total newbie here

Hiya folks

brief background:

got certified last year . . . .15 dives under my belt. . .2 in Cozumel, and 13 in French polynesia, including Rangiroa.

buying a bunch of gear now for a planned cayman trip in 2 months

want to know what is a good starter camera. . . basic but but good enough to take decent pictures. . digital, of course. . .dont' want to break the bank. . .$500 max? i hear/see about Sea and Sea alot, as well as Sealife. .. . i have a Canon s200 digital elph. . should i just get housing for that?. . . hmmmm. . . . . .the housing for that costs alot already! maybe should get a separate digital camera. . want to make sure i take cool picts of Bloody Bay Wall. . .but not aspiring to be an amateur UW photog, submitting picts to mags or anything like that. . just want a basic good digital UW camera so I can "document" my dives. . for friends to see and whatnot. . .

sorry for the rambling approach but if anybody can help me I would be most grateful! JOHN

Hi,

for a start a Canon housing is the best way. Ist about 200$ which is really cheap for UW-Photo Equipment and the Canon Housings are really good. You can make decent shots with the Camera and Internal strobe if you move very close to the subject. In shallow water you can also do decent available light shots.

Later you can get a better Camera that supports Raw Images with its superior WB Correction.

The Camera is nice and small an fits into every BCD pocket. I wouldn't use a bigger rig (Strobes etc.) until you have more diving experience and masterd buoancy.

Simon

Hi Simon. .thanks alot for your reply. . can you tell me where come up with this price bec. what I see costs alot more:

this is the one i see: http://www.deep-six.com/page25.htm

thanks in advance, JOHN

I see the one made by Canon on Amazon. . I think I'll get that one!

That is the kind that i use for my S40 (now S50). It is the WP-DCSomething

Simon

Simon - Thanks for the advise. I too am looking at buying a digital camera for underwater use but have suffered sticker shock when looking at the CoolPix 5000 and a Light and Motion housing and strobe system. The question I have is about strobing. I see that you are using an Ikelite DS125 w/ TTL. This is a stupid question but is there a tray or attachment for this on the canon housing? How does this system fit together physically. Do you know of anything I could read? Thanks.

Ike offers a set with tray. It is originaly for the Olympushousings but the Canon Housings also fits. (please check with Ike for you specific housingh, but I think all Canon Housings fits) there is a Screw in the tray that fits the Tripod base of the Housing.

Simon

Hi,

I have a canon S50 too and I am very pleased with the quality of the shots.

I am using a Bonica strobe that is reflective and it is not TTL.

I got some great shots the last time I finally used my rig after tweaking the camera settings.

I got some great answers from this forum.

Thank you guys!

I don't agree with the "shoot without a strobe" thing Simon was saying.

If you don't shoot crystal clear tropical shallow waters you can't use just natural light (if you don't want to shoot all your pictures silhouette). If it is deep and you don't have light then the flash will go off (or you will have dark or fuzzy pictures) and if it goes off, you will get so much backscatter that the picture will be unusable.

I would say, go for the S40 or S50 and the Canon housing and the best strobe you can afford.

Vlad