Casio - anyone use underwater?

Sure it is. It's about 1/3 of what a low-end Ikelite housing would cost, and the same
as shooting a dozen rolls of film. By the time the trip (which costs how much?) is
over it will seem like a really good deal.

Sunpak makes an UW strobe that goes for about $180 (B&H or Adorama pricing). It's
got a long recycle time, but compared to a $520 Ikelite strobe it's dirt cheap. The
$400 for a basic housing and strobe would also let you do all sorts of other fun
stuff, but it's well below hardcore devotion to UW photography. It's the first step
up from simple snapshots. OTOH, if the OP is only a snorkeler she should get some
pretty decent stuff with no flash at all by doing some color correction afterwards.

--
Steve

The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable
belief that it was intended as a statement of fact.

If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address.

Try posting your Q in rec.scuba, or in rec.scuba.equipment. You're more
likely to get a proper answer there.

That said, most people find that these underwater casings are a good
investment, and compared to a dedicated underwater camera is a real
deal. Regardless of the brand/housing you choose I can guarantee that
the photo's will be better then a cheap 35mm camera.

Regardless of which camera you go with, you will be faced with some
issues. The major problem you're going to have is with backscatter,
which occurs when small partials in the water reflect your flash. In
severe cases (which you'll probably not see in the Caribbean) this can
look like a snowstorm. Your only really have 2 options on how to deal
with this:

1) Buy an external strobe which you can position a long ways away from
your camera. A housing and external strobe will set you back a lot, so
this probably isn't the right answer - especially if you're not planning
on taking up underwater photography hard-core.

2) Learn ways to minimize backscatter. There's a lot of little tings
you can do to help minimize this scatter:

-Get close. This'll minimize the amount of water between you and your
subject, and thus minimize the number of floaties which'll create
backscatter. Plus fish are much more impressive when they're close - I
have far too many pictures where the fish of interest is a tiny dot in a
sea of blue.

-Get below your subject and shoot upwards. This'll let a lot of sunlight
enter the camera, and thus much of the backscatter will be hidden by the
bright sunlight. Plus, this usually makes for the most interesting images.

-If you're shallow (less then 20') turn off the flash./ no flash, no
backscatter. DO NOT do this at deeper depths - water acts like a giant
filter which removes red and yellow light. Without a flash you'll loose
all colour at depths below 15-20', and all your pictures will be a
boring blue-green.

-Get something behind your subject. Any background, aside from open
water, will help to hide backscatter. Corals, walls, etc, all make
these things look better.

I've been diving with some Scouting friends for years, and a while ago
we put up a webpage on basic underwater photography. You may find the
info there of some use. Camera experts will probably laugh at the
simplicity of the page, but we've had a lot of positive feedback so the
recommendations can't be all that bad.

#

Bryan