[Tim Ingmire]

OK how much money have you got? What do you want to take piccies of?

Up to £500 will get you a decent compact digicam and housing but you will suffer from shutter-lag - some of the newer models are getting better but AIUI, still don't match the responsiveness of an SLR.

Up to £2000 CAN get you a housed DSLR - don't bother with the D100 unless you get your hands on a decent 2nd hand job. In many ways the D70 is a better camera and can be got for not a lot of money. Put it in an Ikelite housing and you really can be sorted for less than the £2k figure if you know where to shop. No shutter lag BUT, less flexible once your rigged and in the water. With a DSLR you choose the lens and housing based on the type of photo you want to take on that dive eg a macro lens and flat port for photos of small creatures etc will be of no use if a basking shark just happens to swim by. With a compact digicam you can easily bolt on extra lens underwater.

£2000++++++++++ What you need to think about spending if you want to get serious with lenses, ports, strobes, spares, cables etc etc. Some of this stuff is seriously expensive eg a decent wide-angle zoom such as the Nikon 12-24mm will cost £700+, Strobe cables approx £70 each, high speed / high capacity memory cards, portable storage devices / laptops etc etc etc, Storage cases for travel (excess baggage charges).

TBH I wouldn't bother to house the F65 unless you are already adept at UW film photography. You are going to go through a learning curve once you get your kit and having the immediate feedback that Digital gives you (as well as being able to take almost unlimited nos of pictures cf film) will make that curve a lot less steep. AND, as you go through that learning phase (where you will dump most of your pictures) you could end up wasting lots of money on film and D&P. Keep it as a back-up for topside use.

No matter what you go with, take time to fully understand how your camera works on land cos once you put it in a housing and take it underwater you will think that you own a totally different beast.



So, after all that, I'd say find a decent 2nd hand digicam set-up and learn to use it then think about upgrading to the DSLR if you think that the digicam set-up is restricting you.

Of course I say all this but if you go into a shop and see all that shiny DSLR stuff and a set-up just waiting to be sold and you have the money......Well, you'd have to be a stronger man than I to be able to resist abusing the credit card.

Any other questions then throw them up.