I received the following email enquiry today:-

“Carl, Please counsel with me on a camera purchase. I am putting together an underwater system and wish to use the Canon G10 or G11. I will get the Canon underwater case. Should I get a near new G10 (ie. from Craigslist – approx. $450 US) or get the G11. Please advise. Thanks! Darrell”

Thanks to Darrell for the question.

I am a keen user of the Canon Powershot G Series cameras for underwater photography, and have owned a G10 and G11 camera.

The G10 vs G11

The G10 and G11 are both good cameras and popular with many professional photographers. There are a few new functions in the G11, but the fundamental differences are:-

• G10 has 15MP sensor, G11 has 10 MP sensor.
• G10 has a flat screen back, G11 has a flip screen back.

The smaller sensor on the G11 provides better in-camera noise performance (see my previous post Noise Comparison – Canon Powershot G11 vs G10). I find noise can become an issue underwater, particularly when you are going deeper where there is less natural light.

Using an external flash or video light helps to keep the shutter speeds fast at those deeper depths, reducing noise.

Noise is also becoming less of a problem in post processing. Particularly if you are using Adobe Lightroom 3 with its new software engine, which is doing incredible things with noise reduction. (I have to regularly stop myself going back to old images and improving the noise, as I would never get anything else done.)

I also like the G11 flip screen for taking pictures from different angles, but in the underwater housing it does not make any difference.

Buying Older Cameras

I would suggest caution when purchasing second-hand or near new cameras. The G10 has been around for 18 months now, and cameras can get a lot of use in that time.

Check with the seller to make sure there are no scratches on the lens or the back screen.

Also check  the stock availability of the underwater housing for your camera of choice. You do not want to purchase the camera, only to find the housing is not available.

New Rumoured PowerShot G12

Another option if you are not in a hurry for a camera, is to wait a couple of months for the rumoured Canon G12.

The rumoured Canon Powershot G12

Canon typically releases a new G series camera every year around October/November. The Canon Rumours website reported a week ago on the new G12. It will supposedly have the same still image resolution and flip screen as the G11, but will record 720p High Definition (HD) video.

If you plan on using video as a major part of your workflow, the HD capability will last you for a number of years, and maybe worth the wait.

Two disadvantages with the G12 option will be:-

1. The price. The last couple of  G series cameras seemed to increase $100-200 a year, and the underwater housings also get more expensive. (I am expecting the G12 may even break the $1000AUD mark here in Australia.)
2. It will likely be a new underwater housing, and they tend to lag the camera by a month or so in being released to the market. When they are released it is usually only in small numbers across stores due to popularity.

Conclusion

In summary, provided you can get a camera in good condition, I think either the G10 or G11 will do the job for you. They are both good cameras producing quality pictures.

You may find it harder to locate stock of the WP-DC28 underwater housing for the G10, which could end up forcing you to the G11.

I hope this has been of help, and would be interested in hearing others opinions.

Note: – There are also a number of options from other manufacturers, but I have not commented on them due to Darrell’s focus on the Canon Powershot G series.

I was reading Underwater Photography Magazine (No 55 Jul/Aug 2010), and a review of the Canon Powershot G11 by Lawrence Alex Wu describes a key shortcut that allows the photographer access to the Control Dial functionality while underwater.

Out of the housing, rotating the G11 Control Dial next to the screen allows you to adjust settings that include:-

• Aperture size in Aperture Priority Mode (AV)
• Shutter speed in Shutter Priority Mode (Tv)
• Metering Modes
• Manual Focus
• Brightness Exposure Compensation
• Auto Exposure Bracketing

I often use the Canon WP-DC34 underwater housing with my G11 camera, but the problem is that once you close the housing you no longer have access to the control dial…. or so I thought….

Now thanks to Lawrence’s article I have all the functionality back while underwater….. the secret ????…..

The secret is the “S”-button …. the what button??  you ask …..

The S (Short Cut) button that sits quietly in the top left hand corner of your cameras back, and is normally used to quickly access a stored function, or print an image.

If you hold down the Shortcut button and click the left (macro) button , you will get the same effect as moving the Control Dial in the counter-clockwise direction. Likewise, holding the down the Shortcut button and clicking the right (flash) button will give you the same effect as moving the Control Dial in the clockwise direction.

I applaud the designer who came up with this function.

There is not a lot of information about this type of shortcut, and I and not sure if it’s available on other G series camera such as the G9 or G10, so if you have any other info, it would be great if you could share it with a comment below.

News

• Alamy changes submission size – Stock agency Alamy has reduced the uncompressed minimum file size requirement from 48MB  to 24MB.

Software Updates

• Canon 5D firmware update – Newly released firmware update 2.0.7 corrects:-
  • The phenomenon in which the aperture exhibits abnormal movement when shooting movies in manual exposure mode and Aperture Priority AE (Av mode) using some Canon lenses (such as macro lenses).
  • A phenomenon in which the exposure level shown in the LCD panel differs from what is shown in the viewfinder when shooting still images in manual exposure mode.
  • A phenomenon in which the Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E4 or WFT-E4 II) may not automatically power off when used for FTP transfers.
• Adobe Issues Security Update for Photoshop CS4 11.0.2 – Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 and earlier for Windows and Macintosh that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system. Adobe recommends Photoshop CS4 customers update to Photoshop CS4 11.0.2, which resolves the issues. The Photoshop 11.0.2 update also addresses a number of problems with brushes, styles and gradient preset files discovered after Photoshop CS4 was released

iPhone apps

• Seesmic (FREE) – I have been using the Seesmic Desktop app for a year now, as it has the option to aggregate multiple twitter accounts and a facebook account into one feed. They have finally released the iPhone and iPod  app which operates slightly different to the desktop app, but is still easy to use.
• The Photographer’s Ephemeris ($11.99 AUD) – Developed by Steven Trainor the Photographers Ephemeris is a tool to help with the planning of all types of outdoor photography, but particularly landscape and urban scenes. It is a map-centric sun and moon calculator to see how the light will fall on the land, be it day or night, for any location on earth. The desktop applications is free for download.

Web links

• Motions of the Sun Simulator – A great web-based tool for  determining sun angles at any location and time.

I had been aware of the improved noise performance of the Canon Powershot G11 since October 2009 (see my post Canon G11 – less is more), and thought this would be beneficial when shooting underwater where you need every bit of sensitivity you can get.

In Hong Kong on business I picked up a Canon G11 and compared it directly with my Canon G10. The results were better than I expected and show considerable improvement in noise levels.

Test Conditions

I setup the G10 and G11 next to each other on the window sill of my hotel room. Both cameras were set to the same settings at f5.0 and center weighted average.

Focusing on the same apartment block I took shots with ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 at focal lengths settings of 6.1mm and 25mm. (Due to the smaller sensor, the focal length multiplier of 4.8 gives 35 mm equivalent focal lengths of  29mm and 121mm.)

The images were compared in Adobe Lightroom.

Exposure Differences

The first thing I noticed was the G11 image was brighter than the G10 image. Analyzing the Histogram for the images, the G11 image is exposed 0.70EV to the right making it brighter.

Exposing the image more to the right is a smart idea as there is more image information in this area.

Noise Comparisons

For further testing all G10 images were adjusted +0.7EV to give both image sets the same brightness. No other modifications were made to the images.

ISO80 – Viewed at 200%

Even at ISO 80 more noise can be seen in the darker area at the top of the windows on the G10 (right) compared to the G11 (left).

ISO100 – Viewed at 200%

ISO200 – Viewed at 200%

ISO400 – Viewed at 200%

At ISO 400 and above, I doubt the G10 images would be useful due to the high noise, but the G11 looks OK.

ISO800 – Viewed at 200%

ISO1600 – Viewed at 200%

At ISO1600 and above the G11 image is not usable due to the high noise, even though the camera is rated to ISO3200.

Conclusions

I was really surprised by the low noise performance of the G11 and how much better it was than the G10.

The G11 could be used up to ISO400 with reasonable results (and to ISO800 in a stretch).  ISO1600 and above has to much noise.

I am keen to see how the camera performs in the underwater low light environment. In conjunction with the introduction of the new noise reduction algorithm in Adobe Lightroom 3, I will be able to reduce noise like never before.

Now I just need to get the Canon WP-DC34 underwater housing. Every store I have tried in Hong Kong is sold out due to their popularity.

Hawksbill Turtle swimming over tropical coral reef (View on Vimeo,  Youtube)

Hawksbill Turtle swimming in current over tropical coral reef (View on Vimeo, Youtube )

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon Powershot G11, S90
• Mamiya DM22, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
• Nikon D3s
• Olympus E-P2
• Pentax K-x
• Panasonic FZ38
• Sigma DP1s
• Sony A500, A550, A850

The updates also fixes an issue for PowerPC users with Lightroom 2.5 or Camera Raw 5.5 software on Mac. The bug had sometimes created artifacts in the highlight area when using the Hightlight Recovery tool.

The Lightroom 2.6 release candidate is available as a free download for existing Lightroom 2 users, while Photoshop Camera Raw 5.6 can be downloaded by existing CS4 users. The DNG Converter 5.6 RC is a free download for all users.

Photos

There were a number of reef cuttlefish around protecting their nests.

Reef cuttlefish (sepia latimanus) Agincourt reef

Snorkeling Agincourt Reef

Fish on tropical coral reef

Blue green Damselfish (Chromis viridis) on tropical coral reef (View on Vimeo,  Youtube )

Diagonal banded Sweetlips fish watching scuba divers and snorkelers (View on Vimeo, Youtube )

Read articles:-

• Canon U.S.A. announces additions to it award winning line of Power shot digital cameras – Canon
• Canon G11 Specification – Canon USA
• “Less is More” with New Pro Compact Cameras from Canon – PDN
• Canon G11 Specification – Canon USA
• Canon Powershot G11 – Photography Monthly

Apparently this move is designed to improve the noise sensitivity by reducing the number of pixels on the sensor, allowing them to increase the individual pixel size  to capture more light.

Not sure how I feel on this one. I have thought for a while they could not pack any more in.

Looks like they have reached the limit of the technology, and figured out you can only push things so far before people start to complain. I would expect other manufacturers will start to do the same now that one has taken the lead.

They are also changing the screen to a flip out, but not upgrading the video to HD.

Will be available in October 2009.

Other relevant articles:-

• Megapixels: How much is enough? - Digital Photo Pro
• Noise: Lose It – Digital Photo Pro

Their review includes:- 5D Mark II Compared to Other Pro Video Cameras, pros, cons, housings, scooters, filters and tripods.

All the video test clips were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II in an Aquatica 5D Mark II underwater camera housing mounted to a Dive-X Sierra underwater scooter.

Article:- Canon 5D Mark II underwater video review