underwater photography advice
 

Since you all were so helpful to the person wanting digital camera advice, I thought I would venture into the posting here. I have been lurking for months since my husband and I are coming to Oz leaving Seattle June 29 and leaving July 23. We have a digital camera and were wondering on the pros and cons of lugging an underwater casing around to get pictures while snorkeling. Has anyone done this and been glad, or wished they had not? We have used disposable ones before and not been happy.
Thanks!
Sally and Randy

We bought an underwater housing for one of the Canon Powershot cameras for our trip to Hawaii and were thrilled with the results. We got some amazing pictures of a giant turtle and many colorful fish. We had always been seriously unhappy with the results from the diposables and found the difference to be night and day.

We are avid snorklers and have used every disposable as well as a Minolta underwater film camera. I bought a digital for two reasons, light and compact to carry traveling and could use underwatwer. The results are fantastic. worth every cent for the underwater case. Besides, better pictures when taken, the software available to enhance the pictures makes them even more impressive. No more all-blue underwater pictures.

Got our case and are figuring out how to open it! Plan to practice on our fish tank, but we have seen our son's pictures from Pennekamp (in Fla) and are hoping to have equally clear and true color. We, too, have experienced the blue, uninteresting pictures with the disposables. Thanks for your advice. Any hints on getting good pictures underwater?
SnRSeattle

I purchased, via the internet, 2 Kodak underwater disposable cameras before my trip to the Great Barrier Reef 18 months ago. Fantastic pictures. Camera very light weight and very easy to use. Especially without my glasses on. I was more worried about the airport x-rays ruining the film, but that did not happen.

I found this website very helpful for the basics of underwater photography.

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

Well, Randy here. I'm far and away the most often the one taking the shots with our Nikon 4300, and the underwater case makes it easy. Happened to have two choices of case, and I simply chose the option with the ability to zoom back and forth and shoot. Works great. I/we've used it often now, and the advice I'd offer is pretty common sense: start with a full battery and CF; take LOTS of shots - your own bobbing and movement of your targets will make many pics disappointing. It's really like playing golf: many bad shots and a few real delights. The delights are worth it! And if you want more than to just see pretty pics when you get back, buy and take a book about the fish common to your snorkel locale. This and the wire to display your shots on the tv may make for wonderful evenings reliving your day's adventure. Ah, one more tip, a Photoshot program (Album or Elements) will allow rank amateurs to make simply amazing improvements to your shots. Let the program do the automatic/default touchup and you'll be amazed at how cloudy/hazy pics become clear.
Happy picture taking.