camera advice needed.....

Hello all
you probably get questions like this all the time so sorry in advance.

me and the Mrs are planning our next extended dive trip (18 months ish) and we want to buy a good digi camera for both under and overwater shots, we dont want a massive camera in fact the smaller the better (small enough to get in the pocket of your BCD).
any help on this would be very helpfull
thanks

I just bought a canon s70 and housing on the advice of several SB members. The camera itself is nice and small, however, keep in mind that once you get it into a housing, it won't fit in your BCD pocket. This was my first underwater camera, and it is extremely easy to use, and I am very happy with the pics it took. Click on my gallery at the left here, and you can see the first pics that I took with it from a trip to Costa Rica.

I'll throw a vote in for Minolta DImage cameras, for point and click cameras they are very nice, and because of the internal folding lense (think that's what it's called) the cases are only a little larger than the camera.

See Fireflys98.Shutterfly.com for some of my pictures with mine (some definate vignetting is noticable, but... overall, pretty good!)

I will add that you should choose a camera that allows you manual control over its settings. Once you get the hang of the camera you may want to use manual shutter speeds and manual F stops for better quality photos. Camera "Auto" features are based on land use not underwater.

IMHO it is very important to be able to use manual white balance for all your non-strobe shots. That coupled with using the internal flash for the macro shots (under 2 feet) should yield you some very satisfying photos. A software program like Photoshop Elements, or the like, is a must for post-shooting adjustments.

I have an article here on using manual white balance.

There is an article here by Craig Jones using photos by Alex Mustard taken with manual white balance and a color correction filter.

You can keep it simple and compact by not buying external strobes and add-on lenses but you must master your camera regardless of which model you buy in order to get the most out of it. That translates to knowing every feature on the camera and how to use it BEFORE A DIVE TRIP.