Alcina
I have the Canon S400 4-megapixel camera and Canon's case. The case gives full access to all controls. It is very easy to use. I saw a comment earlier about why paying for small when small is bad underwater. I disagree with this except for the size of the LCD. Sometimes it is hard to verify focus on the small LCD but other than that, the smaller the better in my opinion.
Another general comment. The quality going from 3 megapixels to 4 or 5 isn't the important part for U/W shots. IT's the ability to crop the shot down to the interesting part and still have enough pixels for a quality JPG or print. If you start cropping a 3 megapixel shot, you quickly get down to where a 4x6 print will start to look digital. You have much more freedom with a 5 megapixel shot to crop it down and still have plenty of pixels left. The S400 is only a 4 megapixel camera.
Here are some sample UW shots (right after the few land shots) and a picture of the camera & housing so you can see the size.
Cozumel shots:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=356678
Isla Mujeres shots:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=317259
I have a buddy who just got the Oly C5050, Ikelite case, and YS 90-DX strobe. THe case cost as much as the camera and the strobe was that much again. However, this is a 5 megapixel camera with TTL. It is considerably bigger than the canon setup but Ikelite makes great cases. Many people on this board have the Oly as well. I would like the TTL since you don't have to wait for the internal flash recycle time to take the next shot. External strobes usually have a much faster recycle time.
In my setup, the strobe was the expensive part. The camera+case was < $500 and the strobe was about that much. I should have gotten the 90-DX strobe for more power.
Good luck
Ken
I have the Canon S400 4-megapixel camera and Canon's case. The case gives full access to all controls. It is very easy to use. I saw a comment earlier about why paying for small when small is bad underwater. I disagree with this except for the size of the LCD. Sometimes it is hard to verify focus on the small LCD but other than that, the smaller the better in my opinion.
Another general comment. The quality going from 3 megapixels to 4 or 5 isn't the important part for U/W shots. IT's the ability to crop the shot down to the interesting part and still have enough pixels for a quality JPG or print. If you start cropping a 3 megapixel shot, you quickly get down to where a 4x6 print will start to look digital. You have much more freedom with a 5 megapixel shot to crop it down and still have plenty of pixels left. The S400 is only a 4 megapixel camera.
Here are some sample UW shots (right after the few land shots) and a picture of the camera & housing so you can see the size.
Cozumel shots:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=356678
Isla Mujeres shots:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=317259
I have a buddy who just got the Oly C5050, Ikelite case, and YS 90-DX strobe. THe case cost as much as the camera and the strobe was that much again. However, this is a 5 megapixel camera with TTL. It is considerably bigger than the canon setup but Ikelite makes great cases. Many people on this board have the Oly as well. I would like the TTL since you don't have to wait for the internal flash recycle time to take the next shot. External strobes usually have a much faster recycle time.
In my setup, the strobe was the expensive part. The camera+case was < $500 and the strobe was about that much. I should have gotten the 90-DX strobe for more power.
Good luck
Ken
