My daughter and I will be in Bonaire from June 12-26. She is interested in taking a course on digital underwater photography. She has purchased an olympus c5050 with an Ikelite housing and strobe. She is PADI certified in film photography and an excellent diver with very good buoyancy control. Could anyone suggest where she might take such a course from an excellent instructor? Thanks

Len,

Sounds like she could teach us a thing or two!

BTW I like her choice of equipment. The Ike housing features a 200 foot depth rating and a stay depressed button for the jog dial. And the O-Ring design is visible and bullet proof.

Your daughter might like to begin by studying Peter Schulz's c5050 underwater camera settings found by following the link below:

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gallery/underwater_photography/up_settings.htm

Once she has familiarized herself with the camera and all it's mode settings, she can concentrate on strobe placement. I would set up my gear and walk around the house. I'd also go outdoors in the backyard, snapping away until I remembered which buttons did what. It's amazing how much skill is involved in aiming the strobe properly. Especially to minimize backscatter.

BTW, I know how heavy the 6 pound housing, camera, and strobe can feel out of the water. But it is good practice.

Which strobe did she choose? Also did she go with a manual controller, TTL sensor, or sync cord?

There's a wealth of knowledge on forums such as digitaldiver:

http://www.digitaldiver.info/yabbse/index.php?board

There is a section of the digitaldiver web site called the library. Lots of good bits of info stored there.

Another great source is wetpixel.com:

http://www.wetpixel.com/forums/

Both of these forums are dedicated to underwater photography and are frequented by knowledgeable and giving people. Just like Bonaire Talk!

As far as books go, anything authored by Jim Church.