When you were talking about your (then upcoming) Muddy Buddy coverage, you mentioned a new waterproof camera. Any details as to what it was, and perhaps a review?
My demands in a digital camera are simple, yet always seem to point me towards a preofessional model which I don’t care to invest that much money in. I seek:
Everything else is gravy. Have you got a winner? Anyone else?
I think it’s a minolta - I’ve seen ads for it in various magazines like Outside, Runner’s World, etc.
It would be virtually impossible to buy a low end camera without shutter lag. Maybe at the very least you can go for the prosumer lines but that would still cost a bundle.
You have a budget in mind? cnet.com is very useful.
I second the shutter lag issue. It’s a real pain trying to pan on a subject knowing that the viewfinder will be blacked out for sometime as the image is being captured!
Pentax Optio WP - I just advised a pal to get one, and she’s happy.
The lag on it isn’t as bad as on my old Fuji camera, but dunno if its as good as you want.
Thanks Cougie I will have a look at that.
The reviews appear to be decent, but I’m still a trifle concerned about the shutter speed…
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0501/05010501pentax_optiowp.asp
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/camera/review/54/page_1.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/Pentax_Optio_WP/4505-6501_7-31272471-2.html?tag=top
I think this will require actually finding one to play with. Thanks for the suggestion, Cougie!
Khai have a look at the specs for Sony Cybershot 7.2. I don’t know how rugged it is but it seems to take good pics and pretty good short video as well.
I couldn’t agree more about CNET’s usefulness!
Anyway, geekgoddess is quite right. I’ve never seen a camera that could be called a true “streetshooter’s” camera. The bits that make fast shutters are rather sophisticated. You might look to the Olympus Stylus 800, since it’s truly weatherproof, and all aluminum body, so it’s tough. Only problem is that you’ll be spending lots of time in front of photoshop, cause the firmware of that camera is rather sub-par, and the pictures it takes are so-so.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Olympus_Stylus_800/4505-6501_7-31384042-2.html?tag=tab
I happen to have an older version of it though, and I love being able to stick it in my jersey pocket on a rainy mountain bike ride and get cool shots of Mt. Tam in a morning rain shower.
We’re working on a project right now that will allow us to combine several attributes into one with layers of logic so that you can, for example, filter with one click on “rugged sporty camers that don’t cost a million bucks” or something. In fact, I should probably get back to it so that you guys can actually use that feature…
Thanks for the highly informative post! I was especially pleased to see the comparison chart in the review you linked to, as it directly compares the key metric I’m concerned about (shutter speed) for both both the Optio WP and the Stylus 800.
It’s also interesting to see that the Olympus is an 8MP camera, yet is still in the same price bracket as the 5/6MP Optio line. I was going to post a follow-up question asking how much a MP was worth, as the Optio also comes in a 6MP model (the WPi) for about $100 more.
I’m curious about the “poor picture quality” comments - are those geared more towards someone who may be expecting the picture quality of a DSLR such as a Nikon D70 or a Canon 20G? I wouldn’t expect a little point and shoot to be able to match a DSLR regardless of how many megapixels the sensor has - but I still expect it to take good pictures.
I guess my problem is that I’ve grown up around camera buffs (my father and two of his siblings probably have 30 cameras between them, in large, medium and 35mm format as well as all the new digital toys) - so my expectations as to what “acceptable” is may be a little out of whack.
Having said that, all I really want is a tough little camera that I can use to take action pictures with - and not always end up with pictures of rear wheels and empty spaces.
So far the Olympus Stylus 800 seems like the winner, although the Canon Powershot SD500/550 might be a contender as well - I’m just unsure as to its “ruggedness”. Anyone care to comment?
I have a Pentax Optio MX and I don’t use it much mainly because of the ergonomics of the camera - it’s hard to take pics where clicker is located. Nice picture quality though. I don’t use it when taking pics in races.
My workhorse camera is the Nikon 4300. It’s a little camera that really could. Except it doesn’t have Shutter-priority and aperture-priority settings. Otherwise it’s great for action shots and general shooting - great for taking pics from a moving motorcycle following a bike race.
I like the Sony F717 - I used once this for a bike race but the shape kind of makes it hard to use dangling from a motorcycle . Nice image quality though. Great for taking pics for a triathlon while in T1 or T2 but not really of a cycling race. Also consider the Kodak P740 - nice picture quality and really full functioned.