Well I saw the update to the camera research fund and figured I would throw this out there....I would already have a Lx3 in my hands if I wasn't currently unemployed(almost had one a couple months ago for 85$) but it is what it is....However the Lx5 is starting to drop in price(about 170$ ave used - 250 to 300$ new) and the Lx7 is even better but prob'ly to expensive. Anyway I propose we look at the Lx5 for the next research camera...it looks like the hack will be fairly easy/simple(similiar to the other pannys we've done) and the features of these cameras are right in the middle between point and shoot and dslr...the pics are phenominal from what I have seen in the reviews and though a little larger than point and shoots and needing a larger snorkel they should still fit into a Pelican 1060 or Otter 3250 along with a slave - though I don't think they will necessarily require a slave. They have a pop up flash but can still be set to auto flash so it they will not be using it all day when unnecessary. The Lx series also support shooting in RAW format. Here is a link to Digital Photography Reviews group test of the Lx5:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q42010h ... pactgroup/ once there you can find more comparison/tests shots of the cameras in the dropdown menu - this is the Lx5 performance:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q42010h ... actgroup/8 ...notice the flash range is rated out to 7 meters(lx3 says 8m) also notice it says a 1.4 sec startup so decent speed.