Which point and shoot waterproof?

Airedrifter · February 4, 2007

I do a lot of kayaking and river travel. I had the Pentax WR33 and used it a good bit. It was recently stolen.

What's the best replacement?

Some of my work at mikesawyer.smugmug.com

Phyxius · February 4, 2007

I'm not sure about now, but a few years ago Olympus made some really nice point and shoot cameras. I had 2 of their 2.1 MP cameras, the D-490 and the C-2040, both of which took nicer pictures than a Fuji FinePix 5100 bought in 2005.

Olympus now makes the stylus which is waterproof, might be something you want to check out.

Link to camera

20DNoob · February 5, 2007

The Pentax Optio W10 and the W20 look pretty good. Best part is they're both under $300 at Amazon. Check out the interactive demo, they sound pretty cool.

cwphotos · February 7, 2007

I second the Optio. I bought it for my dad for Christmas and he loves it. Buy the Aquapac bag as well. It lets you go deeper than the 5 feet the camera is rated to.

troutstreaming · February 7, 2007

Optio for Whitewater

cwphotos wrote:

I second the Optio. I bought it for my dad for Christmas and he loves it. Buy the Aquapac bag as well. It lets you go deeper than the 5 feet the camera is rated to.

I have both the WR33 and the W10 and have spent a lot of time on the water with them. A friend has the Olympus and he is not always happy with it, whether it is the actual camera or just the fact it is a point and shoot and therefore has limitations that he is unhappy with I do not know.

My guess is that the W10 does not resolve anywhere close to 6 megapixels, but it more than makes up for it by always being around my neck - versus the dSLR which hides in a Pelican case most of the time on the river.

W10 Images:

Underwater Macro of Golden Stonefly Nymph from: http://www.troutstreaming.com/gallery/1262453/1/59219826

Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie From: http://www.troutstreaming.com/gallery/1528054/1/73833842

Underwater shot of dry ice melting (at launch Salmon River ID Float)

Underwater Macro of Toad Eye on Salmon River

Smoke from Salmon River Canyon backburn

Salmon River Canyon (downstream of the fires)
From http://www.troutstreaming.com/gallery/1854065/4/92377531
Beware that most of the images in the Salmon River gallery are with the dSLR. On this trip there were 4 Optio's and one Olympus for 10 cats/rafts and two kayakers.

I have no regrets with my W10 purchase - just be aware that it has a small sensor and lens.

Andy

Airedrifter · February 8, 2007

Nice saturation on the Salmon pics. Was that on the Main stem or on the Middle Fork? I led a trip this past Summer on the Middle Fork. But rowing a raft, being the trip leader, and doing it all in flood, kind of put a damper on my photography. Still got some fair stuff.

My trip photos at: http://mikesawyer.smugmug.com/gallery/1350795#75254708

And for those interested in this thread, I found the following post on a paddling forum

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif]Pentax Optio W10/W20
Posted by: MountainWayfarer

on Feb-07-07 10:52 AM (EST)[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif]

I have quite a few posts on Pentax Optio line of waterproof cameras in my "paddling with a camera" blog.

The recent post on Optio W20 review and tips:
http://photokayaker.fit2paddle.com/C560391461/E20070203184022/index.html
and my approach to kayak photography
http://www.fit2paddle.com/photokayaker/C560391461/E20061021140245/index.html

[/FONT]

DoctorIt · February 8, 2007

I have the original Pentax WP, and recently convinced my labmate to buy the W20, so I've had a chance to shoot with that too. I love my WP, and the W20 has some good updates, slightly better picture quality.

*although, it did lose a really cool feature: pano assist! I know its a dinky point and shoot, but the pano feature on my WP has come in handy many times, and helps get good pano results when on the go.

I think besides the Oly, the Pentax is still the only option.

Airedrifter · February 23, 2007

W30 is being released March 15!
I guess I'll wait on that.

Which point and shoot waterproof?

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