Camera and underwater housing choices

Hello - am looking for a little impartial advice at this time of
seasonal good will.

Here's the scenario - currently have a barely used MMII Ex with strobe,
wide angle etc. Kind of like the idea of U/w photography but not an
expert and only get diving 2x a year max.
More importantly I'm looking to upgade my digicam and thought to kill
two birds with one stone.

Am seriously tempted by the Minolta Dimage A200 which gets good good
reviews and has loads of flexibility (8megapixels and 7x optic zoom).
Certainly would do for my land-side needs! However when it comes to u/w
it seems to have only ewa-marine housing available (certified to 30m /
100feet) rather than an ikelite or proprietary solid housing.

So who out there has experiences of ewa-marine casings - maybe just a
psychological thing but the ikelite type housing does give a more
secure feeling - watertightness, ease of use on controls etc.

As an alternative I could go for Olympus SP350 with the propietary
PT-030.

Thanks

Hi Ray,

Thanks for feedback; is your answer based on personal experience? My
normal diving (on nitrox) would keep me within the limits you mention
but I understand what you're saying. Is the secret of this to have lots
of air in bag on surface before the dive?

Anyway still keeping an open mind,

Season's Greetings

Philip

In message <1135335989.543591.95400@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
philip_amswych@lineone.net writes
>Hi Richard,
>
>I guess it's 'cos I'm suckered into thinking that the a200, Fuji9500
>type cameras give me more options on land and that's where I'll
>primarily do majority of photo work - but you may be right and I'm
>keeping options open.
>
>Thanks for response and Season's Greetings
>
>Philip
>

I have only done about 65 dives, mostly in the Red Sea, and have never
seen anyone using a bag of any kind for their camera - always the solid
plastic cases.

Why not have a separate camera for diving? I got an Ixus 500 from Canon
on Ebay for a friend for £170 about 12 months ago, (so probably cheaper
now), and a housing for about £80 IIRC.

--
Richard Faulkner

philip_amswych@lineone.net wrote:
> Hi Ray,
>
> Thanks for feedback; is your answer based on personal experience? My
> normal diving (on nitrox) would keep me within the limits you mention
> but I understand what you're saying. Is the secret of this to have lots
> of air in bag on surface before the dive?
>
> Anyway still keeping an open mind,
>
> Season's Greetings
>
> Philip
>


I sold a lot of these when I had a store and had to explain
to every customer that the bag is rated to take the pressure
of the 100 foot depth ... not necessarily so the camera.

And as far as filling the bag up with air before the dive,
well, that's like diving with a soccer ball! Hard to
submerge, hard to handle in the shallows, hard to get at
controls until compressed ... just plain miserable!

No, the Ewa bag is best used for surface water sports and
snorkeling.

--

Ray Contreras
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