I choose the D30 over all the other compact underwater cameras for two reasons:
· Image file sizes are smaller, which counts when you take hundreds of photos every day;
· Noise reduction has been toned down and does not create a watercolour look in your photos.
In both these respects the camera delivers. Regarding file size, my Nikon P7700 makes a much better photo that my Canon SX50, yet the image files are about half the size. Image file size is clearly not tightly linked to image quality. The same effect was apparent in the compact underwater cameras and Canon was returning file sizes as small as half of the size of some of its competitors.
Canon’s are fast and the D30 is no exception (compared to the P7700 it much faster). The start fast and they focus fast. The D30 also has the ability to place a window inside the LCD which shows the centre of the frame as actual pixels. This is a godsend for macro photography. Previously I had a Lumix TS3 which died after about 2 years service when I took it snorkelling and it leaked. The Lumix would frequently focus past the subject in the foreground and take a beautiful picture of the background. In contrast, when the Canon has the right settings, it almost never misses macro focus. Taking a photo of a spider on a web would not be a challenge. The Lumix had a beautiful white LED focus light which could have been used to illuminate macro photos, instead it switched off at the moment the photo was taken. That was the most stupid stupid design feature of the Lumix and is something that could be greatly improve the value of the Lumix if fixed. The Canon has a red focus light that cannot be used for macro photography.
The macro photo quality of the D30 is not shabby. It is only marginally behind the P7700 which is brilliant and beat my Pentax SLR, Tamron Macro lens combination. In addition to focusing properly on macro subjects, the D30 can handle subjects such as white flowers which normally go out of gamut and record no fine detail. Well done Canon.
The Lumix suffered from excessive noise reduction/water colour effect that would randomly destroy some photos but not others. It seemed there was a set of rules that determined when the noise reduction cut in and when it did the photos were almost worthless. I am approaching 2000 photos with the D30 in all sorts of poor light conditions and can say that I have never had a photo blurred by noise reduction. Another difference was the oversaturation of colours with the Lumix, something that I have not seen with the Canon. The FT3 had a 3x zoom and the D30 has a 5 times zoom which is actually useful. In the Lumix favour, it seemed more ready to use a low ISO when Auto ISO was used. The Lumix looked better. When I got the Lumix it was the best camera I had ever owned and covered all subjects well save for more difficult subjects. After a couple of years, I could not wait to upgrade as its limitations started to annoy me. The Canon has been a worth upgrade.
The Canon is not without its issues however. The GPS drains the battery. Why don’t the engineers create a GPS setting where the GPS only runs for selected hours every day instead of being always on. Alternatively if the GPS position is not moving and photos are not being taken, then reduce the number of GPS positions to the minimum required to support a fast start. With a full battery the D30 is not bad, but don’t expect to leave the camera for a week with the GPS on, then go and take a lot of photos. Other issues include the video which seems to have a slow frame rate. If you walk whilst taking a video, some shimmers appear in the image and I would recommend to stand still whilst taking video. I will have to try again at a lower resolution.
The biggest disappointment is that the images are slightly bland. On the LCD screen, colours are quite muted and on the computer, fortunately they appear much more natural. In difficult light conditions, colours can be quite washed out. There is a bit of bias toward over exposure.
The hatches will never come open by accident. It is hard to open the battery hatch when you want to. There are two hatches rather than one and surely that must increase the chances of leakage, however the camera has the deepest depth rating of the compacts. I wish the second hatch was used only for battery charging and downloading images and had easily cleaned robust seals like an underwater torch. After the Lumix leaking, I am shy about diving with the camera. I wish they would put tablets in the camera that release gas when the camera leaks to create a counter pressure to reduce further leakage. Are you reading Canon Engineers? Dipping the camera into the water to just get the lens underwater is probably fairly safe even with old seals but diving deep and putting the camera under pressure is a whole different story.
The camera usability is quite high. I also had a Fuji underwater camera and this camera almost defines what a rubbish camera is like. I gave the camera to my small daughter and she managed to get dirt behind the clear leans cover without opening the hatch. How is it possible to get dirt into an underwater camera without it opening it? The Lumix was good and the Canon is possibly slightly better. There is a basic menu structure which has what you need without gimmicks. The only thing I miss from the Lumix was a scene mode for taking photos from aircraft which set the focus to infinity and canceled some of the atmospheric haze.
I live in tropical Australia and take huge numbers of photos on the beach and in the rainforest, mostly of natural subjects.
Would I recommend the D30. Certainly, it has exceeded my expectations.
