At present I have a Canon AS710 IS point and shoot camera with the Ikelite underwater housing, and a Nikon Coolpix 8800 point and shoot camera with the Ikelite underwater housing. I am now looking for a strobe that I can use on both of these cameras. I have seen ads for the new Ikelite AF 35 strobe, but other than the Ikelite site, and their specifications I really don’t know if this is the right one for me or not. All advise would be appreciated. I am a vacation diver who dives and shoots pictures about 6 to 10 times per year.

Thanks

Probably important: How comfortable are you with making strobe settings manually?

If you just set the camera on auto and shoot away, then you probably want the TTL function, however TTL on Ikelite housings only works with Ikelite strobes.

If you are comfortable with manual settings, then you can use pretty much any strobe you want.

I’m not familiar with the Canon, but the Nikon 8800’s most useful feature for underwater use is by far it’s macro mode.  For that I’d recommend a strobe that allows you to set the power level, because when the subject is only inches away it’s very easy to overexpose.