I did a search and find lots of information on digital cameras.
Seeing that the gifting season is almost upon us, I was wondering what experiences anybody had that were worth sharing? good/bad

I have decided that I need a digital camera. I caught a fish this fall, did'nt measure it because in my sleep deprived state I used this gadget fish grip thing that I bought and said Oh yeah it has a scale. So I weighed it with it. Ah 25#s I thought it was a pretty big fish but I was'nt keeping it.
Yesterday I am cleaning up my stuff and putting it away(tears in my eyes) and looked at the fish grip. I said I wonder what it goes to? So I pulled on the thing and lo and behold it goes to 25#.(head banging smiley goes here)
So now I wonder just how big the fish was?
So anyways I want a digital waterproof camera, small enough to fit in my wader pocket, I don't neeed perfect pictures just decent ones. In fact if they made the equivalent of a brownie with a flash I'd be happy. (I think I just dated myself)

Olympus Stylus SW

Olympus Stylus SW

2nd that....

Disposable 35mm waterproof may be best bet - inexpensive and easy to use one handed. Of course you can't post pics online, but you could get copy of negative and get a mediocre pic for digital reference.

Problem I have w/ my Olympus 770SW is it doesn't allow enough of a wide angle at closer range: hold in at eye level pointed at my feet it may go to 36". I'm not that tall so if you are taller you may get 42". Even a fish with a huge gut that would be 32 lbs MAX.

I checked Olympus's specs and camera in terms of 35mm photography is 38-114 mm equivalent. You need 28 mm or wider for big fish up close.

If some one is with you they can take picture of you and fish before you free it, but otherwise you are out of luck. ;) Lots of time I am on my own and use my rod butt end for reference of length. I have 28" marked off and I know where half way length is for 2 pc rod.

Sometimes you can pick up an older lower resolution digital camera for dirt cheap and just keep it in a couple of ziplock bags and take it out when you need it and put it back (Olympus D340R for example is 26mm focal length). Low cost alternative. I found the 770SW for about $200 online (it can do a lot more than I use it for).

I pick up older Digis at yard sales. $5 - $20 mostly.
If I soak, slime, drop, step-on, loose one It's no big deal.
I tend to do the above a lot while fishing. :D

Love the insurance my waterproof provides in the surf. Olympus 770. Some examples.

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=52176

don't forget the Pentax Optio W series...reviews say it has better image quality, but the Olympus 770SW is more abuseable (later Olympus models aren't)...

Olympus Stylus SW

Got my vote.A guy tied it to the end of his line and threw it in a bluefish blitz.Pics are somewhere on youtube

Olympus 770 SW – this was my first season with the camera and it was so nice not having to worry about getting it wet. The shock resistance is nice too as I have already dropped it into the rocks a few times and it works like new.

I’m sure picture quality would be better if I knew what I was doing with the camera, need to read the manual and practice some this winter…

don't forget the Pentax Optio W series...reviews say it has better image quality, but the Olympus 770SW is more abuseable (later Olympus models aren't)...

My 850SW is pretty rugged.
Its taken some pretty impressive drops and blows.
Lives most of the season in my hip pocket of my foul weather gear.

Olympus 770 SW. Main difference over the other SW series is that it is rated deeper, 33 -v- 10 feet, and is considered more shock proof with an all metal body -v- metal and plastic in the others. Runs about $30 more than a 790SW.

My only (big) gripe with the camera is that it does not have a view finder.

My only gripe with me is that I don't photos as good as Casey does :biglaugh: :fury: :wall:

So, I can buy a factory reconditioned Olympus for $X (research incomplete) and a 2 year extended warranty for $50. this extends the standard fact. recon warranty from 90 days. It's quite a while till I need this so I will see how much I can save. I've bought reconditioned stuff before and not had issues. Seems like some electronic stuff just is'nt plugged together correctly out of the box.

I use Olympus too and granted ,it it more rugged ..........but for my next camera and for better picture quality ,i am going back to Pentax

love my olympus sw also. no more freekin' baggies!

My only (big) gripe with the camera is that it does not have a view finder.


That sux, a view finder is a must...esp at night.. I love my Sony DSC W150..takes great night pics..

Zeno didn't you have a Nikon F-40 or something like that?? What model camera did you have on Cutty?:confused:

i have had both the pentax optio 10 and 20.no problems other than losing both them.i need something quite a bit bigger than these little cameras.they have a tendency to walk away when you go sleepless a few days in a row.

i have had both the pentax optio 10 and 20.no problems other than losing both them.i need something quite a bit bigger than these little cameras.they have a tendency to walk away when you go sleepless a few days in a row.
I think this means that I would have already lost the camera. I was thinking of putting it on a leash so I would'nt lose it, small one to the top of my waders so I could put it in my wader pocket.

Though I might start looking like one of those "Lawn Guyland guys"

Hey, I was born in Bay Ridge, so I can say that.

[QUOTE=JohnR;637157]
My only (big) gripe with the camera is that it does not have a view finder.
[QUOTE]
John, you have had some nice shots. The funniest part of your post was that I just realized that the camera doesn't have a view finder. :smash:

Larry, Z uses a Nikon D 40. There are some really good deals on the higher mega pixel SLRs. I think a nice SLR will be my next purchase.

Olympus 770/790 Stylus SW~~

shockproof, waterproof, i still throw it
into a platic bag when i know it's gonna
be a soaker out there,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

other than that, it has given me sum great
shotz out there, though limited in its up close width,
it is a very durable and dunkable digital camera
that captures some amazing stuff from tha suds!!!
:clapas: :claps: :claps:

Zeno didn't you have a Nikon F-40 or something like that?? What model camera did you have on Cutty?:confused:

I think we are talking about waterproof ones.....even thou I took a bath twice with my Nikon already. Last time this weekend when I tried to get low to the water to take shots like these....they really got to make these things waterproof. Someone call VS :jump:

What was the model number Z was it F-40 or D-40??

I have an Olympus Stylus and my wife and I love it, you get used to not having the view finder.

This year I picked up a sweet Dslr, A Sony Alpha 350. It has 14mp, and the LCD is moveable up or down so you could take shots over a crowd by just holding the camera up over your head and still compose the pic through the LCd

I took the picture of my friends from the back of the ceremony, on a moving boat, while holding the camera above my head to shoot over the crowd.

Unfortunately like John I am not that great at composing a pic yet but with this thing I will be getting alot of practice

Yup, it's time - hadn't really touched a camera for a coupla years until the day I went out to shoot Pt Jude Joe in the surf during that line squall in September - forgot how much I missed it. After doing it for 25 years professionally and hundreds of thousands of images I figured it was time for a break.

Had never really used a digital until the Habs Awards and Raffle - no fooling. We have used Photoshop exstensively for years but never got into the digital capture end. There's something about having a tangible piece of film a hard copy with a neg - that was an added safety factor for us shooting things that couldn't be repeated while being on a chase boat or a helicopter that was on the client's dime. And pleasing a client is pretty important if you wanna eat and be able to pay your mortgage in a timely fashion :uhuh:

Anyway...I'll be picking up a Nikon D-90 for starters - it's about $1,000 for body only and I can use all my Nikkor lenses, some of which are very rare and have been out of production for 25 or 30 years. I can even get an adapter to use my Hasselblad lenses, too. I'm really psyched to get shooting again after a much needed hiatus.

Plus with the D-90 I can go full manual with it, which is the most important thing for me.

I gotta say I was pretty impressed with the stuff Tynan19 got on MV with the Olympus - I'll pick one of those up in the Spring when I'm around and in the water again for wet stuff, I doubt that would be the D-90's forte. A good friend of ours who just retired as chairman of the Art Department at Yale uses Olympus too so that's all I need to know on that score.

See, you really can teach an old dog new tricks - you just have to get his attention first :hihi:

I think we are talking about waterproof ones.....even thou I took a bath twice with my Nikon already. Last time this weekend when I tried to get low to the water to take shots like these....they really got to make these things waterproof.

You just have to be willing to venture away from the mainstream Nikon/Canon. :)

Pentax K10D's can be had on fleabay for $350 after the live cashback and you just have to pair it up w/ a $700 DA*50-135 lens to make it splashproof. People have done demos where they run the setup under a kitchen sink for a while and they've been dropped in mud and they keep shooting.

Olympus's DSLR system is also weatherized.

You just have to be willing to venture away from the mainstream Nikon/Canon. :)

Pentax K10D's can be had on fleabay for $350 after the live cashback and you just have to pair it up w/ a $700 DA*50-135 lens to make it splashproof. People have done demos where they run the setup under a kitchen sink for a while and they've been dropped in mud and they keep shooting.

Olympus's DSLR system is also weatherized.

Spoken like a true geek-slickdealer :rotf2:

Spoken like a true geek-slickdealer :rotf2:

LOL...camera geek I be :-)
I like my K10D quite a bit...I'll be shooting near waterfalls with it out in the open and only worry about mist getting on the lens while everyone else is putting bags on the cameras to keep them from getting wet ;-)

LOL...camera geek I be :-)
I like my K10D quite a bit...I'll be shooting near waterfalls with it out in the open and only worry about mist getting on the lens while everyone else is putting bags on the cameras to keep them from getting wet ;-)

You are also a Slickdeals person too - eh?

You are also a Slickdeals person too - eh?

I prefer the bensbargains site a bit more...and the fatwallet forums.

Olympus 770 SW, love it....

You just have to be willing to venture away from the mainstream Nikon/Canon. :)

Pentax K10D's can be had on fleabay for $350 after the live cashback and you just have to pair it up w/ a $700 DA*50-135 lens to make it splashproof. People have done demos where they run the setup under a kitchen sink for a while and they've been dropped in mud and they keep shooting.

Olympus's DSLR system is also weatherized.


SLRs are great. I own a K10D with few lenses, and yes it is sealed better than many comparably priced d-SLR cameras.

I don' know why anyone would take one in or even near the surf. That's why they make waterproof housings (which will cost more than the camera), and waterproof compact digitals.

I hear the Nikon D3 is sealed pretty well, and the magnesium body is less likely to crack if you drop it on a rock. The perfect fishing camera if you ask me. I wonder when we'll see Ashton in waders?

I'll stick to my Optio W70 for fishing use. Works just fine.

Great thread.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have seen so many awesome pictures online and been out a few times and wished I had a camera to take some shots. I have already got the wife thinking about getting me a cheap digital to keep in my bag that never goes in the water.

Thanks

I don' know why anyone would take one in or even near the surf.

For better photos for a book like Zeno's :-)

That said, I'd feel safer w/ a W30 or 770SW if there's any chance of dropping it in the water...

Sea flat,

Keep in mind that the low light performance of compact and subcompact digital cameras goes from bad to terrible. In the race to put the most megapixels on a chip the size of your pinkie nail, they've saccrificed low light performance to the noise gods. If you have a choice with the compact that you buy, choose the one with the fewest megapixels. Don't confuse the ability to resolve detail with image quality (not that you would, but many do). 5 or 6 MP is more than enough for an 8x10. The only thing you get with more pixels is more noise - unless of course all of your pictures are taken on bright sunny days.

In fact, the reviews on Cannon's latest d-SLR indicate that the pixel limit has now been reached for the APS-C size sensors, at 15 MP.

The camera I joked about in my last post, the $5,000 D3, only has 12 MP on a sensor the size of a piece of 35mm film. The result unheard of low-light capability and overall outstanding picture quality.

i have and am happy with the pentax (w30 I think)

i'm on my second. the first opened up while my wife was using it snorkeling. it was her error (she didn't close it right), but amazon replaced it for free. the updated (new version) that i have now has a better mechanism for closing and locking than the first one did.

i think luds had one fail on him this year. not sure how though.

After much research on the 1030 SW it seems that the cam is very rugged but there is a big trade off in picture quality. The 1050 just came out and I was hoping they made improvements there, but looking at the reviews it doesn't seem like it - in fact most reviews say the quality is worse.

The Pentax is generally regarded to have much better PQ, but not as rugged. Since I won't be diving with it that's probably what I'll be getting.

BTW the kayaking sites have great info on these cams.

I think it's going to be a Olympus 850SW from llbeans. A few more dollars but way better warranty.

I have been using the olympus for years in my kayak , no problems , nice picture.

Just got a 1050SW at costco for 199. with case and 1 gig card and the mini card adaptor. great deal. Photos are incredable.
33068

I had 3 Pentax's Optio WPi fail due to ??? all of them suffered the same problematic fate.. Not an issue of not being water proof but an issue regarding heat and exposure to sunlight... This caused the video and pictures to become messed up...
They blamed the memory, 5 different brands recommended by Pentax... Then it was the camera... then again... the third time i set it on the park bench for 30 minutes and snapped pictures, swapped cards and did it again.. got home what i though was happening proved to me that heat was causing the failure... Bestbuy swapped it out for the Olympus SW770 and i haven't looked back..

Just got the pentax optio W60, here's a few from yesterday. Jury still out on the camera, but so far, so good...

I had 3 Pentax's Optio WPi fail due to ??? all of them suffered the same problematic fate.. Not an issue of not being water proof but an issue regarding heat and exposure to sunlight... This caused the video and pictures to become messed up...
They blamed the memory, 5 different brands recommended by Pentax... Then it was the camera... then again... the third time i set it on the park bench for 30 minutes and snapped pictures, swapped cards and did it again.. got home what i though was happening proved to me that heat was causing the failure... Bestbuy swapped it out for the Olympus SW770 and i haven't looked back..

What kind of heat/temps are we talking about here? Did you leave it on your dashboard on a hot day or something of the like? Was the camera itself damaged or just the memory card?
I'm curious as I just got mine.

I posted this last year, but there are a few negatives about the Pentax Optio W60 for night photography and self portraits (which are, naturally, important to us ruggedly handsome, morally superior plugger types).

The camera does not use a visible infrared focus feature (as the non water-proof and since fried Canon Elph did) so your viewfinder is all black unless you put some light on the subject first (which is harder than it sounds). Secondly, the auto timer set up is poor. You only get a maximum of 10 seconds which makes it hard to get yourself in the picture with the fish oriented correctly to show the beautiful plug it ate.

Worse, the exposure and focus occur when you push the shutter button, not right before it takes the picture. Since you (or by day your shadow) are often in front of the camera when you set it up and push the button, the picture is ruined. It takes too much of a toll on the fish to try and take a second picture when you intend to release it.

Finally, the small print in the warranty suggests the camera be returned annually at your expense for seal replacement if it is used in a wet environment. Whether they will honor the warranty if you don't is not clear.

I am not sure, however, there are better options for a wet environment out there. Those shoot-through waterproof camera bags are useless at night.

Just got the pentax optio W60, here's a few from yesterday. Jury still out on the camera, but so far, so good...

nice form on your son, you can sit in the rocking chair now.

I am not sure, however, there are better options for a wet environment out there. Those shoot-through waterproof camera bags are useless at night.

I purchased the optio 60w more for insurance purposes, meaning it may accidentally get wet, but not intentionally submerged. Also, seeing you owned one made my decision easier.

Just got the pentax optio W60, here's a few from yesterday. Jury still out on the camera, but so far, so good...

Sweet, got my own camera man now.

something cool about dogs that think catching fish is the essence of life

Last year I got the Pentax Optio w 30 and have been happy with it. The pictures do not come out as clear as my wife's Cannon Power Shot, but it seems like you have to loose some detail if you want a waterproof camera, and built in zoom. It is small and easy to carry, not too bulky.