Looking for a new camera

[fireLt.]

The wife and I are looking at getting a new digital camera since I dropped and broke our old one. I am not looking for anything fancy, just a good point and shoot will do. We have been looking at the Olympus tough cameras since I like the idea of something durable and waterproof. Anybody have experience with these cameras or have suggestions? I need something that can stand a little abuse and still take a decent pic.

Thanks!

 

[Yucca-Man]

I've been very happy with my Canon A1000IS - got it last year for $100ish. You can also check out reviews at www.dpreview.com, and the Photography sub-forum at www.colorado4x4.org/vbb also has a fairly knowledgeable group.

Jim
www.yuccaman.com

 

[1m4j2t]

I owned an olympus 35mm "tough camera" and took it backpacking, snowboarding, climbing, etc... still works today, but we now use digital. One thing to consider on these digitals is how fast the flash can recharge and be ready for the next pic. I miss a lot of great photos because the flash takes too long on mine.

Good luck!

 

[xjrbw]

be weary of the waterproof ones....my buddy has one (which i think is olympus) and it's very hard to get a good crisp image. even with the stabilizer mode, tons of images come out blurry and unusable. i was going to get one until i borrowed it and realized that i didn't want it because of this. i would rather miss out on taking a few photos in inclement weather than be able to get them but waste regular photos because they are all blurry! that said, i've had a sony dsc w80 for a couple years. it works well, with no problems, good battery life and had withstood it's fair share of rainy/snowy use too.

 

[xjnco]

I do love my new Canon A1100IS.
In the last month I took 1963 shots for field inventory of telecom interface terminals and their locations. for my new job.
All shots came out with excellent results.
Here is some advice from a photography buff:
One thing to rememberis to get a camera with a view-finder.
In some (most) daylight conditions it's hard to see the display screen because of reflections from the sun while aiming your shot.
The view finder does not have this problem. You just look through it and shoot.
Also get a downloader device ($10 @ walmart) to connect directly to your computer's memory via the usb port so you won't have to use windows media player or similar programs to download and view your pictures.

Mike

 

[jimgrms]

I have a cannon a720 8.0 mega pixels which is was smarter than i am and it is a great point and shoot .Takes great photos and is easy to use Can't recall the price but around 200.00

 

[Yucca-Man]

I do love my new Canon A1100IS.
In the last month I took 1963 shots for field inventory of telecom interface terminals and their locations. for my new job.
All shots came out with excellent results.
Here is some advice from a photography buff:
One thing to rememberis to get a camera with a view-finder.
In some (most) daylight conditions it's hard to see the display screen because of reflections from the sun while aiming your shot.
The view finder does not have this problem. You just look through it and shoot.
Also get a downloader device ($10 @ walmart) to connect directly to your computer's memory via the usb port so you won't have to use windows media player or similar programs to download and view your pictures.

Mike

I was going to say that viewfinders are nice, (my old HP 2Mpixel had one) but I have yet to have glare problems on my Canon. Then I realized you were talking about the big brother of mine and took a look...lo and behold, I've got a viewfinder too! Have yet to use it though. Haven't had glare problems in wide variety of day and night shooting situations either. The only downside is that the 4x digital zoom is sometimes grainy, but the 3x optical zoom does a great job in most applications. The 12x total zoom is really most usable if you have a tripod.

The A1000IS has a USB cable that plugs into the camera to allow quick download to the computer, but I can also remove the 4Gb memory SDHC card to plug directly into the card reader on my laptop if needed. One bonus to this camera is that I don't lose my settings when I open the battery/SD compartment to remove the card. My 2Mpixel HP was notorious for that, and my X's Kodak did as well.

Jim

 

[fireLt.]

I appreciate all the info. I was happy with the camera I had until the concrete drop test failed. I really want something that can survive a drop like that. A camera that can take some abuse since it will be used outdoors and in the shop. A camera that won't die if it takes a dip in the creek.

 

[TomMcD]

I've been very pleased with my Olympus Stylus point and shoot. Weather resistant but it's held up just fine in rain, sleet and hail in the pocket of my riding jacket or tank bag.