Canon S100 Underwater with DiCaPAC

For shooting video underwater with the Canon s100, I had DiCaPAC baggies. The DiCaPAC worked well, no water got inside and despite the fact that we were taking the lens attachment off and on repeatedly in the sand and water, we experienced no water damage to the camera. The pack comes with silica gel packs to keep moisture out and a laniard so you won’t lose your equipment.
A con that I ran into was that even though DiCaPAC stated that the 110 baggie was to fit the Canon, it did not. You really have no way of knowing what size is perfect for your camera. The lens on the s100 didn’t allign properly, it pressed against the lens filter and caused lens errors and pressure. One last con with these baggie style underwater packas is that there is no way to add a handheld stabilizer.

Luckily I had the WP610 which is oversized for the s100 but worked out better because we were able to shoot at the widest Field Of View w/o experiencing any vignetting. This might be a better way to go if you choose the DicaPAC route. If your DiCaPAC is too large for your camera, there will be room to throw filters in front of the lens to correct the colors underwater if you don’t have a custom white balance setting. I was still able to access most of the camera’s settings, jog dials, zoom, etc. with the DiCaPAC. This cheap solution combined with the Canon s100′s custom underwater white balance made a world of a difference in the colors underwater.

The Canon S100 performed so well underwater because of the underwater filter setting. Being able to white balance for the blue/green cast that occurs beneath the water’s surface can transform your footage. When reds are reintroduced where they typically lost underwater, the colors are diverse again. With out the under water filter, the video footage would be overly blueish green since reds can’t penetrate below water’s surface.

Canon Powershot S100 Digital Camera