Newbe needs some help choosing...

Ok guys and gals I am looking to jump into this wonderful world of underwater photography. I live in southern California and shore dive Laguna beach area twice a week. I have always wanted to get into photography and I told myself that 2008 is the year I am going to do it.

Keep in mind I do not know much at all about this stuff so I have been reading and reading (now very confused) I want to purchase a complete set up that will be used only for diving. I have been looking at packages and was hoping that all of you experts can chime in and give me your advice as it would be greatly appreciated.

Package one is the new Olympus SP560 with PT-037 housing and UFL-1 flash package.

Package two is the Sea & Sea DX-1G with a YS27 or YS110 strobe

Package three is a reconed SP350 with TTL flash kit from Cathy Church's

Again this is just what I have found so far.....I feel that since I know nothing about this stuff yet that a SLR system is far to complicated for me right now, and ouot of my buget for a beginner, maybe in a year after some experience I will step up to the big leagues, but for now I just want a nice compact camera set up that will give me nice results.

If anyone has imput, please post and let me know on these packages, if you suggest another way to look let me know as my buget is around $1500.00 for the complete package.

I thank everyone in advance for your advice in this matter and look forward to reading the post and suggestions....

Grant

There are TONS of threads on this subject. After reading several of the threads I decided on the Canon A570 IS with the ikelite housing. I'm going to get the YS 27 strobe eventually. The whole thing is going to cost me about $900. Do a search on "canon A series" or Canon A570. In a lot of the "my first camera" threads where people are looking for recommendations, tons of people recommend the Canon A series, and often the A570.

The olympus is a decent system for the beginner, but I personally like the Fuji E-900 with an ikelite housing and strobe as it is easy for the beginner to use on full automatic but can also be used with partial or full manual settings as your skills improve.

You might want to check out these threads

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/213318-first-uw-camera-selection-3.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...214691-first-pics-canon-a570is-no-strobe.html

Strobe http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...317-where-do-you-get-strobe-canon-a570is.html