I need Advise!!!

My daughter is a new diver and is going to dive Roatan in a week and I wish to buy her a good camera, quick!! I don't want to spark a debate but I need advise on the best outfit for under $650.00. I am not a diver. Can anyone help!

Hi Dad, My advise is to hold off buying the camera until your daughter has gotten her feet wet, if she's truly a brand new diver. It is exciting and hard enough to remember everything she's been taught without also having to worry about a camera. If everything goes well and she feels very comfortable there are some places on Roatan where she can rent a reasonable underwater rig for a couple of days (Anthony's Key Resort comes to mind) and they will help her learn the basics of using it. This will be a better system than you can get for the $ you mentioned, it will save you some money and you won't have to stress getting something ordered and pay the exorbitant shipping fees to the big brown truck. She will come home with some nice images of her trip and all you'll be out is a few hits on the credit card. Please give your daughter my congratulations on her new certification and ask her to post her first shots here when she gets home.

I must forewarn you though if she has a great time and gets hooked on the underwater world the big money camera is just around the corner . So when are you going to get certified so you can go too?

Steve

Way to go!

If you're determined to buy, I suggest calling a store like "Backscatter" or "Marine Camera Distributors" and getting their advice about something like a Fuji digital point-and-shoot in an acrylic housing.

I'd love a wide-angle lens if I were going to Roatan, but that pushes up the price.

Don't forget a book on "How to do u/w photography" for holiday reading!

Tim

B)