Sweet are the Uses of Adversity

[klausi]

Lately, my SLR setup started having some unfortunate problems (micro-leaks) and I had to put it on dry land till after a full service.

So I started using a compact camera I had won a year ago. And I was quite positively surprised by the results (see the link, and below). The small camera setup actually had a few advantages in contrast to an SLR, in terms of versatility and ease of use. There were some things I couldn't do as well (especially since I was using it with the internal strobes), but with these limitations in mind I got good shots, even in the sometimes mediocre visibility at the sites around Sydney. It's definitely an alternative I'll consider for some dives, and for combined dive-land travel (when I'd like to pack light) in the future.

 

[Larry C]

Those are some really nice shots. Newer compact cameras are getting better and better. There were a couple of class winners taken with the "Toughs" at the Monterey Shoot-Out this year. One thing I miss about shooting a compact is the increased DOF of small lenses. I don't miss the slow shutter response, but I understand that's getting a lot better with the newer models.
I switched to DSLR when I got tired of taking pictures of the puff of silt and a tail that I got when I would try to shoot a skittish subject and click....wait...wait...flash...damn! Now I wish that my D300 wasn't so touchy about focus. Half the time with moving subjects I press the button and nothing happens. I guess I could go to continuous focus or manual focus and put up with blurry shots.