VERY basic setup for snorkeling

Hi All,

New to this website. I was just wondering if I could get some advice for what gear to get for snorkeling. No diving or deep water usage. Very basic photography skills, I just dont want to ruin my camera.

I use a Canon digital rebel 300D,no external flash.

I was thinking of either just getting a separate cheap point and shot waterproof camera (the olympus 770sw or 850sw or 1030sw series seem promising).

Otherwise, I was looking at the EWA-MARINE U-A .

My question is would the ewa-marine be sufficient for this type of usage (just snorkeling?). I really dont want to ruin my equipment!

Or would you recommend a separate cheap camera? What would you recommend? My budget is next to nothing, and unfortunately, again my requirements are pretty low

Thanks so much

Mike

If you'll buy a separate cheap point and shot waterproof camera, than buy Pentax OPTIO W60, both movie & picture quality is better than with Olympus. Here (http://public.fotki.com/Primoz/) are some of my underwater pictures and here (http://www.youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=PrimozP) some of my underwater movies, made with Pentax WP, W10, W20 and W30 cameras.

For snorkling you need something small(aint easy freediving with a housing for dslr).

A friend of mine uses the canon G7 in a canon housing and he is getting som very good pics.

kind regards

mads

I'll second the recommendation of a Pentax Optio. Mine is an older model but was a capable little point and shoot when I was first afflicted with this madness...

Hi,

I can recommend the Canon Ixus range, they are really nice little cameras at quite a reasonable price these days and a good spec, great for land shots as well as underwater, the Canon housings are simple to use and quite readdily available for most Ixus's. Also most have an underwater mode and the option for manual white balance if you wanted which makes it easlier to get better results. My only critisism would be that the LCD is sometimes difficult to see in the light, most Olympus housings have a screen cover thing which pretrudes round the top of the LCD acting as a shade, this is a nice touch and its a shame Canon havent followed suit with their housings!

I have an older Ixus 850IS which is a great camera and ive had loads of really good results with it snorkelling and diving as well. Ive since purchased some wet lenses and a strobe for it now and am looking forward to getting some even better results when I go away in September.

I dont think you would be at all dissapointed with an ixus results wise and they are a good price, very well made and reliable cameras - ive had several different ones in teh past and they seem to get better every time.

"marktol"

Yap, Canon Ixus cameras are the best in this range, but .... they are not underwater cameras. It is possible to buy an underwater housing, but it is very expensive (almost as much as cheaper Ixus cameras), big and bulky.

EWA-MARINE and DicaPac bags are smaller and cheaper, but very sensitive and impractical.

I bought a Canon A640 and Canon underwater housing for snorkeling last year, actually got the both of them from Amazon for about £280 as there was a special offer on the housings. Its 10Mp is fine and there is an underwater white balance setting as well. The housing comes with a small diffuser for the flash, but if you are only doing stuff fairly close to the surface you should be OK.