Hi All - looking for some feedack on cameras (digital).
Based on all the current rain days on this year’s AT - is it a good idea to get a waterproof camera (eg Olympus)??
I personally like a view-finder - anyone have any comments on the Cannon Elph??
Muchas Thanks!
_Emm_ I used the Canon powershot digital elph SD 1000 last year for the duration of my thru hike. I had that thing soaked while in rain storms in my front pouch way more than once. Its not waterproof that I know (never looked it up) but it still works great and I still use it. It must had been soaked over 25 times. I tried keeping it in a plastic bag but after a while its just really hard to keep any camera totally dry. Besides...I took lots of pics while it was raining..:) The camera is ready to snap a pic within two seconds (a major plus) and the battery life is pretty good. Perhaps charge it twice in 100 miles depending on how long you leave it on and if you use video or not. Just using camera mode it last really long. It comes with its own rechargable battery but bring an extra one which you can pick up at most places that sell the camera (best buys..etc). The only thing that did happen is I had condensation build up in the camera in New York and fogged up the lens but it went away within a day. Good sturdy camera..relatively inexpensive (little over a hundred bucks) and reliable. Its 7.1 megapixels. Theres a newer model of my camera now but it looks the same. I bought mine last June. Good average camera for someone who just likes to take the camera out and shoot. Good luck searching.
good. In a hundred miles I charged it once…maybe twice taking pics. video uses more battery of course. Its a 7.1
_bearwalker_ I have the Olympus Tough 8000 (the newest of their waterprood, ruggedized line). I have a digital SLR (Nikon D80) that I had not intention of bringing on the trail. Even though the D80 takes an excellent image, I just wasn't willing to carry the weight for my whole thru.
As I am want to do, I did lots of research before buying the Olympus. I poured through reviews and talked to many people (mostly non thru hikers). I knew there would be trade-offs with any compact camera. The Olympus has widely been panned for its image quality. Part of this is caused by the bent optics it uses in it’s ruggedized design. Instead of an extendable lens, the whole lens is contained within the camera body using mirrors and a bent light path.
The only way I’ve been able to get images I find acceptable on the Olympus is to deactivate the auto iso setting, and force the camera to a low iso number (say 100, certainly no more than 200). Unfortunately this doesn’t work in every camera mode, so you won’t be able to do this in every mode. In any camera one will find image quality decreases at higher iso setting, but the decrease in image quality on the Olympus is much more noticeable than in other cameras. One other drawback, the Olympus isn’t as light as some of the lightest compact cameras.
On the up side, the camera is very durable. If you drop it, it is designed to take the abuse. As for waterproofing, I’ve taken both pictures and video with it underwater. The Tough 8000 is rated to take pictures down to 33 feet under water for up to an hour. The underwater pictures are surprisingly good.
Among other contenders, a waterproof or water resistant Pentax compact digital was recommended to me, and although not directly recommendeded to me by anyone I seriously considered the Sigma DP1. The Sigma DP1 takes fantastic pictures for a compact, and it can use screw on lens extenders. On the downside, it is a little heavier, certainly not waterproof, and expensive.
My ultimate rational was, most of the pictures I take while I head north will be of people, and any landscape shots I’m not happy with, I can always come back and reshoot with my SLR if I really want to.
I also considered taking my Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic. It is a great waterproof, semi-ruggedized compact 35mm camera that takes fantastic pictures. It has a good quality fixed length F2.8 lens. As it doesn’t have a zoom, they never needed to create an internal and extendable bent light path for the optics, and as a result, the image quality isn’t put at risk. I carried this camera hiking for years. I just wasn’t willing to add 35mm film as one more item on my resupply list. Plus, using an xD card adapter and an 8gb MicroSDHC card in the Olympus I have room for more photos than I could realistically take.
Jim
_Jim_ I have the Olympus Tough 8000 (the newest of their waterprood, ruggedized line). I have a digital SLR (Nikon D80) that I had not intention of bringing on the trail. Even though the D80 takes an excellent image, I just wasn't willing to carry the weight for my whole thru.
As I am want to do, I did lots of research before buying the Olympus. I poured through reviews and talked to many people (mostly non thru hikers). I knew there would be trade-offs with any compact camera. The Olympus has widely been panned for its image quality. Part of this is caused by the bent optics it uses in it’s ruggedized design. Instead of an extendable lens, the whole lens is contained within the camera body using mirrors and a bent light path.
The only way I’ve been able to get images I find acceptable on the Olympus is to deactivate the auto iso setting, and force the camera to a low iso number (say 100, certainly no more than 200). Unfortunately this doesn’t work in every camera mode, so you won’t be able to do this in every mode. In any camera one will find image quality decreases at higher iso setting, but the decrease in image quality on the Olympus is much more noticeable than in other cameras. One other drawback, the Olympus isn’t as light as some of the lightest compact cameras.
On the up side, the camera is very durable. If you drop it, it is designed to take the abuse. As for waterproofing, I’ve taken both pictures and video with it underwater. The Tough 8000 is rated to take pictures down to 33 feet under water for up to an hour. The underwater pictures are surprisingly good.
Among other contenders, a waterproof or water resistant Pentax compact digital was recommended to me, and although not directly recommendeded to me by anyone I seriously considered the Sigma DP1. The Sigma DP1 takes fantastic pictures for a compact, and it can use screw on lens extenders. On the downside, it is a little heavier, certainly not waterproof, and expensive.
My ultimate rational was, most of the pictures I take while I head north will be of people, and any landscape shots I’m not happy with, I can always come back and reshoot with my SLR if I really want to.
I also considered taking my Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic. It is a great waterproof, semi-ruggedized compact 35mm camera that takes fantastic pictures. It has a good quality fixed length F2.8 lens. As it doesn’t have a zoom, they never needed to create an internal and extendable bent light path for the optics, and as a result, the image quality isn’t put at risk. I carried this camera hiking for years. I just wasn’t willing to add 35mm film as one more item on my resupply list. Plus, using an xD card adapter and an 8gb MicroSDHC card in the Olympus I have room for more photos than I could realistically take.
Jim
_Jim_ Good Day Please sent a spread sheet in where I can punch a certain amount of numbers (e.g 49 numbers) and the spread sheet generate all possible combinations available or refer me to a website that have this kind of spread sheet.
_Blessing Pontsho Motshekga_ Jim - No. You revoked that right when you entered the forum, got caught in its code vortex and time warped back to the mid-90's. It's hell here, but the code gods are vengeful and lazy.
_code gods_ ...think we should all heavily invest in intel stock and dump it in five years...
_fishngame_