I'm coming to this topic a bit late, but thought I'd chime in. I fully agree with working on buoyancy and dive skills, before getting into a lot of U/W photography. At the same time, I also understand the desire to have recorded memories of those dives. I use a Canon SD-1300 with the underwater case. At most department stores here in the U.S., an SD1300 can be bought for about $100, and is a nice P&S camera. What I prefer on my dives, though, is setting it to video mode, and recording sequences of the dive, rather than trying to get those incredible still photos that the experienced U/W photographers get. First off, I'm still polishing my buoyancy control and ability to stay in one place for a prolonged time, so rather than risk bouncing off the coral or stirring up the silt if I sink a bit while trying to watch that eel, I leave those shots for the experts. Second, the SD1300 is still a P&S camera, and I don't have huge lights and filters to balance out the color loss at depth. In short, I don't have the equipment for the really incredible shots (conceding that incredible shots are more about the photographer, and less about the equipment, but a serious U/W photographer is going to work with a better camera than I have). Most importantly, I can click the shutter to start recording while swimming along. I'm just pointing the camera in the general area of the dive path, to record the overall experience of the dive. I don't have to devote a lot of attention to the camera, and hence can still pay more attention to my developing dive skills. I get home, and can show friends and family highlights of our dives, without having to hope that there will be another diver on the trip willing to share photos.
Just on the counterpoint of the other divers sharing, on one of the dive boats in Hawai'i a few months ago, we were along with several other dive operations on the same boat. The majority of the divers on this boat were from a single travel group, and the treatment we got from them was that we were "intruding" on their excursion. They bordered on rude to anyone not of their group, and had we needed to rely on them for photos/video of the dives, we would have been out of luck. While most other divers we have encountered have been friendly and open, there are unfortunately jerks in every group.
