Strobe for Canon A640 and WP-DC8 underwater housing

Hello,

This will be only my second time snorkeling in my life. Will be in the Caribbean come the end of June. Will be diving off of southern Florida primarily the keys/key west dry Tortuga's.

The first time I snorkeled in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I made the hideous mistake of using the disposable camera. Now I'm not sure if I will ever be able to snorkel again so I want pretty good pics to remember this trip by since the last time was a complete and utter failure! As the title says I have the Canon A640 and the WP-DC8 underwater housing. I am told that I will want a strobe in order to capture the colors of fish and such.

My question is do I really need a strobe? If so what would be the most economic but quality model available? I do not have much of a budget left after plunking down almost $450 for the camera and the housing.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

If this is for snorkeling, try the Auto Magic Filter. They work very well in water down to 10-15m. www.magic-filters.com

Otherwise, even the most basic strobe & arm setup will cost $300+.

If this is for snorkeling, try the Auto Magic Filter. They work very well in water down to 10-15m. www.magic-filters.com

 

Otherwise, even the most basic strobe & arm setup will cost $300+.

Wow! Great suggestion! Thanks a lot! I will give the filter a try! You were very helpful! Yeah 300+ is not in the budget for now until I decide how regularly I am going to be doing this.

Hello,

 

This will be only my second time snorkeling in my life. Will be in the Caribbean come the end of June. Will be diving off of southern Florida primarily the keys/key west dry Tortuga's.

 

The first time I snorkeled in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I made the hideous mistake of using the disposable camera. Now I'm not sure if I will ever be able to snorkel again so I want pretty good pics to remember this trip by since the last time was a complete and utter failure! As the title says I have the Canon A640 and the WP-DC8 underwater housing. I am told that I will want a strobe in order to capture the colors of fish and such.

 

My question is do I really need a strobe? If so what would be the most economic but quality model available? I do not have much of a budget left after plunking down almost $450 for the camera and the housing.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have used my S45 in the underwater housing a lot diving. in shallow water that your going to reach with snorkeling I wouldn't pay for a strobe. That close to the surface you will have plenty of light and the filter suggestion in the above post would be my recommendation also. You could probably get away with not even doing that and just setting your camera to the underwater setting.

If you plan on diving then yes a strobe is vital.. once you go below 20+ ft the color change to blue becomes very noticeable. If your snorkeling though I doubt you take any pictures with deeper than 20 ft at most. And for any pictures farther away from you than 5 ft or so a strobe isn't going to do any good anyway.