BTers,

How many of us received this lovely camera from Santa....
I'll start the list:
Yana in NC (Thanks to Santa’s helpers Ellen Muller and Bas for mine!)

Yanagirl

Count me in too! Now, did you get the housing with it? I did! Gee Yana, if we are all on island at the same time we better have ours special color coded to tell them apart...oh wait, I see a "Bonaire SP-350 Digital Shoot-out" in the near future! lol!

Yana
Cynde
Kelly

Cyn,
No, I did not get the housing...Yet. I will get it in May 06 about a month before we return to Bonaire. Craig thought why waste the warranty on the housing till then. Craig also said he could not find the extra "O" rings for the housing.
Yana

Kelly, My birthday twin!!!
We are Too Cool!!

Steve actually said the same thing about the housing, he is getting it for me prior to my July trip. I didn't want him to "waste" that extra money when I won't be using it. So with that extra money I got another present... lol...

Yana YGM.

Yes, Ellen and Bas are the greatest Santa's helpers of all. xoxoxoxo to them!!!

Congratulations gals on the new cameras!!! I can't wait to see the pictures.
I just wanted to mention that digital technology changes rapidly and it might not be wise to wait to get the housing as it may not be available. I know it happened to me with my Sony and I had to pay through the nose for the housing when I did find one. Just a little food for thought.

Yana, Kelly and Cynde - great job on the new cameras!!!

Santa brought me a Olympus c-8080 with the housing. The housing is huge - something that it will take me a bit to get used to after my baby sony housing that I have been using!!

Yana - it was great seeing you and Craig on your way to Bonaire!!! When in June will you be going? Dirk, the boys and I will be there June 10 - 24!!

Can't wait to see pics from all of you guys with the new camera - Kelly have you figured out how to download yet???

Mary, I'm with you on the housing buttons and functions (in comparison to the 2 on my old UW digital)! I'm getting used to the camera, then going to put it in the housing and play with it a LOT before our Hawaii trip in April...so that when I get wet I'll know which buttons to push! lol!

Great Christmas gifts, gals. Word of caution: Always be careful to close the housing tightly before going into water! Hubby didn't do that once and flooded his camera before he caught on. So, now he always checks to make sure before submerging! LOL! Can laugh about it now, but then it wasn't too funny, luckily we did have a spare u/w camera we could use. We also had insurance on the camera, so it worked out well in the end.

Darlene,
Thanks for the "heads up" warning!

Mary M,
off topic...WE need to talk about the June 06 trip!!! We will have 18yo and 14yo boys with us this time...Both new divers. Going to Fla this weekend...will contact you when we get back!!

Cyn & Kelly,
I think, I'll be very clumsy under water with a camera. I can't believe I'm even entertaining the idea of taking pictures.....

Debbie,
You mean I need a backup camera! Boy, have I bitten off more than I can chew!

Yana

Debbie, I have an UW film and digital already...they aren't as "nice" as the oly though! I've managed to stay away from flooding them so far, but I'm a little more nervous now with the oly...thus I'm going to get the added insurance for sure!

Have fun with the cameras, I don't think I could even learn how to use all those buttons and gadgets some of those cameras have. If you girls manage to learn the technique, I may have to try hubby's. I only been able to manage the Sea & Sea something or other, a yellow camera with a telescope thingie on it! LOL I am so not technical with those cameras!

Yana
Cynde
Kelly

I must echo Darlene's advice! Housings are not always readily available and can be discontinued before you know it. I had to replace a cracked housing, and like Darlene, it was hard to find and NOT cheap. Also, you will want to get acquainted with the housing and it's size, features and function. Operation outside vs inside a housing takes getting used to IMO and the only way to do that is to have the whole setup and practice with it. I suggest you get the housing ASAP. I'm glad I did. M2C.

Hey Smackster...I got the housing with my camera I've been playing around with the camera as much as I can to get used to it...and if the cards are right and I can get a free trip to Vegas with my AMEX points in Jan...I'm taking it with me and going to try it out in the pool so when we hit Hawaii in April, I'm ready to go and know (or at least sort of) what buttons to push!

Here are a few snapshots with the new camera

Lots of squirrels on the local golf course that love to have their photo taken:



When we went down to the pier today to check things out, the pigeons were lined up all fluffed up trying to stay warm (woosy California pigeons)

John brought his new Olympus 7070 in its expensive Light & Motion housing to Bonaire in Sept. Soon after we were in the water @ Nearest Point, the flood warning light went on so we surfaced, blew our whistles, surfaced swam with camera out of the water back to the boat where Enrique was waiting to take the camera. It was just a warning and not a flood. We are very careful with that camera. He is getting the dome port for it before our next photography course with Mike & Mike (Jim Church School of Photography) on the T&C Aggressor in May. Our DM, photographer, friend, Jerry, @ SCUBA in St.Croix gave John a clip to clip the camera to his BCD which is helpful when he needs two hands for something and he doesn't want to loose the camera!
Santa gave me a wide angle lens for my camera which I have to take good care of.