Digital Point and Shoot photography

Im sure its been covered before but I need some help since Im not a scuba photographer only land and air photographer.

I have a friend who has been doing scuba since 2000 and she has the crapiest little 2 megpixel camera she bought at a dive shop I have ever seen. Its not even brand name and uses AA batteries.

She travels costa, HA and various destinations to dive so some friends of her have decided to set her up with a decent camera for her needs and skill level. Im a l d200 user and no nothing about scuba so need help.

Requirements for the diving gurls birthday.

1. Digital point and shoot preferably Nikon or Canon.

2. lithiuiom ion battery

3. Must take great land pictures as well (her current camera only takes good underwater pix sometime)

4. A 35 to 120 zoom would be nice in a point in shoot (None of that extrapolated zoom stuff)

5. Shes not a pro so needs to be small and slim for carry everywhere kind o thing

6. Must be easy to use underwater as well as on land

7. I need to know what housing it needs because I no nothing about underwater photograpy

8. Would be nice if it was 5 megapixels or more

Could someone give me some feedback

Earl

Although not Canon or Nikon, a popular choice i would suggest is:

Olympus SP350 and Ikelite Housing, the Oly has RAW. Not sure what sort of battery it has. This is a very popular camera with PnS shooters at the moment. Has a full range of manual features and RAW capability. It also has a hotshoe that will allow a strobe connection via synch cable as opposed to a slave flash. Also available with Oly housing

This is a good thread about it: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11838

For Canon i would suggest the A series or G series. They are small, take nice land and UW photos and are available in 6+ mp. The A series has full manual controls but no RAW or hotshoe. I think the G series gives that but not sure, they are more expensive than the A series, not sure of your budget.

A series takes AA batts, i use NiMH with mine and get 100s of photos no problem, easily last a day of diving.

Available with Canon or Ike housing.

I can't find a good thread on the A series but here is one on the Canon G series

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15228

Lithium Ion Battery - SP350 takes both this and AA's should you find yourself in a pinch.

27 built in scene modes make it extremely easy to take both land and sea shots. 3 of those are underwater modes.

35-120 .. ie 3x optical zoom underwater, cheap glass available for WA and telephoto on land.

Two housings Ike and Olympus. Advantages of the Ike are using it with their legendary strobes, service after the sale and a depth rating to 200'. Advantage of the Olympus is cost.

8 megapixels. RAW format for easy post dive processing, hotshoe adapter allows for TTL underwater further simplifying taking good underwater pictures.

Earl - if you do a search under the A640 Canon and the SP350 and the Fuji E900 you'll get some decent info on P&S cameras.