The WP-DC18 Underwater Case for Canon A650IS Digital Cameras protects your camera from sea water, sand or whatever else you can throw at it. This All-Weather Case offers a new shooting possibility to help you realize the full potential of digital photography. You can also use it to take pictures where it is snowing, raining, dusty or excessively humid.Customer Review: Full function under water
I purchased this case along with the camera prior to a Caribbean trip where we made 8 dives up to 80 feet. Had no problems with the housing (or camera - separate review of A650IS). The housing gives you access to all functions of the camera, including power on/off so you can load the camera in the comfort and dry air of your room. Instructions say to not leave the case sealed when not in use so the gasket doesn't lose its seal. As it may be months between uses, I am keeping the gasket ring in a small zip-lock bag, inside the housing which I lock shut. I plan to clean and re-apply the silicon grease before each dive trip.
The biggest obstacle in a beginning digital photographer's way is often that lens that was bundled with their digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex camera.)
The marketplace is awash with digital SLR cameras touting fantastic resolution and tons of features, but most 1st time buyers don't realize how complicated these cameras really are.
Invariably that camera kit that they buy is something like a Nikon D40x or Canon Rebel XTi with a 18mm to 55 mm zoom lens and a 1GB or 2 GB memory card. It is worse if they get one with a 28 mm to 135 mm lens.
So just how complicated are these cameras? In terms of function, and how they operate they are all the same. But as far as how user-friendly and intuitive they are, how you change the settings and so forth, that's a whole different ballgame.
1. No longer is it a simple matter to change something like a very basic setting on a camera. In the analog film camera of yesterday, all you needed to know was how to set the ISO or film speed, the aperture, shutter speed, read the exposure meter, how to load and unload the camera and of course where the shutter release button is located - essentially there were only 4 settings you needed to know to work any camera. I intentionally left out focussing because I expect everyone knows how to look in the viewfinder and turn the barrel of the lens until the image in the focussing screen appears sharp.
2. These days all these very basic settings are hidden under multiple layers of menus. To change let's say something as basic as the ISO, you have to hold down one button and turn one of two possible dials. Even after you do that, you can't be sure you've changed the correct one. For instance you might think you've changed the ISO because you see the numbers on the LCD change from 100 to 125 to 160 and 200. Well, that could also be the shutter speed you just changed.
Unless you've read the manual, how can you be sure? To further complicate matters, some cameras even let you choose settings that are 1/3 of a stop. Shutter speeds on film cameras used to be 1/1000, 1/500. 1/250 etc. Now there's in between settings like 1/1250, 1/640, 1/350 etc. No wonder novices are overwhelmed.
Bear in mind, we haven't even considered those settings unique to "digital" like choosing compression or quality or file sizes, white balance, formatting of the memory card or auto focus sensor and motordrive modes to name just a few.
3. I didn't realize how confusing all these numbers can be to a novice until midway into my teaching an introductory digital photography class. I think I was telling my students to set their exposure for 1/125 of a sec at f11. One of my students looked up at me and asked if that was the focal length she was supposed to set or if it was the ISO. Perhaps it was my failing as an instructor that left her befuddled, but boy, did I learned something that day!
There are way too many variables on the digital SLRs out there especially if they are 1st time users. And on those zoom lenses they buy with their cameras, I hadn't even explained to them that the aperture on their zoom lenses are variable. It is f3.5 on the 18 mm end and f5.6 on the 55 mm end!
There was a lot of wisdom in the days of film photography when camera manufacturers bundled a SLR with a standard 50 mm lens. It meant beginners could concentrate on getting their exposure right, without contemplating why a lens had one aperture opening on the wide angle end and another on the telephoto end.
Composing by moving closer or moving back instead of zooming in and out using a variable focal length lens taught beginners not to get lazy and explore their subject by moving around.
It is for all these reasons that I find myself recommending that 1st time buyers also buy a 50 mm fixed focal length lens with maybe a aperture of f1.8 to start their adventure in photography.
Sure, that standard lens is more expensive, but in the long run, novices will learn much faster. A lens like a 50 mm f1.8 is extremely versatile.It allows you to shoot in low light.It is small and compact and is actually an 80 mm lens when you factor in the 1.6x magnification factor--perfect for portraiture.
The worse lens kit out there I've seen is one of the range from 28 mm to 135 mm. When you factor in the magnification factor of 1.6 x, on the long end, that is actually a 216 mm lens.
A 216 mm lens with an slow aperture of f5.6 is extremely limiting. That means the lens can only be used in the bright outdoors. Typical exposure for a sunny day at ISO 100 is about 1/500 sec at f 5.6. The moment the sun goes behind a cloud, they have to increase the camera's ISO.
So if you're new to photography and you're shopping for a digital SLR, consider buying a normal lens or what used to be called a standard lens--the 50 mm. Consider this also: do you really think that lens that came with the camera body can be that great?
If you price that same camera body without a lens against the whole kit (camera and zoom lens), you'll see that some vendors even throw in a bag, a lens cleaning kit and even a tripod. Do you really think they'll be able to make a profit if that lens is not a piece of junk with lousy optics?
Peter Phun is an adjunct photography instructor at Riverside City College. He is a freelance photographer, web designer and stay at home dad. He previously worked as a staff photographer for 18 years at The Press-Enterprise, Southern California's 4th largest daily newspaper. Peter is the webmaster for the Mac user group in the Inland Empire. For more information about this Riverside based photographer, visit http://www.peterphun.com
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