Hi Folks!

Since so many of you have taken such luscious uw photos of the reef life I was hoping someone could recommend a dependable digital uw camera that was in the 200-300 range? I have a Sony that I love but Sony doesn't make a housing for it so.... Any ideas? If it helps...I'll be snorkeling, not diving (I think! Who knows what I'll try next...) :rolleyes: I'll go for more if it has a good zoom lens! Cannot WAIT!

I use a Canon S30. Bought the houseing too. $1000 for all 4 years ago. Look on Ebay. I use my cam for work all the time so it's paid for it self. Buying a new one is often better cause there's no fear of it failing when you most need it. I also made sure to buy 3 extra batteries with the charger.
Zoom is good for close up shots of real small stuff but not too useful imho.

Just a quicky regarding zoom: Pay no attention to digital zoom - you want optical. Digi zoom diminishes quality, resulting in pixilation once you begin to enlarge images. So look for optical zoom. Spec's frequently list both but don't fall into the marketing trap.

Which Sony do you have?

Olympus makes a great line of digi cams and UW housings, available pretty cheap.

Just to raster you a bit, I'm pretty sure it's pixelation.

duly noted rastered!

Whew! That was close

Only problem with Olympus, in my opinion, is getting things repaired under warranty. We spent a small fortune on one a couple of years ago and the screen blew. We took it to a camera shop in Nice and they said it was due to the constant pressure going in and out of tunnels on the high speed train from Paris - had seen it happen often, apparently. Back home in Canada, they "accused" us of dropping it - think we would have remembered that, eh? Worked my way up the chain of command and they eventually said they'd cover the cost of labour only. Had already spent enough $ on shipping to repair shop, insurance, estimate, etc. Went out and bought another. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

I'm following this thread for suggestions too...nsn, what brand of underwater camera did you buy? Do you recommend it?

Hon - I bought a regular digital to replace the Olympus, but looking at the Pentax Optio W10 for underwater. It's about $100 cheaper than the Olympus and, unless you're a pro, just about as good from what I can see. There are probably others here with more experience and can give better advice on cameras than I.