anybody use the canon s5is?

[ibanezgfx]

did you do any photoshopping with levels or anything afterwards?

 

[boudster]

All of the pictures except one are exactly as I took them....no photoshopping at all. The only one I adjusted was the purple gorgonian as the picture was too dark and I did an auto-adjust with the built-in functionality in Windows 'Vista.

 

[ibanezgfx]

i got the DCR-250 macro lense and these are a couple good or decent ones i got out of it. pretty cool add on lens.

 

[boudster]

How much does the lens cost......is there a big benefit to the lens over the Super Macro mode?

 

[boudster]

Can anyone tell me the differences between the DCR-250 and DCR-150 attachments. I'm very excited about these attachments as it looks as though it will allow me to take macro shots while utilizing the camera's 12X zoom! Which lens should I buy?

 

[ibanezgfx]

the 250 was about $45 from lensmateonline.com but you have to get a lens adaptor that is about $25.

the 250 is 2.5x magnification i think and the 150 is the 1.5x

you can get a lot closer with the 250, but the depth of field is small and you have to be pretty close to the subject to get it.

 

[boudster]

What lens adaptor did you have to buy? I guess I'm confused as to how this works differently from the normal macro settings. I assume you have to not use macro mode when you use the lens. Is the main difference the ability to use the zoom and still get macro shots? In Macro and Super Macro modes you have to be close to the subject to get good shots....with this lens can you be a bit farther away.....so for example, would I be able to get macro shots of things farther back in my tank that I normally wouldn't be able to?

 

[ibanezgfx]

well, so far what ive found out is, you can really get close throughout the whole zoom range.
its not on macro mode. it basically is a magnifying glass ontop of your lens.

the adaptor allows you to add the addon lenses. if you go to lensmateonline.com or s5users.com, you can find out a lot about the add on lenses and the adaptors and whatnot. i just got the new lens and am still learning on how to use it better. pretty much i was about 5 inches away from the goby when i took that pic. i think i was at 12x zoom too. dont remember.

here are the pics compared with supermacro. no cropping, but a little levels adjusting.

supermacro:

DCR-250:

and for comparison:

 

[boudster]

Thanks a lot for the explanation. I will check out the links you gave. Please continue to post pics and I will too, perhaps we can help each other to master taking reef pics with this camera. I think I am going to go ahead and order that lens right now.

 

[boudster]

One more question....did you get the 52 or 58 mm adaptor?

 

[ibanezgfx]

i got the 58. either one will work though. just the adaptors you buy will have to be either 52mm or 58mm

 

[sixfins]

I've been doing a lot of reading on these and would go with the 58mm to avoid any issues with vignetting.(The 52mm being a smaller dia. is more likely to give you those ugly dark spaces arount the edges/corners.)

 

[ibanezgfx]

you still get it with the macro adaptor (the dcr-250 and 150 at least, probably not the stackable hoya ones) you have to zoom in a bit to get rid of it.

here are a couple more pics with that lens. dark, but i think cool effect.

and 2 more comparison 250 shots

supermacro:

250:

again about 5-6 inches from the worm.

 

[boudster]

Wow....very big difference between the macro lens and just the macro setting. I will definitely be purchasing the lens and adaptor very soon.

I like the clown pics.....cool effect with the darkness of the picture but the bright white stripes.

 

[Underwaterparadise]

Tagging along as I am seriously considering this camera

 

[ibanezgfx]

if i can get any better pics within the next couple days, ill post 'em. this weekend i will be transferring my tanks so taking a bunch of pics

 

[boudster]

Well, just placed my order for the 250 and lens adaptor (58 mm). Thanks for all your help!

Underwaterparadise - I would definitely recommend this camera if you are like me and wanting to get something with alot of features but not wanting to delve into DSLR. You can get it pretty cheap at Amazon.

I was able to get some great pics without the lens attachment....can't wait to see what pics I can get with it. Will definitely be posting more pics soon!

 

[boudster]

Here's a couple that I took of my own tank...my lighting sucks (PC's), so I have to keep it at ISO 200, but these are at least decent. Can't wait for that Macro lens to arrive:

 

[ibanezgfx]

those are some pretty awesome shots!
did you crop them at all?

 

[boudster]

Yes, I cropped them, but other than that no photoshopping. I'm finding that the custom white balance works pretty well by just pointing the camera at my substrate and setting the custom white balance that way. The "High flourescent" whitebalance preset works pretty well, but I get a slight pinkish purpelish hue when using that. Setting it manually seems to capture the colors pretty accurately.