OK, we are beginning dive photographers and are looking for one of those digital cameras that we can purchase a houseing for, or one that comes as a set, but the camera is removable to use on the land..any suggestions, we are looking to spend less than $500.00 total including additional memory...and I guess no stobe lights at this time....thanks Julie and Tom

I found a Cannon A80 for $360 and a case for $160 through an outfit in New York that I found on e-bay

Do you know what their name or ebay store name was?

Julie here's listing from DPreview. Looks like the camera is $300 new, looks like the case is another $200, here. That camera is a very good choice and will do the job.

You could probably save another $100, if you buy used off of E-Bay.

Hi Julie and Tom

Here's another way to go. Check out Olympus digital cameras in the price range you feel comfortable with, then go to this site:

http://store.aikotradingstore.com/oluncaho.html

This site will show you underwater housings for all the Olympus digital cameras, high-end to low. I picked up an Olympus 580 Z and got the PT021 housing from them. I'm really impressed with the quality of the housing and can't wait to use it on our first trip to Bonaire September 17th.

If nothing else, this will give you another option on buying an underwater camera at a reasonable cost. Good luck .... Richard

I have a P 9 and a housing. Just bought a strobe for it. Pictures are great underwater as well as on land. The pictures are better after I took an underwater photography course with Jim Church's School. Sue

Check out the Sea&Sea Aquapix 3.1. I use an Olympus C400 in an Ikelite housing and love it. Digital is the way to go. There are a lot of possibilities. I strobe is hard to do with out, but can be added later. Try liesurepro.com and bhphotovidio.com. I have found good values at both sites. Good luck!

The best place to get camera gear in NYC is B&H Photo. The website is very complete - bhphotovideo.com

Hi Julie another website is www.backscatter.com

I picked up the Canon S40 digital with a Canon housing made for the camera a couple of years ago and I'm certain the prices have really come down by now. The housing was very reasonable and easy to use. Canon has later models out now, too, so the S40 is not the most current one. The camera is 4 million pixel capable and takes great shots on land as well as under water.

Good luck on your search!! Carole

I picked up the Canon S40 digital with a Canon housing made for the camera a couple of years ago and I'm certain the prices have really come down by now. The housing was very reasonable and easy to use. Canon has later models out now, too, so the S40 is not the most current one. The camera is 4 million pixel capable and takes great shots on land as well as under water.

Good luck on your search!! Carole

Oops.....sorry about that! cb

We use the Canon S45 with the underwater housing which is good to 30M. Other Canon models are available with housings to 40M for the deeper divers. Its a good piece of kit and reasonably priced despite our bias (we both work for Canon!).
Although the pictures of Bonaire have yet to be put on our site you can view the results of other dives on our website if you like? All the photo's there were made with nothing more than the internal flash, no strobes etc.
www.divetastik.tk

Julie, Office Depot has the Canon A80 on sale for $200 for the next three days. Click Here.

Hi, Mick! I tried to access your link a couple of times but I can't get it to open up...."Website not responding....". I tried to reboot, too, but nada. I was really looking forward to seeing your photos!

Julie...keep us posted as to what you decide, OK? Thanks Carole

Hi Carole,

Wierd, the link works for me and I can see some of the posters have visited as the hit count is mostly from the states? Sorry you cant see them. Is it possible to post pictures on here (even if its just one or two)?

PS I'm away for a few days and will check responses on my return.

Mick

Mick, I looked at your pictures, very nice stuff. The Canons do a nice job, are reasonably priced and have a great UW white balance. You can post pictures here. It's a little tricky and worth trying in the test area first. The instructions are at the bottom of the page.

Hi Mick - I enjoyed your photos, you got some great shots....

Cecil - Thanks for the link on the Canon A80, good price and I need a camera so tomo I'll go get this one! We'll arrive in Bonaire two weeks from today....camera in hand

Hmmm, maybe it's my settings. I'll have to play around with it some more. Same message tonite. Thanks! Carole

Mick,
I enjoyed your website & photos. Fun,Fact,& Kit and Club Gatherings gave me a good laugh. I think you guys have a great time together.
Yanagirl

Hi Julie,
We bought a Canon A70 about 16 months ago for about $300.00 and a 128M flashcard for about $70.00. Recently I've seen the A70 for around $250.00 and we bought a 256M flashcard about a month ago for $30.00. Last year the waterproof case was $250.00, this year it was $160.00 and ours arrived Friday. I really like it so far, all the functions are accessable and its good for like 120' deep but hopefully that won't be an issue being snorklers. I've been practising in the pool this weekend, the only problem I find is seeing the subject you're shooting. The view finder can't be used due to the flash diffusion plate and the LCD is hard to see on top of the water in bright sunlight, removing the diffusion plate helped a little but subject is blurred. This is our first experience with underwater cameras other than the disposible type. Maybe this is the case with all underwater cameras or isn't a problem at depths. Anyway we can take about 300 high quality pictures with the 256M flashcard and delete what we don't like or guessed wrong on in the evenings. We'll find out in 3 weeks, hopefully we'll have some good pics to post. By the way, the A80 for $200.00 sounds like a great deal. Help, I wanted to post a pic but don't seem to be able to figure out how.
Ray and Pam

Where do I get a housing for the A80? I am assuming I can purchase the extra memory etc....from the where I buy the camera...but where do I look to purchase a housing?
Thanks,

Julie

Ritz and/or Wolfe camera for extra memory. I also bought a card reader and memory together.

I found the housing on ebay for $160.

(Message edited by jstig on September 6, 2004)

I found an A 80 on ebay I can afford new, what do I look under for compatable housing...sorry to sound stupid, I don't want to end up with a $200 housing that I can't use. So is there a specific brand size etc..to look under....thanks for all your help!!

I found an A 80 on ebay I can afford new, what do I look under for compatible housing...sorry to sound stupid, I don't want to end up with a $200 housing that I can't use. So is there a specific brand size etc..to look under....thanks for all your help!!

Julie, try looking on this Canon site. The A80 is on the left column, click on that and then go to Accessories on that left side and see what they have in there. There is a housing made just for this camera so it should (hopefully) give you the model number, etc. If so, you can check the price of the housing there and then on eBay or somewhere else. Good luck! Here is the link to the Canon site. Carole

http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/BeBit-e.html

http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/BeBit-e.html

Just ask for the housing for the Canon A80

Julie the second link from my above post was for the UW housing. This one. There are a number of places to buy the housing. This is the part number you are looking for Canon WP-DC900.

We bought a Digital Nikon Coolpics 4300 for general surface use and like it for the most part. Has anyone tried to use that underwater. Don't even know if it's a possibility. The count down begins and the wishes and needs list is beginning to mount.

I considered buying the 4300 when I was shopping. I think there is a case for it. Try searching on ebay or go to the Nikon site to see whats available.

Julie and Jane

Try digideep they give details of underwater cases for cameras and basic prices. I would expect that you could improve on these prices on-line.

I don't think I would by a case at e-bay there is no telling what treatment it has had in the past!

Dave

Digi Deep

We found ours by just doing a search "Canon A70 underwater", which lists many websites and a little info. One site even broke down the different sites by price. These are for new cases, we finally got ours from a place like electricsam.com?

Jane you can get an Ikelite housing for your 4300. Nikon housings are more expensive but worth it. You can add Sea&Sea strobes and lenses. That camera takes awesome under water photos housed, a friend has one. I use the Olympus C400 in a simular housing and it works fantastic. Will be adding a post soon to share some photos, so check it out when I get the site running. Also, the best place to by these housings cost wise is bhphotovideo.com. Cannon housing for A40 or A80 is $169.95 / Ikelite for the Nikon 4300 is $475.00. Hope this helps, Take Care

Typo / Cannon A70 or A80 is 169.95 (Buy)

I am running a slave Reefmaster strobe from Sea Life with my A80. I took off the reflector plate and filed a nob on the base plate. There is enough flash from the A80 to trigger the strobe.

I think Nikon also makes a housing for the 4300 (cp-4) which will run less that the Ikelite.

Mike,Cathy,Dave and John,

Thanks for the information. Glad to hear the Coolpics 4300 can go under.

Thanks to everyone for the great info. I think we have deferred our purchase until we get back, so many decisions and so little time, and with the investment we want to make sure we get the right thing for us. So we'll just have to wing it with renting a couple times and hope we end up with some good pictures....again thank you to everyone.

Julie,

As you see all of us have opinions concerning cameras and other matters. I purchased an Olympus 740, 10 opitical zoom and find it wonderful for about everything. Not perfect though. I just set it to auto and fire away. Above water, under water, in an housing, ;-), into the sun, night, day, you name it. Most of my underwater pictures are just fish tails anyway. Delay, darn fish won't stop, eels, lobsters, crabs and sea horses are best. (LOL) Well some are actually good and even better that for a few. The idea is just to enjoy yourself and have fun. I don't care to carry stobes and other stuff. Diving is supposed to be fun. Doubles are out and heavey equipment I don't want to worry about. I just use the flash the camera has. Works great for me. I'm just trying to capture some of the stuff I see to remember the trip. I have some great pictures from Dominica both above and below that I should share sometime. With the 10x zoom I out did some of my friends with highend cameras. My guess that someone always has better pictures than I. Just enjoy the moments.

Pat

Well, while I was fine to wait, Tommy got ants in his pants and decided last evening he had to have a camera to go to Bonaire with. We found a great deal on a SeaLife 310 with strobe, carry case, on http://www.divesports.com/. I was able to go up to our local dive shop and actually look at the camera and I think for now it will be fine....we will get more technical down the road, since he is probably going to be the picture guy, and they are going to get it to us tomorrow morning and we still paid less than if we paid everything seperate....go figure. Now we will really be able to post a few pictures when we return!!

Thanks again.

Julie, your killing me. After all that great advice you go out and buy that POS. My bumper sticker on that camera is an inferior camera at a superior price. It's 3 megapixel, no zoom camera and costs a lot. I have yet to see anyone get even a mediocre picture with it. You would be better off with a disposable. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Oh well, it's your choice. Prove me wrong, please.

Have a great time on your trip.

It’s a bit expensive, but in terms of simplicity and basic functions, it’s not a bad first camera. You may experience a lot less frustration than you'd have with some of the other choices. Another option would have been to rent a couple different cameras for a few dives and see what you like, what results you get. (Check out the topic ‘Bonaire Photography & Videography’ on this site for more camera discussion and great pix.)

We received a SeaLife ReefMaster RC film camera as a wedding gift. Unfortunately we didn’t open most of our presents until returning from the honeymoon in the USVI and the day after the wedding, ran out and bought a Sea & Sea MX-10 and strobe. Digital has spoiled us, but we weren’t about to spend the $700+ (at that time) for a pitiful 1-2 megapixel underwater digital. In Bonaire last September, we used both.

I was fairly pleased with the ReefMaster and liked the flexibility of the strobe arm—the same one you have on your 310. (Don’t forget to turn it ON!) My only caution would be to avoid the quick-shot crosshair view finder—mine was seriously off-target. (I have a lot of photos of the bottom and top halves of things.)

At least with digital you won’t have to wait until shooting 20 rolls to see the results. Since the macro and closeup lenses fit both their film and digital cameras, you may be able to find them cheap from someone who’s upgrading to another brand.

From what I can tell, you can’t change to macro mode while underwater with this camera. Using the macro and closeup lenses may be a way around this. (Caution: they slipped off easily on my camera—make sure they’re tethered and in place.) Try out your camera in a pool to get oriented before your trip.

Now I have an Olympus C-5050 and housing but have yet to use it underwater. It’s a much more complex camera and I’m debating on whether to bring the Reefmaster along on my next U/W trip. There’s a lot to say for point & shoot simplicity while underwater.

See a review of the 310 at:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/dc310.html
There are four pages plus a ‘Conclusion.’ Look at all of them. The info on this site is probably better and more useful than your camera manual.

Julie,

I'm sure the two of you will enjoy the camera. What is right for sum of us is not for others. I would have pushed you towards a camera with a seperate housing. Add strobes later. This could have given you a camera for both in and out of the water. Plus you could have driven up the megapixel and zoom at about the same cost if not less. I do use the zoom a lot underwater to get close to creatures without distribing the reef. Does work well.

Good luck and enjoy the camera. I'm sure you will.

Pat

P.S. Also enjoy Bonaire.

Julie sorry I was so negative, having been burned badly by a Reefmaster I have to strong an opinion. I still hate to see someone pay $700 for a camera with a fixed focus lens that can not focus inside 4 feet, shoot, I never take a picture UW if the subject is further than 4' from the camera. Most times the subject is inside 1' which that camera will not do even with a $50 macro lens.