time to upgrade?

Hi

This is my first post. I started with a Canon A40, chosen for above-the-water performance. However, I became interested in UW photos and then added the Canon WP-200 housing. Finally, it was apparent that for better quality photos I needed a strobe and got the Sea & Sea YS-90DX with fiber optic sync cord. Unfortunately, on the first dive of my Bonaire vacation, I flooded the camera and it is now dead beyond repair.

As the model is no longer produced, the insurance company has given me the option of searching on eBay or choosing a replacement model [i pay the difference in price]. My inclination is to take the opportunity to upgrade to something that I can use for the next several years [although unfortunately I don't have unlimited funds, so price in a consideration].

Searching through the forums has provided tons of information, but has probably generated far more questions in my mind. However I have boiled down the important criteria to those listed below, but would welcome any input on considerations I may have missed and advice on prioritizing them.

Considerations in no particular order:

- recording format: The consensus seems to be that ability to record in RAW format is desirable for post-dive processing

-housing availability/type: If I want to use the existing strobe, I assume that limits my housing choices; and is there a real difference in performance of machined vs. molded

-strobe connection: Fiber optic vs. sync cord, is there a difference?

-resolution: Is there a ‘minimum’ resolution that should be considered?

-manual adjustment: Although my A40 had some manual adjustment, the choice of f-stop was limited to two depending on the setting of the zoom-is this the same for others or are there models that give a wider range of choice

-shutter lag: I haven’t been able to find this information for all models..can someone point me to a good site? And what is good [or threshold for bad]

-dSLR vs. P&S: is addressed in another thread

I’d appreciate any comments, advice, and/or suggestions. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hello -

A lot of your questions address the major differences between DSLR's and Prosumer cameras. If $$ are limited stick with your current setup assuming you can fix housing problem! If you've got a few extra thousand, insurance money and holiday bonus coming around the corner check into a d70 or Rebel in Ike housing. I think you can still use your Sea and Sea (but may be wrong on this point). Ike makes a great, affordable housing for both these cameras.

I don't know if I would make a big investment into another prosumer camera with different housing since the d70 and rebel keep droping in price everyday!

A good place to review cameras is www.dpreview.com

M.

You can probably replace the lost unit, for about the same money, with a newer and higher resolution setup. For example, a Canon A85, in a Canon molded plastic housing. You'll still be familiar with the controls, and there should be no problem with using your existing strobe. Similarly, with a Nikon or Olympus setup. RAW can help you tweak results better, but many people have no problem at all shooting jpg files. Shooting jpg saves you some steps and time in post-processing, and you can save a lot more shots on in the same amount of storage space (saving you the cost of additional memory cards.) It's quite a big jump, cost-wise, to go from this kind of setup to housed DSLR. Truth is, some people will get better shots with a housed consumer P&S camera than with others will with an expensive DSLR setup. The eye behind the viewfinder is still the most important tool in photography. Weigh your passion and experience against your resources.

The 2 camera's I'd recommend would be the Canon 10D (which I have) or the Nikon D70. The canon will cost more and have more features see: www.dpreview.com The Nikon is a great answer if you want to keep the price down. Check them out at the link provided. Either way you can't go wrong. If you want to stay with the P&S I can only say I have been recommeded the canon A95. But Im not sure on the external strobe setup yet.

Add: the biggest problem Im having is the cost of the housing for the DSLR's yikes thier not cheap you will most likely spend as much on the housing as you spend on the DSLR.

DJH

Been reading some stuff about the new Fuji digicam camera and fuji housings that look real interesting.

T