Don in Colorado

I believe the general thinking is these "accidents" of premature press releases are marketing genius by the manufacturers. The "premature" announcement has been great advertising for Canon. It rumors of this camera are all over the net. That's ok with me. Just adds more fun to the hobby. As for me, It is way out of my price league (if the rumors are correst). In a few years, 11 megapixels will seem probably be mainstream , or less than mainstream. (I hope so).

Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciated the view with the normal lens. The quality was quite good, considering the distance you were from the subjects. I was interested in your comments of underwater lights vs strobe. I always assumed that strobe quality pictures would be better than lights, but maybe that isn't true. Strobes are hard to aim and quite expensive. Underwater lights are easy to aim, after all, they are on when aiming them, and although not cheap, they are less expensive than strobes. If you ever get a wide angle adapter for your camera, I'd love to see them. Also, I'd love to see pictures taken with strobe, vs underwater lights. I have an underwater strobe, but I am not sure how it will behave as a slave with the preflash. I seems to work ok (above water) at 1/4 power setting, but doesn't work well as a slave at 1/2 or full power settings. On 1/4 power it works fine, maybe the flash lasts longer if going off with the preflash at 1/4 power. I don't have an underwater case for this camera, and probaly will have to buy a new camera. I enjoy seeing photos that people have taken with consumer priced products. If it costs several thousand dollars to take an adequate underwater photo, then I am getting into the wrong hobby. It seems you should be able to get great pictures for less than $1500 if you know what you are doing, and have some decent equipment. Maybe not good enough for the cover of a magazine, but enough to have personal pride in. (Actually, the pictures in magazines are often not so great. Maybe great wide angle underwater photography is simply impossible.) This lighting issue remains mysterious to me. If anybody wants to add to this question of wide angle lighting with consumer priced products, I'd love your input. I'd especially enjoy input regarding slave strobes and preflash. I have read all the various posts, but haven't really seen an answer to the issue.

I am thinking about getting into digital photography. I am ONLY interested in wide angle pictures. Mostly interested in pictures of other divers in scenic shots. I can't afford a super expensive housing, so I am interested in the Canon housings and Olympus housing, and their performance with wide angle subjects. I have looked at the various galleries, but most of the samples are not of wide angle subjects. Your Canon shots looked good, and I was wondering if they would be improved with a slave strobe. I have a Sea and Sea SB-300 strobe that I have practiced with above water with my Olympus UZ2100. The strobe fires on the flash, and not the preflash in slave mode. Has anyone tried a slave strobe with the Canon cameras with wide angle? Any advice on wide angle shooting with Olympus or Canon housing would be appreciated. I am not interested in the Tetra housings or Ikelite housings due to cost considerations.