My old canon was much more basic than the tz5 and does not have the plethora of setting choices. I have been trying all the settings underwater that seem relevant, ie underwater scene, intelligent auto and regular auto with different iso's, etc. When I look through the canon forum on this board for underwater photography, I see discussions on specific questions for specific cameras. I am not finding much about the tz5 when I do searches. What I'm looking for is some discussions about the tz5 in terms of what it's strengths and weaknesses are underwater. I appreciate the link for the review you included in your reply. I tried to do my research before my purchase and read similar reviews. However the reviews on the camera were for land based photography. My review so far is that the underwater case is of excellent quality and design. The battery life is good for more than 1 40 minute dive and the case comes with a spare o-ring, desiccant bags and 2 weights. The photos seem to be consistently fairly dark and often blurry regardless of the settings I choose. Please understand that I expect to trash a high % of my photos regardless of camera; that's why I like digital. I try to shoot at my subjects, rather than down on them, as well as getting close. Shooting pics in BC is much more challenging than Belize, Cozumel or Kauai(other places I have taken lots of photos) due to the lower viz making things darker and the higher amount of particulate matter in the water and I accept this as the case regardless of the camera used. I decided to get on a forum because I have been disappointed with the camera-let's be honest, I did the research, liked the leica name on the lens and decided on a whim to get the camera instead of a new canon point and shoot. There was a long delay in the delivery of the underwater case due to manufacturing problems by panasonic: 3 months, which meant I didn't have the new camera, which I had paid for, to use on my trip to Belize last year and this put a bad taste in my mouth before I even used the camera underwater. Now, I am trying to be more rational, put my annoyance over the delivery aside and learn to use this camera: It's that or throw money at the problem and get a similarly priced canon. I know that with external strobes I could fix the lighting issues, but that is another topic. I took a whack of land pics today and got some good close ups of slugs, which are similar in subject to nudibranchs and thus require similar shooting methods. The camera can take good pictures on land. It does have problems with any sort of movement, resulting in either blurry pics or noisy when the iso is cranked up. So...that's my story...I paid for the camera and now I want to learn to be happier with my purchase, which I figured could be helped if I talk with someone who has experience using the tz5 underwater. Whew, sorry for the verbosity. By the way, perhaps I should be in a different forum, I did not know which one to chose.
