I began with a 35mm Sealife and then a Canon A40 with an underwater housing. I would like to upgrade to something digital with an exteranl strobe. Any suggestions?? My pics are for personal enjoyment!!
Thanks.

Doug you probably should stick with Canon. The A620 is a great above and under water camera. It should run around $500 for the camera and UW case. The UW case is a Canon WP-DC-90. Here's a review.

There are quite a few on the market that do a nice job. Here are my requirements:

1> Camera MUST have full manual controls- they are a necessity for UW photos IMO

2> at least 4mp, 5 or more is better up to a point, 8 and more don't buy you much picture quality and eat up memory

3> Uses AA batteries, you need several sets. Custom batteries are expensive, hard to find and requires a special charger. As a bare minimum, the batteries must be chargable OUT of the camera. Also, strobes mostly use AA's, why carry 2 types and chargers.

4> must have at least macro and preferably super macro capability

5>some people insist on true TTL strobe control, I find the S-TTL and a fiber strobe connection do nicely.

Hope that helps

With the Canon A620, do you use an external strobe?

as i understand it TTL does not work as well with digital cameras as it may have with film SLRs...so consider some setup that will allow manual control of the flash level - ikelite makes such a controller.

so look at ikelite for a housing/strobe, they have the external connectors, controllers and strobes you need.

as far as the camera is concerned - pick one that is inexpensive and easy to find a replacement for when you do something stupid and flood it;)

good luck,

Doug the A620 has an internal strobe (as do all) and it will work UW. Some of us are happy with just the internal and do not want the expense, bulk and hassle of an external strobe. The normal recommendation is to start out with the internal strobe and get used to the camera before adding an external.

Herman, I do have one exception to your list. My Sony DSC-P150 does not use AA batteries and can only be charged in the camera. Not a problem at all, this last trip to Bonaire I took 650 pictures and charged the battery twice (which only takes a couple of hours). Although generally speaking, AA's are the best choice.

I know some of the newer batteries last a lot longer, my big beef is they will become "obsolete" in a year or 2. As Murfy requires, yours will go dead just before a big trip and no one will have one. My 5050 is still going strong but it, along with the 5060,7070 and seems like the 8080 are all out of production. Their special batteries will soon follow, AA's for my 5050 will be easy to find for many years.
Internal flashes work ok for macro and some super macro work, at times I use mine along with the external strobe but for any other shots, an external strobe is almost a requirement. Go ahead and plan on getting one if you want more than macro shots or lots of shots with no color.

All to true about the camera/batteries going out of production. But thank God for E-bay, I can still find new batteries for my 6 year old Sony P5. The other point is you are only going to get maybe 5 years out of a digital camera anyway. The way the technology is going I can't see people keeping an old digital for very long. The eternal quest for more megapixels.