Budget underwater photography

Underwater photograpy has certain limitations. Light and water clarity are the primary problems. That's why most professional underwater photography is limited to macro (close ups). The few sea scapes that are photographed are well lit, usually towards the surface of the water where there is plenty of light. I'm interested in documenting my dives rather than selling stock photos, but I don't want the camera to take over my diving experience.

The Camera

 The Canon Digital Elph S500 is a few years old, but has one excellent feature: it's small. It's also inexpensive since it's an older model. Ebay pricing now ranges from $20 for a damaged unit up to $100 for a perfect one.

The Housing

 Canon makes a housing for most of their cameras. Like most of them, the WP-DC800 retails for about $150. I picked up a barely used unit off of ebay for $30.
Once I have some test shots, I'll post the results here.