Michael <mzeitlin@sbcglobal.net> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:

Take the picture from where your camera works and crop it later.  FWIW
my Sony point and shoot has a macro feature that allows me to get as
close as 10 cm.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

I recently bought a Canon Powershot A620 (7Mp), which has a close focus
of 1cm, and I am very happy with it.  It has just been replaced by the
A640 (10Mp) which looks like it will also be well received.  The A620
was 160 pounds + 130 pounds for the underwater housing.

I've put some pictures from last weekends Farne Islands trip at
http://harrowsubaqua.org.uk/photos/20060908Farne_I/index.html

IMG_0374.JPG, IMG_0493.JPG, and IMG_0502.JPG have had the colour balance
tweaked to remove some of the green cast which can be seen in the
thumbnails, and which is inevitable in these waters.  I haven't played
with the white balance underwater to try and improve the originals.

IMG_0348.JPG and IMG_0363.JPG have been cropped from the original, which
again can be seen in the thumbnail (just!).

In IMG_0525.JPG you can see that getting close leads to uneven lighting
from the built-in flash.

If you take away your digital requirement, the  BEST VALUE UW
camera that has good macro capabilities is the MX-10 with strobe
I found at about 100 fsw, separated from its rental owner.

At the suggestion of the boat captain, that the rental company probably
had already filed the claim for the loss, so it's "finders keepers".
Since
the DM usese the same camera for his picture taking, I gave him the
strobe, and kept the camera until I received a new one from the
president of the company in Japan when the USA distributor would not
honor its warranty.

After I got the new one, I put the camera on E-bay (gave a local
middle man 30% for doing all the work, shipping, money collection,
etc.) and had over $100 net for the UW find.   :-)

The divers in Cozumel must be getting BETTER.   I used to find lots of
valuables just DIVING., from knives, lights, masks, money pouches,
and lots of LEAD.   :-)

But that was the first complete camera outfit (nearly new) I found
there.

-- Bob.

I'm looking at the Fuji FX-30 - reviews seem quite positive.

I've just used a Canon Ixus 60 (European marketing name) with Canon
housing, total 400GBP.  Takes great pictures, but not so hot macros /
close-ups.  Better at the 3-10 feet range.

TJ