Entry Level

[PinayDiver]

Okaaay, just to say that I called up the Canon office here and learned that the Canon A700 is no more -- what with the new, improved A710 IS (of course). I surfed for the appropriate underwater housing and came up with Canon WPDC6 (up to 130 feet or 40m). My brother lives/works in Beijing and travels to Singapore so I think maybe he'll get it at a better price for me than if I buy it in Manila, we'll see...

[seasnake]

I am now the proud owner of a Canon A700, probably one of the last ones available! Here in Canada at least, the A700 was switched with the A710 on the market as of March 1. So I got a great deal as they cleared this model out. I also have an ikelite housing for it, but it is still en route and not in my possession yet. My first impression of the camera was "wow, this thing is small!", a little more rinky dink look and feel than my film set up! Have not used it much more than to shoot a few experiment snaps as I read through the manual trying to figure out how the heck to work it, but so far it seems easy to use and all the controls are well at hand and easy to manipulate. The large LCD is great.
As soon as I can get it underwater I will post some pics!
One issue that came up on a local board is the problem of fogging, and now I'm worried about that. The water here is typically quite cool (still around 30F right now) and a lot of people complain about their cameras fogging. Will I run into that problem in the Caribbean, where the water is warmer?
Ron

[PinayDiver]

Nothing like a user’s rating to go by so it’s helpful to know you committed (plonked your dough and all that) to your Canon A700. Presumably an A710 can only be better -- if there’s no hold-out piece here with your same must-go deal.
I think I’ll just stick with the available Canon casing for the best fit (for full access, lens extension, etc.) I'm told it doesn’t come with protective storage though and, if my cell phone is any indicator, I do have to guard against scratches.
Anyone, do I really need the Canon weights to supposedly neutralize the case's bouyancy? I mean, is it that bouyant? (And that's why I'm in the beginners' thread )

[seasnake]

That's an excellent question. I don't know what the bouyancy characteristics of the ikelite housing are going to be and assume I'm going to have to weight it somehow. I have used cameras that were bouyant and oh man! What a pain in the patootie! I can tell you the camera is very light, so my guess is that with the airspace in the housing it is going to be very bouyant.
In my research I could not find a camera that compared to the A700 for features at that price. All reviews I read about it were very positive. I would presume with you, the 710 can only be better.

[PinayDiver]

Pain in the patootie, I hear you, buying the weights then.
I’m also beginning to see Rzade’s earlier point here on making sure of product availability. I was just at a Canon showroom this afternoon and it seems selling me both the camera and the housing right there and then just isn’t done. (I was hoping to save my brother the trouble of still having to scour Singapore, and so I could already test the gear during next week's trip.)
Personnel from the store and from the sales office were consistent in saying that the housing has to be ordered—as if to give me time to reconsider the idea of submerging newly bought equipment.
Amused me how the word “leakage” (the possibility of it) was bandied several times, making me imagine how enough customers complaining about waterlogged cameras (user’s fault or not) have conditioned them to be less than enthusiastic about pushing marine cases. Oh well, the waiting can't be helped.

[PinayDiver]

Uh-oh, I think I just made an impulse purchase. I was in one of the shops that carry Canon cameras, and it turns out they also have underwater casings AND weights to go with them. That got me excited. I asked for the most compact and they gave me IXUS 850 IS, and I went "sold!" I'm diving in Anilao tomorrow to try it out. Wooh boy, I better work this out

[seasnake]

Can't wait to see some pics ...

I finally got my housing but have only had a chance to "leak test" it here in the pool at work. I hopefully will get to try it with the camera Sunday during a class session in the pool. The water is colder right now than the acceptable operating temp for the camera.

If anyone is interested . . . the ikelite housing was positve without the camera in it ... (it is billed as slightly negative in their advertising) *shrug*

[lars2923]

Sweet!

You have a pool at work?

[seasnake]

Yeh ... Canadian Coast Guard College . . .

[PinayDiver]

first random batch:

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