Underwaterphotography is not just for expert divers anymore. More and more manufacturers are including a waterproof model in their range, like the Canon Powershot D10 for example.
Does that mean you’ll need to get rid of your trustworthy Canon Powershot SD1200 IS if you want to get wet? Absolutely not!
Depending on how serious you are about swimming/diving, you have two options; a flexible case or a hard plastic case.
Less Than 16ft/5m Deep
For snorkling and swimming pool fun the flexible Canon Powershot SD1200 IS waterproof case will do the trick. The case looks a bit like a Ziploc bag, but don’t let that fool you.
It has a special UV coated polycarbonate lens to ensure your pictures are extra clear.
The waterproof case floats, so you won’t have to keep a death grip on your camera out of fear that it’ll end up at the bottom of the ocean.
More Than 16ft/5m Deep
Underwater mode and built-in flash
The Canon WP-DC29 waterproof case for the Powershot SD1200 IS is a lot more expensive than the above solution. But you will need something more sturdy to withstand the water pressure if you dive deeper than 16ft/5m.
You can even add an external water-resistant power pack.
Not only is the difference in price significant, there’s a size difference as well. You’ll want to take this into consideration as well as the Canon WP-DC29 waterproof case will take up quite a bit of space in your luggage.
Read more Powershot SD 1200 waterproof case reviews here.
Are you getting blurry pictures with your Powershot SD1200?
It’s important to realize that just about any point and shoot camera will take blurry pictures from time to time. Heck I even manage to get blurry pictures with my Canon D350 when I’m not paying enough attention to what I’m doing.
There are a few things you can try to improve the crispness of your pictures though.
First of all, stop zooming in all the time. Most pictures that end up out of focus are taken when zoomed in all the way. If you can, get closer to the subject. In most cases where you use a point and shoot camera that won’t be a problem.
Secondly, use a tripod. For most people it’s hard to keep a camera absolutely still. And the image stabilizer can only do so much. Using a tripod like the Joby GP1-D1EN Gorillapod Flexible Tripod or anything else to steady the camera will greatly improve the crispness of your pictures. Especially when using the zoom feature.
And third, try different settings. Low light conditions will benefit from higher ISO. And using the flash will “freeze” the subject. If you don’t like the way your pictures turn out with flash, you can adjust them on your computer to make the colors look more natural.
These are just a few quick and easy tips to get the most out of your Powershot SD1200.
I found another Powershot SD1200 review I wanted to share with you. I’ll also be giving you my take on some of the reviewers comments.
Here it goes: “Overall, I think this is a great compact camera and is invaluable for the spontaneous people shots that capture those special moments in life. It won’t take pictures worthy of National Geographic (meaning it won’t replace a dSLR), but it fills in well when a large camera is just too much equipment to be carrying around. “
In other words, it does exactly what Canon wanted it to do. And if you happen to stumble across bigfoot on one of your vacations, even a snapshot taken with a click and shoot camera like the sd1200 will end up on the cover of National Geographic
“Mostly, the camera suffers from its diminutive size. It doesn’t offer much in terms of artistic controls, but does a very good job of making those decisions most of the time. This makes it ideal for the weekend snapshot photographer who wants to take good photos without much more than hitting a shutter button! Great all purpose camera, everyday camera.”
You really can’t expect such a small and inexpensive camera to have more controls. However, if you would go to the trouble of reading the full manual that’s on the cd, you’ll discover this little digicam has more features than most users realize. For example, when you set it to program mode, you can adjust the exposure and ISO values. I also found that the quality of my photos got even better once I started using p mode with -1/3 exp and 1 click up on the contrast and saturation under custom colors.
Play with the settings at home, so you know which ones to use when you go on a holiday or to a once in a lifetime party.
I can’t seem to stay away from YouTube. I’m sure many of you have the same problem
Anyway, I found another good Powershot SD1200 review video. It’s a lot longer than the short SD1200 IS first look video they did on cnet. Just under 9 minutes long, it gives you more details. And you get to see the menus, which is always fun to see before buying a digital camera online for example.
Let me know what you think in the comments:
Pretty user friendly huh? Sometimes I think it’s a shame they don’t put the full manual in the box. Then again, 90% of the people who buy this camera would never read it anyway, so I guess from an ecological point of view it’s better not to have it in print. That’s one extra tree we can photograph with our SD1200
