canon a40

hi all i have just purchased a canon a40 and am more than happy with results above water.i am about to buy the housing for it .i have seen pics from cameras with less mega pixels than mine and was quite impressed with the results has anyone used a canon a40 ? can anyone recommend a strobe and do i realy need one as i can set the flash to allways flash? im off to the dominican in 3 weeks so time is running out to buy a strobe if i need one

thanks for your time

mark

I have no experience with the camera that you are using, but if you can afford to buy a strobe, definitely do so. Assuming that you will be diving below 30ft, you really need a strobe to bring out the colors that make uw photography special, and a small built in strobe can't do it for 2 reasons.

1. Not enough power to illuminate more than 2-3 ft in front of the lens.

2. You will create an unacceptable amount of backscatter because the flash is so close to the lens.

If you hope to shoot strictly macro stuff, you may do OK because your subject is within flash range and macro is less succeptable to backscatter. But if you hope to capture divers or reef scenes, you'll wish you had a strobe. I use a pair of Sea&Sea YS-120s which I really like. For a camera such as yours, the YS 90 might be a better choice because of the power level adjustments. I'm less familiar with specific Ikelite strobes, but I know that some of them offer highly adjustable power as well (the DS 125 I think). There are numerous smaller, less expensive strobes from these mfrs to look into if these are beyond your budget. Remember that digicams need less light than film cams, so you can save a little by purchasing a low pwr strobe. In fact, any good strobe will add substantially to your photographic arsenal, and hopefully to your actual photographs.