good first camera

[frankisaurus_rex]

hello!
I usually take down a canon camera with underwater housing, and that does survive quite well to 40m
but Im wanting to get into underwater photography more professionally, and Im wondering if anyone has advice for a good first proper professional standard camera to start off with

[petey4561]

Hi ho,
I'm not a professional or even close (I use an F50fd which is a little point and shoot jobby) However I do work with a professional photo bod so will point her in this direction! I know she was singing the praises of the Cannon 500d which is an digi SLR however I dont know where that fits into the scale of me --> pro!

She used to work for the BBC with the underwater filming kit so she will probs know about the whole scale!

sorry couldnt be any more help :confused:

Pete

[ChristianG]

The Canon 500d (now 550d) is a good entry level dSLR. It has the advantage that if you decided to upgrade to the next model chances are that the same housing will fit it and, certainly, the ports, expensive beasties, will fit it.

Have you seen this advisory (http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=19809)?

[large-ugly-greeny]

if your looking to go dslr then as mentioned the canon 550D is a good shot
alternative from Nikon would be something like the D 70 and a few other brands bring out competitor body's that are nice but im less familiar and can't really recommend one

what sort of lenses are you looking into?
i just ask so you know if your going to have to look into multiple ports or say if you only ever want to use a fish eye lenses so if you want a housing recommended then we can try and give advice for what you need

have you got any dslr setup for land use? as if you can use parts of this that will be good as its just familiarizing your self with the kit and understanding the camera first will be a good start to getting the better pics

cheers
rich