First purchase for digital photography?

What to buy, or should I buy?

I currently have a Canon Elan 7e which weighs a ton. Been out of the water because of an elbow injury for 7months. Thinking about going digital SLR in the hopes that I can carry the lighter weight system. Are digital systems with external strobes that much lighter? Where to start in researching what to get in the way of camera, housing, strobe? Help! (and yes, I am new at digital on land as well).

I think you will find that the weight (in and out of water) of a digital SLR system with external strobes will be comparable to your old Elan 7e setup. Of course, this will depend a lot upon which camera and housing you purchase.

Cheers

James

Thanks for the feedback! A follow-up question just the same:

My current strobes are Ikelite 100a. Can divers use these with the Canon D Rebel? Is there a different strobe setup that DRebel users prefer? (What housings are available and have been fairly trouble-free, what strobes work well? Would the strobes weigh less?)

Hi,

If you choose the D-Rebel and you want TTL you will have to select your housing and strobes very carefully. The 100a will not do TTL with the D-Rebel. Aquatica has developed a special TTL conversion circuit for use with the D-Rebel, but it only works with the new Ikelite digital strobes and Sea and Sea strobes at present. More strobes will probably come along that work, but the 'ol 100a doesn't recycle fast enough (I could be mistaken, check w/ Aquatica).

If you don't need TTL, you can shoot your 100a's in manual with just about any camera and housing, but you won't get much strobe control w/ only a few settings on the 100a's. There are a variety of housings available for this camera, such as Ikelite, Aquatica, Sea and Sea, and UK-Germany.

On the other hand, if you are set on keeping your 100a's, you can use them in TTL with the Fuji S2pro. It is a bigger setup than the D-Rebel though. I would look at the total cost of a DSLR system, first a D-Rebel+housing+new strobes. Then compare to the Fuji S2pro+housing.

Cheers

James