Pentax W60

[numbskull]

After frying my Canon Elph (incidental water intrusion through the shutter button during normal use), I bought one of these W60's. Waterproof, 10 megapixels, small, light, takes nice pictures. So far so good. Now for the negatives.

First, it uses an invisible infrared focus beam, so at night you can't see anything in the viewfinder unless you put your light on it (the Canon had a visible red beam and subjects close enough would show up faintly).

Second it lacks a lens cover. Good for sand (which would jam the Canon), but bad for smudges

Third and most problematic, is the self timer function. The Canon could be programmed for as long a delay as you wanted. The W60 has a 2 sec or 10 sec delay. Try balancing the camera, scooting over to pick up a two-handed fish still attached to your plug at night and in the rocks in 10 seconds.
On top of that, the focus/exposure sets as soon as you press the button on a self timed picture. Since you are not in the picture yet, you are out of focus. Sometimes it focuses on the rock you set it on instead. There is a PanFocus option that avoids this, though scrolling through the camera options without your reading glasses while a big bass you want to release is suffocating on a hot night is annoying. Also, during the day, something strange happens so about 1/2 the auto-timed pictures come out whited out. I think my presence near the camera blocks light so the exposure is set wrong when I back away. This has been happening in my boat where reflected light is probably strong. I usually don't discover this until I've thrown the fish back in.

Finally, the fine print in the instructions suggests you are supposed to send the camera back annually for seal replacement at your own expense (50$+shipping somebody said) if it is used in a wet environment. It is not clear if it voids the warranty if you don't (I'm not sure they can). I'm not doing that, so sooner or later we'll see.

I'm not trying to get down on this camera, with someone behind it it is great. However, if you intend to use it to take pictures of fish you plan to release while fishing at night alone, I'd check around and see what else is out there.

[Adam_777]

Should have asked in here first I may have let my Olympus 850SW go for a reasonable price with a 4gb stick in it.I barely use it.I don't catch the big ones like most of the ones I see on all of these websites.If I'm lucky to catch a keeper all year nevermind a slob.

[Pete F.]

Some of us don't have that issue because we are far enough away when we stand up to take the picture.

[Clogston29]

i've got the same camera. like the camera alot, but the timer thing is annoying. don't have a pic of me with my best fish of the season (except for this crappy self portrait I took holding the camera and fish) becuse of it

for night photos, they usually come out best if you shine a concentrated light at what you want to take the picture of, push the button half way down until it focuses on the light, move the light away and take the photo. don't use a red light in the photos, it'll skrew up the focus since the camera uses a red light to focus.

there's no way i'm sending it in for yearly service. i don't dunk it for long, if at all. at $50+ for service, i'll take my chances and replace it (right around $200 if i remember right) if something goes wrong. is the warranty good for more than a year anyway?

[tynan19]

That pic is hilarious.

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

i've got the same camera. like the camera alot, but the timer thing is annoying. don't have a pic of me with my best fish of the season (except for this crappy self portrait I took holding the camera and fish) becuse of it

?

Which one is holding the camera?
Looks like it's on a fin!!!

[BatesBCheatin]

Excellent info thanks Numbskull.

Originally Posted by numbskull

Finally, the fine print in the instructions suggests you are supposed to send the camera back annually for seal replacement at your own expense (50$+shipping somebody said) if it is used in a wet environment. It is not clear if it voids the warranty if you don't (I'm not sure they can). I'm not doing that, so sooner or later we'll see.

This type of warranty sounds vaguely familiar. hmmm

[SAUERKRAUT]

You are giving up too much technology just to gain a little waterproofing. Use some ziplocks or a cut out I.V. bag and get a Canon A640 class camera. You can program the delay to even a minute. I use 40 seconds. The camera has a flip out, turn around viewfinder, so you can see yourself and how good your fish looks before the shot. You can program two or three shots with a couple seconds delay between; and you can put all this setup into a specific "custom" setting so you're immediately set up with a turn of a dial to "c".

Makes photoing my fish fun, and it documents to the wife that I really am out there...fishing!

[numbskull]

If your camera has a "Face Blot Out" function, I'd suggest you turn that on too.

[BatesBCheatin]

^^^

[saltfly]

Originally Posted by SAUERKRAUT

You are giving up too much technology just to gain a little waterproofing. Use some ziplocks or a cut out I.V. bag and get a Canon A640 class camera. You can program the delay to even a minute. I use 40 seconds. The camera has a flip out, turn around viewfinder, so you can see yourself and how good your fish looks before the shot. You can program two or three shots with a couple seconds delay between; and you can put all this setup into a specific "custom" setting so you're immediately set up with a turn of a dial to "c".

Makes photoing my fish fun, and it documents to the wife that I really am out there...fishing!

what good is it if it's out of focus

[wheresmy50]

There's a little bit of operator error here. I speak from experience.

For the first month of owning this camera, I was frustrated by the slow focus in the dark. I found that I could set the focus manually, but it wouldn't store this, so every time the camera was turned on, I would need to go through the menus to set the focus manually again. Without doing this, the camera would take a picture about a minute after pushing the button.

The solution was to find the right check boxes in the configuration menu to have the focus and a few other things stored in memory. Now I set the camera to manually focus at 6' in program mode and it is stored. Point and shoot digitals, with their minute sensors have really long depth of field, so if you're a few inches off in your distance estimation, it's no big deal, the focus will be fine. The rub here is that you have to decide how far away you will be before hand. For me 6' works well for fishing pictures at the widest focal length.

This would solve your problem of the camera auto-focusing when you press the "shutter release". The exposure shouldn't be too different as long as you don't shine your light into the lens.

[ProfessorM]

Originally Posted by numbskull

If your camera has a "Face Blot Out" function, I'd suggest you turn that on too.

LOL George you crack my up. Now I remember that sauerkraut guy. Did I meet him at your house the day I was there last year. He kind of looks like the gentleman I met. I also like the zip lock technique.

[SAUERKRAUT]

Originally Posted by saltfly

what good is it if it's out of focus

Focus is certainly an issue with night photos; however, specific to this Attached picture...this pic has to be dumbed down to 800x800. Also, I'm not really too tech savvy bringing a picture off my camera, into my computer, and then projecting it onto the your through the site. But the camera does a good job. Besides, ex-ally Numby suggests that the camera doesn't like my face!

And even out of focus, the pic is passes muster as a wife document.