I am in the market for a new waterproof camera. Had an Olympus Tough TG-610 and was generally pretty happy with it. Why do I need a new one? Someone (insert son here) did not lock the battery door and a tiny bit of saltwater leaked in and you can guess the rest. I am leaning towards another Olympus as the one I had performed well and held up until the recent water infusion. I have looked at some of the new Pentax models and was just looking for some input from anyone who may have purchased a waterproof camera in the last year or so.
Thanks
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
Check pawn shops. I bought a Nikon waterproof camera for the boat at a local pawn shop for $30. So far it has lasted 3 years and is still running strong. I figure if I lose it, or it ruins, I’m not out a whole lot of $$$$.
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
I’d only buy a GoPro for video. For stills, you’re gonna want something other than that wide-angle lens.
I’m in the market for a small point/shoot waterproof camera myself, and I’ve been underwhelmed with the options. I like the Canon D20 for picture quality, but I don’t think it’s really that much better than the cheaper models. They’re all just point/shoots after all, so I’ve really started to focus on price alone.
The Fuji XP60 at Costco for less than $150 with a float strap and SD card included is looking more and more like the way to go. It takes OK snapshots, has image stabilization, is rated to 20+ feet, and can take HD video.
Actually the Go Pro 3 Black edition lets you choose narrow, normal or wide for photos as well as video. I think that is a little more costly than he may want for this purpose though. My friend had a Nikon camera that was waterproof down to 30 feet and it took awesome pics and video. I can’t remember the model but it was a nice camera, usually anything Nikon you want be steered wrong.
Why do you need image stabilization on a point and shoot? For the 100x digital zoom? Most point and shoots have a ton of digital zoom and small optical zoom… I would think it wouldn’t be necessary.
Maybe it helps, I don’t know. I haven’t looked at them in a few years.
Doug, I am in the market for a new camera myself. Someone (insert scumbag here) stole my olympus from out of my car. For what it is worth, I had a pentax prior to the olympus and it sucked! I broke it three times from small drops and the like. My olympus was a stylus 1050(??) and was about 5 years old. It was tough as nails, but pictures were ok. I have heard from friends that the newer olympus cameras are even better. Let me know what you go with!
Right now leaning towards another Olympus. I was happy with the 610 until the saltwater incident. Looking at he 820, 830 and the TG-1 and 2. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 looks good but the Olympus’s get the best reviews overall. I’ll let you know what I get.
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
he Doug I really don’t use my old Olympus tough series underwater camera…I know it doesn’t pick up audio any more, but let me shake it out and see what condition it is in…if you might be interested…
I have a stylus that takes very good pics but only up to 10ft depth. I love my GoPro but it really is best for veds. Having just retaken up SCUBA, I am looking at some cameras that work deeper.
Cracker, how deep were those beautiful photos taken?
“No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.” Anonymous
Actually the Go Pro 3 Black edition lets you choose narrow, normal or wide for photos as well as video. I think that is a little more costly than he may want for this purpose though. My friend had a Nikon camera that was waterproof down to 30 feet and it took awesome pics and video. I can’t remember the model but it was a nice camera, usually anything Nikon you want be steered wrong.
Actually, the Silver allows for that as well, but it’s only a software FOV selection. It’s a fixed ultra wide angle lens on all of their cameras, and no amount of settings will ever change that. For general still-photos, the focal length on that thing is going to be frustrating, not to mention the lack of a built-in viewfinder of any kind. They’re great for video, but they really aren’t a substitute for pretty much anything else for still photos.
Don’t get me wrong, though - they are neat. The smartphone app makes them particularly cool.
quote:Originally posted by 23Sailfish
Why do you need image stabilization on a point and shoot? For the 100x digital zoom? Most point and shoots have a ton of digital zoom and small optical zoom… I would think it wouldn’t be necessary.
Maybe it helps, I don’t know. I haven’t looked at them in a few years.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>
It helps at extremely long focal ranges on some of these cameras, but that’s really a symptom of another problem, too.
Since it’s become a hot-ticket feature in even lesser models (and an increasing number of smartphones these days as well), here’s my guess - it’s mostly useful to help increase exposure / decrease blur that results from
quote:Cracker Larry , those are some great pictures . I dont understand cameras very well . Could you give me the complete model number for yours ?
Thanks, it’s the camera’s fault, not the photographer:smiley: Camera is Olympus Tough TG820. It has 100 functions that I don’t know how to use, I just leave it set to auto, point and shoot.
quote:Dang Larry, EXCELLENT shots! Wish I had a couple of those fish in my tank.... Where were you?
Thanks. Most of the underwater shots were at Looe Key Marine Sanctuary, a couple were at American Shoals, The yellowtails and goliath grouper were on a patch reef off Key West, the Pelican was at Boca Grande, stealing my tarpon bait. Would you believe they can open a bait well:question: Cast net picture is Port Royal, SC:smiley:
That goliath almost cost me an arm! It came up in our chum slick with the yellowtails that we were wearing out, and my wife started feeding it yellowtails, which it was eating like popcorn. I wanted to get in the water and photograph it, so I eased in with it and got my mate to pass me another yellowtail. I was holding it out with one hand and trying to take a picture with the other. Big fish came to the bait, opened it’s mouth about a yard wide, and faster than I could blink a huge bull shark rushed between us and took the yellowtail right out of my hand! I looked at the grouper, grouper looked at me, and he said I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the hell out of here, and it disappeared. I screamed like a little girl through my snorkel tube and shot to the surface. Asked the wife if she saw that, she says heck yeah and there are about 6 more just like it swimming circles around
