Canon PowerShot A75 + WP-DC30 onderwaterhuis

I take my underwater shots with the Canon Powershot A75 and WP-DC30 housing. My approach is the same as shooting regulars pics on a holiday: little hassle, but keep an eye for detail and composition.

The main reason for me selecting this set are:

• Uses AA-type batteries. Works great on holiday when using a quick-charger and an extra set of batteries. Replace them every two dives... no surprise power cuts.

• Resolution of 3.2 megapixels, giving you some composition freedom on the PC. Always use the camera's highest quality and turn off digital zoom.

• High speed Compact Flash. I bought an additional 256 MB card, room enough for 150 photos in the highest quality. The high speed version reduces writing time per photo, thus reducing the interval between shots. I, for one, have no irritating delays I hear other people complaining about.

  

• Macro as close as 5 cm. Need I say more?

• The large 1.8 inch LCD display: what you see is what you get.

• And finally the special automatic underwater shooting mode. This is an ideal option for those people that like to take their photos without too much hassle, as it reduces the backscatter caused by dirt and other floating particles.

• Nice to have: shooting small movies.

• The camera's size is excellent, allowing good handling above water.

As people told me the A75 on it's own has a very short underwater lifetime, I also bought the Canon WP-DC30 housing. The WP-DC30 allows me to take the camera to a maximum depth of 40 meters (so they say).

All functions of the camera are available through the housing. The buttons on the rear side may seem to be positioned too close to each other, but they still handle when wearing 7 mm diving gloves.

A diffusion screen comes standard with the housing producing better close-ups as the strobe's light is better dispersion. Even though I do not use an external strobe, I am very pleased with the results.

Shooting in the dutch muddy waters is difficult, but when visibility is fine (that is more than 4 meters in Holland) many photos turn out nice. Otherwise I choose to skip photographing for the dive. Image processing on the PC also does wonders to correct color and brightness.

Take a look at a number of my best shots (at least in my opinion). They were taken in the Dutch Grevelingen and around Lanzarote.

I never had any regrets about buying this set, good luck with selecting yours.

Review by Albert van der Plas.

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