digital newbie

I will be venturing out on my first underwater photography dive trip next month and have been reading everything I can find about digital photography, underwater photography, and image processing and think I have a basic understanding (and a bad case of information overload), but I'm not sure about the sequence of events after I come home with a large quantity of pictures, so I need your guidance. Let's assume I come home from my trip with a few hundred pictures shot in HQ ready to download to my PC, I would like to know the sequence of steps you use working with your photos. For example: Do you save them in TIFF first before processing, put them on CD, crop, delete, etc., etc. I seem to have an idea what the things are that you can do, but not what a logical order to do them in is. HELP!!!

I have my PT-010 housing and just received my Ultralite tray and arms yesterday (which I really think I'm going to love) and my Ikelite DS-125 strobe is on the way but I have a question about the housing/weight. Do I use the weight that came with the housing, or is that not needed with the arms and strobe? If I do use it, I'm not sure how to assemble it with the Ultralite tray and the housing (as to what goes where and in what order). I'm looking for your wisdom. Thanks in advance.

Thanks to my husband, my DS-125 strobe and Ultralite arms are ordered, and I will be ordering my PT-010 housing within the next week, so now I need to figure out what to buy to carry it all in for travel. I would be interested in what type of setup you all use to travel with (Pelican case, backpacks, sizes, etc), and any tips or tricks on how to pack for ease in airport security, or do you check your gear. We normally carry our regs, computers, and 1 days clothes and swimwear, but now with the camera equipment, I may have to rethink all that. My trip draws nearer so I could really use your help and suggestions. Thanks

I am looking for recommendations for some web sources for Ultralite arms. I know Marine Camera carries them and I am checking with them, but can anyone recommend any others?

I thought I had decided on a housing for my Oly C4040, but read one review that had me concerned. I am small (5'2) and have very small kid sized hands. It's even a stretch for me to reach brake levers on a road bike. Will I have some trouble reaching the zoom and shutter with an Ikelite housing?

I really enjoyed all the input on the DS-125 versus the YS-90DX, but I neglected to ask for a recommendation on where to buy whichever I choose. Any recommendations? I still also have to get my Ikelite housing for my Oly C-4040. Can you order directly from Ikelite? I'm in Northern Indiana, so with Ikelite in Indianapolis, ordering, parts, service, etc. would be really easy.

Thanks so much for your input. After hearing someone mention it, I did do a search and found a lot of information on both strobes, some of which was specific to my camera. What I got out of it all was that either strobe would be a good choice, that there are pros and cons to each, and there will really be no "wrong" choice. I don't believe I've ever seen any forum issue/question for which there is truly not a "majority" opinion to lead a decision one way or the other. To me this is both good and bad because I really can't make a huge mistake, but for someone like me who likes to go one direction and never look back and say "what if I had gone the other way", it makes this a really tough decision. I may end up sending some private emails (if possible) to some of you who expressed opinions on one or the other. I am hoping to get more detailed information from those who have used those strobes specifically with the Oly C4040Z. By doing that you won't be rehashing the same issue and adding to the "body count". I do have an additional couple of questions for the group. Does the arm setup that comes with the Ikelite housing work with either strobe? Aside from the housing and strobe, would there be any other items I would need to buy with either strobe to actually start using the setup? What is the average price of the YS-90DX? I know the approximate price of the other from the Ikelite site and some online retailers, but haven't been able to find that info for the 90DX. My husband has an IKE 200 strobe that he uses with his Nikonos. At times the battery door is a real pain to get open after a dive and is apparently one of the "cons" with that particular strobe. Is there any similar problem with the IKE DS-125? Thanks for all present, past, and future help and patience with my questions. By the way, my husband is already talking about using my setup on any days that he dives and I don't. (Sounds like there might end up being a Nokonos setup for sale in the future).

Although I enjoy both diving and photography (hobby level), I really had no interest in combining the two until I started looking at digital (my husband dives with a Nikonos). I just purchased a Olympus C4040Z and am really enjoying learning and playing with all the features on land, but am looking at getting a setup for underwater for our trip to Curacao at the end of October. I plan to go with the Ikelight housing, but am really undecided on wether to go with the Sea and Sea YS-90DX or the Ikelight DS-125. I of course want good pictures (who doesn't), reliability, and would like a somewhat easy learning curve and ease of use. I would really appreciate any opinions or information to help me make this decision. I'm really agonizing over which to get.