Advice needed for P&S back up to my D70 rig

I am looking for a simple point & shoot set up for my wife to use and as a back up for my Subal housed D70. I am looking for something simple and easy to use - my wife won't have the patience for manual or even semi-manual exposure control, but I want something that I can use and enjoy should my D70 ever crap out on me while on location.

I am looking at 2 different options.

Option 1: I am intrigued by the Sea & Sea 3100 Aquapix. It seems like such a great concept - fully aquatic 3mp digital that she can have fun with in available light or on-board flash but I can hook up a external strobe to and keep on going. Trouble is I have never heard much about this camera - good or bad. Web searches don't really yield much.

Option 2: I have a Sony DSC T3 P&S for my land back-up. Its a non-US model that is very similar to the T1 available in the States (I live and work in China). Sony makes a 40m UW housing for it that can also support a fiber optic external strobe (e.g. S&S YS25). Its a good little camera on land - I have no idea how it would do underwater.

So does anyone have any experience with either of these systems? How about the SeaLife digitals? I know that most P&S folks shoot Olympus or Nikon, but I'm not buying another land camera, so please no recomendations to go buy an Olympus 5060 and housing!

Thanks for your help!

Brad

My grain of sand, you already have the T3, it's 5 megapixels, good quality, compact, a nice 8cm macro mode and a 2.5'' LCD screen. at this point getting the housing is cheap and plus its very compact so you can keep it around in your BC pocket all the time as a plan B solution

Regards

I agree with Jean (as usual) house your current Sony. The S&S DX-3100 was on the market for a short period of time, recalled and then quickly discontinued. While nice in concept it had no zoom capbility and used Smart Media memory cards.

After my recent flooding incident, I would get another D70...she'll love it and you'll have a backup body

Karl

I had a S&S Aquapix, not a bad camera, a long lag time which was a

bit disapointing.I also had the wide angle lens, & the DX25 strobe, I

found this very powerful even when turned right down. All of the first

production cameras were recalled due to a problem with the battery

compartment door, I know this because my one was recalled. It also

had a built in macro lens & a red filter which I found quiet useful.

But after getting the bug I have upgraded to a D70 & a Seacam housing

the difference is amazing. You may decide to get the Aquapix but after

using the D70, YOU WILL BE DISAPOINTED, get another D70, & throw down

the challange to shoot better pics than you.

Hope this helps,

Andy

Or you could buy my C5050 rig including camera.

I would definitely get a used system. Much cheaper and they are always being listed in the classified forum. Just wait for the system you want.

SeaLife DC310 Pro Set includes camera, housing, strobe, macro lens and carry case for under $500. With Sony land camera in a housing, you will need a digital strobe which will cost at least $300.

Happy Diving!

I think that housing your Sony is the obvious solution. These little cameras can be quite fun to use as they take up so little space you can focus on the dive and forget the camera. (for the record I love having a big system in my hands I feel naked without it, but others probably see more when not task loaded with a big rig).

The real question is what strobe to use with it? What strobes do you use with the D70? It would be best to find a way to adapt your current strobes to use with the Sony. I use my Canon as a backup to my D70. The Ikelite DS125s, arms and Manual controllers work great with a simple Ikelite tray adapter straight away. Since I have two strobes, two controllers, two arms, and two cameras I'm one failure redundant for any part in the system. All I need to bring along is the tiny digital elph and housing and tray. I taped a small piece of aluminum foil inside the housing to block and direct the flash toward the manual sensor and it works great. Remove it when you want to use the internal flash.

Even if you want a seperate strobe for your wife, it makes sense to make it compatable with your strobes. That way you will always have one be a backup for the other.