Have Trip - need to purchase SLR, lenses and case.

[akrecdiver]

I'm traveling to a foreign dive destination in three months, and want to purchase photography equipment for above and below water photography. I have Canon and Olympus film SLR cameras, and a Panasonic Digital SLR that I travel with. However, neither are sufficient for my future needs.

I've been looking hard at Nikon and Canon SLRs, and to a lesser degree the Olympus E-510. The Nikon D200, the VR lenses have caught my eye. I've also been looking at Ikelite cases with strobes.

I'm not knew to photography - will be knew to underwater photography - but am not very sophisticated. I'm looking for a "higher" - that's relative - end setup that won't be to complicated to use underwater. I hope to do this under $5000 - and prefer newer gear than what I can find on e-Bay.

 

[gert7to3]

IMHO you are going to be barking up a very challenging tree beginning underwater photography.

You may want to consider a competent non-DSLR camera for underwater use. I think the Canon A640 or G7 cameras would be top contenders. Olympus has not followed on with their SP-350 series (I have a SP-350/PT-030 housing). I haven't followed the Nikon threads at all, but the P5000 looks good. Be sure to search the Nikon and Canon threads.

Ikelite is going to be the only producer of an underwater housing for the Olympus E-510. They say that the new housing will be offered in October. Olympus currently offers a housing for their E-410 and their older E-330. There is an adapter available for your old legacy Oly lenses. The biggest advantage of Oly DSLR's for U/W use is their "Live View" capability. This lets you use the LCD for framing or the viewfinder.

Check this thread for intro u/w stuff:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156914