I started looking around for a digital replacement and sadly I could not find any camera even closed to Nikonos in terms of price, unless I was ready to spend a 1000 dollars for its matching underwater housing.

But after hours of sifting through tons of magazines and online stores I finally came to the closest digital camera to replace my Nikonos. Bellow are my three choices starting with the cheapest to the more expensive combination.

Canon S100 with the Seashell SS1 Universal Underwater Housing
The Canon S100 is a nice low light camera with has a slightly bigger sensor compared to an ordinary point and shoot. The Canon S100 take great pictures above ground and using it for underwater is the same. Photos from the Canon S100 are just simply great with sharp details and good color rendition. The combination of using the Canon S100 with a Seashell SS1 which is a universal housing might turn of a lot of divers to another product since universal underwater housing are usually horrible. But the Seashell SS1 is not like any ordinary underwater housing, it is well made with solid materials you want in good underwater housing. The Seashell SS1 is manufactured by a Hong Kong base company but markets the Seashell SS1 all over Asia and Europe.

Canon G12 with a Canon G12 Underwater Housing
My second combination of the G12 is simply due to the huge discounts lately for G12 underwater housing. Having just a retail price of $120 the Canon G12 housing is the cheapest housing among Canon’s collection of underwater housing. The Canon G12 is not a bad camera its built like a tank making it ideal for traveling and even street photography. It has a large battery making it last longer compared to the Canon s100.

Olympus E-PL1 with an Olympus E-PL1 underwater housing
My third combination is probably the best among the two Canon cameras. The Olympus E-PL1 is an interchangeable lens camera with a large sensor almost comparable to entry level DSLR. Whats great about the E-PL1 is the price and the quality of JPEG pictures you get from an Olympus camera. The E-PL1 can take great pictures and even video underwater. Using the E-PL1 you will notice the rich colors that make your pictures pop out. The E-PL1 is currently around $300 but the underwater housing is around $800 making it more expensive than the two Canons. Here are some sample in Flickr using the combination.

There are more competition to Asia in the last few years which is the rise of North African as a diving destination but facilities are still far from their Asian counterparts. But as a whole Asia especially Vietnam is coming out with hidden gems to finding great spots for diving.

Finding new destinations in Asia is not challenging. Joining a diving fair can get you all the best destinations in one location. You can get the best group or couple discounts not available online or in your travel agency.

I did have a talk with an employee from a major Japanese Camera manufacturer telling me the underwater camera niche is just to small and hard to justify getting themselves to participate. These facts and the reluctance of camera manufactures from getting into the professional underwater camera business brought in the rise of professional grade underwater camera housing.

These new high quality housing from major camera manufacturers enabled divers to use their existing cameras for underwater photography and outside the water. Although these underwater water housing from Nikon, Canon and Olympus look really strong not all of them are the same. In my experience Nikon and Canon still make the best housing that actually stood up the element. Olympus and Sony still comes last it terms of quality and reliability. In my last dive using an underwater housing for the Olympus E-PL1 completely damaged the camera from to must moisture. It seems not all cameras are recommended to be underwater or extreme conditions they claim your housing will protect.

Pentax in the recent months has lowered their prices in their weather sealed DSLR, perfect for a universal underwater housing. Universal underwater housing is also a great solution that can convert any camera for underwater photography. I have had great experience with universal underwater housing from certain manufacturers. I’ve notice a lot of improvements almost matching Ikelite products.

In the end finding the right camera is a balance between reliability and quality. I seem to be finding a hard time getting both which I had with my 15 year old Nikonos.

This year I’ve done my homework and decided to choose my airline from the allowance they give. They usually don’t list this in their homepage but if you search for sport equipment allowance a lot of European and Asian airline have started to list the conditions to get an extra 10 to 15 kilos. In one airline I was required to pay a fee of 30 euros and to make the payment in advance with my credit card.

I have heard a lot of horror stories mostly from US and Canadian base airlines no giving extra weight allowance. You usually have to avoid the budget airlines when it comes to getting your request accepted. Don’t expect to get etra weight allowance on a budget airline that does even want check in luggage. A lot of airlines are still strict with declaring your request ahead of time and I have to emphasize the importance of doing it ahead unless you want to end with with the crazy fees.

Mixing personal things other than your equipment is also a big no when it comes to availing extra weight allowance. I notice a lot of holiday makers abusing these privileges creating more unfriendly airline. Always remember extra baggage allowance is a privilege and not a right. Please try your best to follow the guidelines set by your airline and to make sure to tell them you appreciate what they are doing.

In the last Black Friday I was able to buy a Suunto dive computer which was on sale along with other diving watches. The reason for such sales is most retail stores getting rid of too much inventory. You do have to watch out for this kinds of sale since some items have a no refund policy but international warranty is still available to most dive watches.

During the winter season I usually end up in the sporting goods section and blow the minds of my family for even thinking about diving when everyone is still into keeping themselves warm. It actually the best time to buy if your looking to get attention from any sales rep. Most of these sections are empty and they are really happy to entertain a customer interested in their products. I also go the same treatment when I was in Singapore when most of the diving stores and sporting good stores are empty.

Buying second hand diving equipment is another story when it comes to the right time to finding great deals. I usually see some unwanted gifts on sale after new years and a lot of equipment on sale during autumn. Most of the autumn sales I see are really just one time used equipment probably just bought for their holiday. I got some great deals on some underwater cameras during this season. The seller just told me he just bought it for his vacation to Thailand. Everything look so brand new, shutter meter was even bellow the 2000 mark which made it such a great deal.

The rules of finding great diving great deals for dive equipment changes a lot every year. A lot of my friend are starting to see a lot of fire sales from small stores. I don’t really encourage this since fire sales usually don’t give you the chance to return any equipment you buy, so don’t hesitate to some test before buying them.