[shuttertalk]

Nice article from dpreview discussing the various terms for environmental protection, and what it all means.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/3864522...roof-et-al

I had a recent experience, picking up a cheap and nasty "waterproof" digital camera from Agfa, and was half disappointed, half not surprised when it literally sprung a leak on the 2nd day in. Long story short, I brought it to a recent trip to Fiji, and it worked well in the pool, but the day I brought it to the beach for some snorkelling, the lens immediately fogged up making the images virtually useless. When I checked it again a few days after, I noticed water in the battery compartment, causing the terminals to rust. Plus, a couple of the buttons stopped working. Anyway, my advice is to steer clear away from the cheap and nasties and stick to the brand name ones.

Anyone had any experiences with waterproof / weatherproof cameras?

** cue matthew's watering can pouring water on his olympus image **

[shuttertalk]

Another useful link from the article - compact waterproof group test:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q311wate...grouptest/

[Toad]

I bought a cheap throwaway waterproof camera to go snorkeling with in Hawaii. You get what you pay for - none of the photos were usable in my opinion.

[shuttertalk]

You get what you pay for - none of the photos were usable in my opinion.

Agreed - Of the photos that weren't fogged up the ones in broad daylight were not bad, and some underwater shots in the pool were cool for the novelty aspect. However, indoor shots with the flash was abysmal - it just flashed at full power all the time and totally washed everything to white.


I've heard some good things about this waterproof case for the iphone - I think next time I'll just get one of these instead of a waterproof camera.
http://www.lifeproof.com/

[NT73]

I used to get throwaway waterproof cameras for holidays. Kodak, Agfa, etc., with the preloaded 24 shot film. I seldom got decent shots, so IIt had never leaked in about 5 years of use. bought a Minolta underwater camera. It took standard 35mm cassettes, and was pretty good both in the water and out of it. Great on the beach - wash the sand off after. I lost it somewhere in the canaries or had it pinched. It had been superceded by a digital version which looked and revued rather badly. So I re-started with various digital cameras, until the 350D came along. Of course I had to re-learn .

[matthew]

I love my TS3.







(My first review of the TS3 – here – currently ranks as the second result on Google for "panasonic ts3 review", which amuses me.)

[Toad]

Looks nice, Matt. As I say, you get what you pay for. When I was diving in Belize, I rented a Nikonos with an external strobe and the results were amazing, but I can't rationalize that for the amount of time I spend underwater these days (the length of time that I can hold my breath).

BYW: the crawler in your third shot looks very sinister - but they do, don't they?

[matthew]

Rob, those crawlers are a little creepy... (The underwater video was pretty cool, too.)

KEH.com is currently selling a Nikonos V with a 35/2.5 lens – the one that suits the viewfinder, and one of only two that work in air – for $200. It's in "bargain" condition, but so was my Hasselblad equipment that I bought from them. Shipping to Canada is pretty expensive, though.

[Zig]

Matthew, top man! Am assuming you've checked they've also got some extra seals("O"-rings) and that it's had a service...? Wonderful model though: I guess you'll give them a thorough interrogation about any oxidisation. Please buy it, if only for the reason that I want to see pics of this lovely piece of engineering!

[blue]

We have an Olympus 6010 Tough. We sent it in for repair a couple of times. Best I can figure, sand can get in the camera when you let the lens cover mechanism do its thing when there is sand in that area. So the Pentax WG-1, which doesn't have such a lens cover, appeals to me, but mostly I'm interested in the TS3 because it supposedly focuses and shoots very fast, and that's the biggest problem with the Olympus we have - it is super-laggy. A new Nikon model just came out which is interesting too, but a bit pricier, being new. Anyway, we love having a rugged camera; I doubt we would ever buy a compact that's not rugged.

Thanks to Toad for the welcome in the other thread.