Kim in PL

I wish I had put the little weights in my camera housing, it would have made handling the camera much simpler.  I had the camera tethered to a D-ring on my vest, and if I let go of it, it would float overhead, behind my head, out of sight, tangle in the hoses, etc.  I felt slightly stoopid thinking I had somehow lost the camera, then thrashing around awkwardly to grasp it. If it had been at neutral bouyancy it would have been floating in view.  Also, try sticking something floaty in your BC pocket -- it does not want to stay put.  The weights will go in the housing before my next dive trip, for sure!

I used rechargeable batteries; one set to use, another set to charge.  No issues whatsoever, although I did not have a strobe draining their power.  (Another accessory to pick up for my next dive trip.)

You are going to have so much fun!!

Welllllll.......  Here's a link to my adventures.  Remember, just an amateur snapper and novice diver (slightly obsessed with palm trees)....

http://www.palmtalk....showtopic=17943

Allison -- thanks for the invitation, but I had other obligations and couldn't swing it.  I'll bet the film fest was fantastic...  Might attend the next meeting, though.

Eric -- me, post photos?  Oooo, that's intimidating, there are real photographers here.      I'm posting a whole travel log with pix on another board, but very few discerning photographers there (read: safe! no pressure! lots of positive feedback!).

Wish I had read those last 3 replies before I left...  Lots of good detail from robbarker, thanks for taking the time to post it.

As a follow-up, all went well enough.  I had a few minor, temporary glitches with the camera, just because it wasn't that familiar to me.  After the second dive day I had it wired and managed to brighten up the color I was getting.  While nothing that would impress anyone here, the pix are far better than had I not researched this board and asked for suggestions.  Best of all, it was five days of thrills:  the diving was really fun, the water was warm, the visibililty, while apparently sub-par for the location, was still far better than my past experiences; I saw masses of coral and critters, my diving skills took a great leap forward, the local food was delicious, and on the sixth day I climbed to the top of a Mayan temple.  What more could I want?

It was also interesting to see the cameras other divers were using, some very simple, others quite elaborate.  For now, simple is good; if I continue to travel and dive, I can always expand the gear.  Thanks to all of you for your comments.

Cheers,

You can go to our Zenfolio site with the link below and look at the images we have captured. In 06' some of those images were taken with a Canon s410, no external strobes. On to 2008 you can view Belize and Bonaire images and see what a strobe(s) will do for you. I would agree completely that you don't want to overtask yourself and that adding a strobe will be expensive. I also believe that when the time comes for you to add that strobe you should spend as much as you think you can and think about whether your going to change cameras in the future. If the strobe you buy now will work nicely with your current camera and move with you when you upgrade you've saved yourself some cabbage.

Have fun!

Jeff

Well it sure was fun looking at your slideshows!  While the advantage of the strobe is evident, it's nice to see you can get some quite good shots without.  For this trip, I've decided to keep it simple.  

I'll check back and let you know how it went.  Thanks for all the info, this website is an excellent resource.