I am looking for a digital camera that is good for the family/holiday snaps
( decent zoom and can blow up pictures to poster size) but that I can also
get a underwater housing to 40 metres or so for.

Any suggestions?

By the way what is the difference between an optical and digital zoom?

I know a totally luddite question

Optical Zoom uses lenses to zoom in (like a traditional camera). Digital
zoom uses computers and 'guesses' what the picture would be like if you
zoomed in (ie. its not good). Digital zoom is mostly useless in that you
would be better zooming in on the area you want when you get home and load
the pic into photoshop or whatever.

I bought a Olympus mju with a 40m housing and I am pretty happy. Its ideal
for the kids as even without the housing its water proof to 5m and can be
man handled roughly (its a tough baby). See my previous reports in the n/g
on this.

JJ

"dechucka" vomithotmail.com> wrote in message
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Hi!
I would recommend the Canon 640:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona640/page16.asp
It has a great rating. It's not too expensive and Canon also has a
underwater housing for it (I think it's 30m, but it's sufficient).
The camera has an excellent zoom and is a 10 MP.
I have a Canon XT, but wanted to go back to UW photog. Ikelite housings for
the Xt as well as a strobe would have cost more than $2000 Cad.! No way! The ...

"dechucka" vomithotmail.com> wrote:

Look through the various manufacturer's websites at what products they
have and what UW housings they sell for the same. One you have some
idea of the offerings, go check out which of these cameras are new and
which are "old" (released a year ago) and consider leaning towards a
new one, so that the UW accessories will be available longer in the
marketplace (also, a housing that fits more than one camera can be
favored here too).

For specific camera features, look for one that the reviews say it
doesn't have significant shutter lag. That had been a harder piece of
data to find, but do persevere.

For other camera attributes, consider your battery choices carefully,
as well as the type of memory card.

I use an Olympus stylus 600 with a Olympus pt-29 housing..No problems yet

"dechucka" vomithotmail.com> wrote in message
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"dechucka" vomithotmail.com> wrote in message
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The Fuji F30 with underwater housing is not bad and very compact.

Adam