from f/2.8 to f/8.0, a small range compared to a 35mm SLR, but in digital, f/8 gives excellent depth of field at the wide angle end of the zoom.
If you frame the image and completely press the shutter button, there will be a delay of about 1/2 second before the camera records the image. As with most digicams you can eliminate the lag by pushing the button halfway to prefocus. Then when you fully press the button, image capture is instantaneous.
The high-speed mode snaps 3 frames per second until the buffer fills up. You can hold down the shutter and reel off frame after frame of medium-sized JPEG’s, or 5 large-size, fine-quality JPEG’s. In low-light conditions the shutter rate may be slower.
Images are saved in three sizes of JPEG-2048×1536, 1024×768 or 640×480- or as a RAW file. The JPEGs can be saved at three levels of compression, giving you lots of storage options. Canon claims the RAW compression is “lossless,” that is, no information from the CCD is lost, yet file size is 1/2 the size of TIFF files. The RAW files I shot averaged 2.4 MB, and the 16 MB card has room for five. When converted to TIFF on my computer for use with photo manipulation software like Adobe Photoshop or the Canon’s ArcSoft Camera suite, they ballooned to 9 MB.
You can switch from picture-taking to replay with a flip of a switch. Images can be reviewed in the LCD singly or nine smaller images at a time. The 6x magnifier and scrolling functions allow you to check the image sharpness.
The movie feature got me hooked. The camera allows recordings of up to 30 seconds (320×240) or 2 minutes (160×120), complete with sound from the built-in microphone. The movies are saved as AVI files. You can play back the movies on the LCD and erase and reshoot if you don’t like what you got. A speaker in the camera allows you to hear playback sound as well. Even in the small file size the movies provide enough detail to critique paddle strokes. You can edit these down to show highlights for a practical-sized e-mail, or string them together for longer movie viewing on your computer. At 15 frame per second, the movies aren’t jerky. Even in the poor lighting of an indoor pool, they can readily capture an underwater roll sequence. Played back and blown-up on the computer the movies may not be video quality, but they are useful and fun.
With Stitch-Assist you can make panoramas. The LCD screen a shows half of the previous picture, so you can line up the next one. The stitching performed pretty well when I put the images together in the software program. RAW format is unavailable in this mode.
The Software
The camera has a street price of $599 and comes with a USB port and cable, and two CD’s with image organizing/editing software The software loaded into a Macintosh iBook and a PC with Windows 2000 without a hitch. In 10 minutes we were viewing pictures and, with the supplied Quicktime Player 5.0, watching movies. We loaded the software into a PC with Windows 98 but were unable to retrieve any images or video after 30 minutes of trying. With the Canon software you can organize files, crop images for e-mail, and merge photos in Photostitch. The ArcSoft software includes PhotoImpressions and VideoImpressions for image and movie editing.
The 8″x10″ picture I printed from a 2048×1536 image fine-quality, JPEG file, was very good, matching what I could do on my printer with film and a good-quality film scanner.
THE WP-DC300 WATERPROOF CASE
The WP-DC300 case is clear ABS plastic with bright yellow and green buttons and a blue latch.
The buttons allow control of all the camera functions except on off. Before you put the camera in the housing, you need to slide the clamshell cover from over the lens, which turns on the camera. The camera then fits snugly into the case, and the clasp closure puts a reassuring bit of pressure on the seal. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn the camera on and off once the camera is inside the case. To save power, I turned off the LCD display with one of the case buttons, and used the viewfinder for picture taking on-the-water. Canon recommends opening the case only in a place “of low humidity well away from salty sea air.” It might be a good idea to tape a (very) small desiccant packet inside the case. With the LCD on only intermittently, a fully-charged battery lasted for a day trip. By evening the low-battery warning flashed when I turned on the LCD. It’s too bad this top-of-the-line, waterproof-case-compatible digital has this limitation. Canon’s other cameras and Sony’s DSC P1, P3 and P5can be powered on and off by a button in their waterproof cases.
The case is about the size of a 35mm SLR film camera with a small lens and has enough buoyancy to float the camera. Its thickness makes it awkward to wedge inside your PFD and it’s too big for a PFD pocket, so a deck bag or day hatch would be good stowage options.
On a sunny day, I found the LCD hard to see, even with the display brightened. It’s easy enough to frame a picture, but not to see details. In overcast light this isn’t too much of a problem. I found I didn’t like relying on the optical viewfinder exclusively, though, even though it saves energy. The view is small and about a third of the wide angle view is blocked by the lens extension. Whether I used the LCD or the viewfinder, I found I wanted to check the replay to be sure I got the shot.
The housing really shined at the pool. The LCD screen was easy to see underwater. Recording little movies of roll practice was a snap. Toggle to replay-and hey-there’s my paddle digging too deep on an offside roll.
The case, with a $179 to $199 street price, comes with anti-fog liquid for the front glass and silicone grease for the door seal. The manual is full of warnings about handling that “may cause leaks.” Don’t expect Canon to warranty the camera if you screw up and trash the camera.
The waterproof case, aside from the camera’s lack of an on off button, is superb. The combination of the new compact submersible housings and new versatile digicams offer lots of possibilities especially for day trips, or weekends where battery life is not an issue. If you’re a point-and-shoot photographer, you’ll find the Canon S30 easy to use, but probably more camera than you’ll need. If you’re a dedicated SLR shooter looking for picture-taking control in a small package, the Canon S30 camera is probably the smallest camera in its class that gives you so many features. You won’t find any complications, and will be thrilled at the possibilities.