Hi Mark,
     Glad to see your still around.  I guess you must have been in
"lurk" mode.  How are you fairing with all the snow?  It has really put
the damper on much of my diving as my partners seem to have developed
other solid water based interests.
    We'll have to get together in the spring to give your new toy a try.
It might be best to play with it in the pool first to really get the
feel of clear, calm water results.  If you know the owner of the pool
you can sometimes get them to turn out the lights so you can see just
what kind of effect the built in flash has with respect to the amount of
light.
    In a nutshell, asa 400 film is designed to produce properly exposed
images under lower light conditions than asa 100 speed film.  On the
downside the images are "grainier" which may or may not bother you if
you are not planning on re-printing or enlarging the resulting photos.
ASA 100 speed film definitely produces the sharper photos but the
exposure and apature settings that you would have to use in low light
settings makes it impractical for moving objects or hand held
photography when the light gets dim.
   Although the strobe does add some candle power to the available light
the main disadvantage to the built in flash is that you cannot change
the aim of the strobe with respect to the image.  This prevents you from
minimizing backscatter from floating particulates in the water which may
effectively shorten your photographic range as much as the lower light
output.
   Well I've got to go and shovel out a place for the next batch of snow
to occupy this weekend.  I'll let you know if the hockey league starts
up.
     Dennis
By the way, which dive shop do you go to?  I'm not intimately familiar
with what's available over there.
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