Starting out, a few questions.

[graham_s]

I've got a couple of questions on photography.
I'm hoping that the good people of SB can help me out.
I'm thinking about a Gopro.
If I go down that route, I assume that the dive housing is a good idea?
Also I'll want the LCD back to make framing shots easier.
Will it go onto the dive housing with the waterproof back?
I know it is mainly for video, and I'll probably do that, but I'm mainly interested in stills photography.
Is there anything glaringly obvious I'm missing out?
I'll mainly be using it in the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea.
Any suggestions for good retailers?

 

[Mark Derail]

You'd be better off specifying a budget. Even a fully equipped GoPro with proper housing & filters you're in the 800 Euro range.

A camera that does video - good for taking the equivalent of "snapshots" in video form, but because it's writing from onboard memory into a SD-like memory, you can't film non-stop for 30+ minutes (unless a very high end camera). Cameras are designed for pics first, video second. So if you don't need non-stop video, these are more versatile, in my opinion, but require more work to use UW.


A camcorder is designed from scratch to record directly to it's media (hard disk or whatever) so you can film non-stop, have a zoom, an LCD screen, a decent housing with ports for lights, a big dome, light sensitivity.
You can shoot non-stop, or stop/start, and be quite happy with the results.

Going the camera+housing, or camcorder+housing, might end up costing the same. The GoPro was designed for the small-budget minded people, so that even surfers can afford one. However it's a compromise.

So given a budget amount, say in Euros, we'll guide you better. Also, consider that you need to be a "good" diver first, the camera UW is a major distraction. If you still have issues UW, consider a point&shoot or a GoPro in the 800 Euro range, until you become an awesome diver.
(air control, trim control, perfect buoyancy)

In the P&S category, if you want to buy new, go with mirrorless / micro 4/3, so you can have lens choices, and housing choices, for future upgrades.

IOW, you could get a Panasonic 4/3 or Olympus with standard lens, acrylic housing. Upgrade to one or two strobes (external flashes), then later to a better housing with a dome port, allowing for different sized lenses, like telephoto or fish-eye.

Another popular choice is the Canon S100 series, but you cannot change the lens; however it's surprisingly good UW. Panasonic has a model that doesn't even need a housing if you stay above 15M.

 

[diversteve]

but I'm mainly interested in stills photography.
Is there anything glaringly obvious I'm missing out?

The GoPro shoots 11-8-5MP stills. It's also fixed focus - IIRC the minimum focusing distance is several feet without adding some sort of close-up lens. Which may negate being able to add a red filter also - IDK.

A point/shoot shoots 12-14 up to 16MP stills. I paid $100 for my Sony. The housing for it was $179.

GoPro has a pretty tiny LCD back - compared to some of the P&S models that are 3" or more diagonally.

If you're mostly interested in stills, buy something optimized for that. Any of the better P&S cameras also shoot video - some even HD video.

Adorama
Abe's of Maine
B&H Photo/Video
Reef Photo
Backscatter