Advice on Upgrade

Hi, Ive been diving with a Sony Cybershot DSC-P9 (point and shoot), Marine pack housing and Sea & Sea YS-DX90 strobe, for about 4 Years and dream about an upgrade. As my wife is expecting our first child i'm going to have to be reasonably sensible about how much i spend. I've been looking at the Nikkon D70s or Canon 350D can you suggest any others i this price range? £600-750. Have no idea what housing but would like to keep my current strobe and use with the new set up until the budget allowed an upgrade.

Any help would be appreciated!

Tyrone

James had some usefull information

basically he says he has noticed people are upgrading right now from the models you listed so you may find some good deals around !

ebay has some

and so do the wetpixel classifieds

I'd say get one of those two .. pick a preference on brand and then buy some nice lenses for it to take baby photos (good excuse) and then slip a housing in later on when you spot a bargain.

Thanks for the response. I had been leaning towards the Nikkon D-70 but the Canon has more pixels. Do you think this makes a big difference?

Also can i use my strobe on TTL as i currently mannually set it and it's trigered by the flash from my Sony Cybershot?

I'm thinking of getting back in the cold waters of the English channel in a few weeks time so really need to make a decision soon. Oh plus the baby is due around then

I am a Nikon user because I had Nikon lenses with a film body. The pixels don't really matter from say 4-6, not much difference. From a professional I met who conducted noise tests the Canon is supposed to be much better, however you most likely will not have those types of pics underwater to concern yourself.

As far as the Nikon gear you have the bargains in the D100 and D70 range. For underwater the D70 has a slight advantage with the higher flash sync speed of 500th over the D100's 180th and better strobe compatability to get ttl if you really want it. The D100 is built much stronger which may prove itself in the areas you are diving it also has a dynamic auto focus mode for sports and fast action use on land that the d70 does not. These are the reasons it is considered more professional than the d70. But for U.W the d70's flash sync is a big deal. Picture quality wise there is no difference. Both are a good choice as the new d200 is putting these out steadily. When the housings hit the marketplace you will see even more in a few months.

Good luck

Steve

Thanks for all your advice. I'm really confused now.

I had made my mind up on Nikon and intended buying a D70s (new) from the UK. However my wife is Japanese so have asked her to look on the Japanese websites. You can get them at quite a good price with a Tamron 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 XR Di II.

Do you think this is a better option for me than the UK Kit 18-70mm.

Would i be able to use this in a typical housing?

Do you think i'm better off buying the body only and then buying lenses seperatly?

If so what lenses would you recommend?

Oh dear you see i am confused but if anyone has the time i would really appreciate any advice you can give me. Probably have a beer and not worry so much!

Please help!