another photography question - for scuba diving

[SoCaTraveler]

Hi everyone ~

We're off to St. Thomas / St. John / Virgin Gorda a week from today. Woo-hoo! My husband and daughter will go on a few diving trips. My son and I will snorkel.

We will be bringing a Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR and a Nikon Coolpix 7900 and need to purchase an underwater housing for one of these, and maybe a flash. We are not avid underwater photography enthusiasts, but are looking for low cost options that will still yield some decent pics.

Question....

How far down do you really start needing a flash? I know they will go to about 80' when diving the Rhone in the BVI. Not sure how far down they'll go around STT / STJ.

I'm leaning (strongly) toward buying the underwater housing (and flash, if needed) for the Coolpix as it's a much smaller camera and easier to deal with while diving (and while snorkeling, as well). Let me know if we should really be purchasing the equipment for the SLR.

I know I should ask this on the underwater photography section of scubaboard.com... but thought I'd ask here first.

Thank you!!

Carole

[DCphoto]

You will need flash at those depths. Also, check with a local dive shop where you live, they sometimes rent camera equipment for trips. For you SLR camera, a housing can be quite expensive, a couple of thousand dollars for some. Also I would look at getting insurance for your camera. Some policies offer flood insurance in case the housing fails.

[SoCaTraveler]

Hey thanks, DC... I notice the underwater housing I am looking at comes with flood insurance.

I'll check for rentals here in San Diego (didn't even think about that)... then will purchase, including the flash, if the rental doesn't work out.

Carole

[SoCaTraveler]

OK... an update. Our local dive shop (at least the one that is open on Sunday) does not rent underwater cameras / equipment.

I called B&H (www.bhphotovideo.com) and they said there isn't an external flash for the Nikon Coolpix 7900. So I purchased the appropriate Nikon underwater housing and that's it... hopefully the internal flash will be sufficient. Guess we'll find out after we get back!

Carole

[DCphoto]

Good luck with everything. It was worth a try, I been in a few dive shops and some do and some don't rent equipment. Also, I did a search on ebay, There are a lot of Nikonos V underwater 35mm film cameras for sell, cheap! When I started out they were very expensive. If you don't mind shooting film this is a good alternative for divers not wanting to spend huge amounts on housing for SLR Digitals. Also I believe you can take a underwater photography courses through most dive shops as well.

[SoCaTraveler]

Yes, there was an underwater photography class offered at a local dive shop recently that we almost sent our daughter to... but she was busy with Lacrosse this past semester and didn't have time to go. I'm going to do a bit of internet searching and get her to read a few things before we go, like this:

http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.html