Toughest small digital camera

[Shmerel]

It's got to be real tough, as small as possible, good-sized window on the back to reveiew things, and top quality shots.
What should I get?
How much $?

[rpilottx]

Check here for a review of small water and shock proof digital point and shoots
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q209waterproofgroup/ Hope this helps. My wife has the Olympus 6000 and loves it.

[bush pilot]

I've been using an Olympus 725sw for several years now. Very rugged little camera and takes excellent pics. I beat it up too. It's been banged, crashed and dropped on concrete several times. Battery life is real good too.
Olympus has new Shockproof/Waterproof models out now which are supposed to be even better all around.
They aren't exactly cheap though.

[cdhaz]

I took this with a Stylus Tough 8000. I damaged the LCD screen about 2 months after I got it and Olympus warrantied the repair, (no questions asked) and got it back to me in about a week. I think current price is somewhere between $300.00-$375.00.

[minnjim]

Originally Posted by Shmerel

It's got to be real tough, as small as possible, good-sized window on the back to reveiew things, and top quality shots.
What should I get?
How much $?

After drowning three regular digital cameras, I got a Pentax Optio W10 (waterproof, dustproof) and it's held up well. My girlfriend took a newer version (W30) to Iraq for a year (she needed the "dustproof" part) without any trouble. I see they're up to W80 now, that has more features and more rugged than mine. Based on our experiences, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.
I see prices on-line between 200 to 270 USD. Not cheap, but I believe good value for the money.

[jake28]

Panasonic TS1:
Waterproof, Dustprof, Shock Proof. I traveled 5000 miles on a bike with it exposed in my breast pocket and it worked like a charm from start to finish. Possible to operate with gloves on although the zoom is hard to work. Great wide-angle Leica lens.

[NHBill]

Casio Exilim EX-G1 12.1 MP Slim-line Endurance Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Cost will be about $300 from Amazon, they start shipping Tuesday

[Shmerel]

thanks people. i now have some leads to chase.

[1P8RIOT]

My Canon Powershot SD1000 has been all over with me through all kinds of weather ( even got left out in the rain one night in Alaska ). Awesome little camera. Takes great pics and vid and has more features than I'll ever use.

[Defconfunk]

I'm going to add a vote for the Olympus water/impact proof camera. Took a buddy's skiing, and it worked great in -15C. He's taken it snorkeling in Mexico, dropped untold times (kicked it more than once). Very impressive little camera with good 5mp pictures and pretty clean VGA 640x480 video.

Being an DSLR guy, I notice the shutter lag, low light performance, and all the other draw backs of a point and shoot, but they *all* have those draw backs. This is definitely one of my favourites.

[DriveShaft]

The Ricoh g600 might be what you're looking for. It's not the be-all end-all of photographic excellence, but if serious bang around workhorse picture taking is the order of the day, the Ricoh G600 puts the emphasis on no joke, no hype shock-resistant ruggedness. The newer ones (Pentax w80, Olympus Tough 6010, Panasonic DMC-Ts1, and the newest Casio EX-G1) have a better blend of fun features (like HD vid), make use of light materials, and folded optics (which is a compromise compared to traditional lens barrel) which helps their drop-test ratings. But the Ricoh is just plain rugged.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0804/08042201ricohg600.asp

Wide-angle 28-140 mm 5x zoom w/ a 22mm conversion lens for really wide-angle shots. And 37mm filters means you can attach a polarizer to accent sky colors, and remove water reflections (the one thing you can't edit in post processing). I don't know if having a hotshoe flash is something you think of as being useful, either, but it definitely increases the useful range of any camera if you make use of it. Uses AAA batteries...nice. It doestn''t get any respect , but it's a totally cool combination of features. One more thing...it's designed to be operated with gloves on.


This review gives you a pretty good summary of its capabilities...and practically the only substantive review I could find. IMO, not the best photographically speaking, but it's worth a look if the ruggedness is seriously going to be put to the test, whereas the other options more more rugged in name, rather than a feature to be depended upon. For me, it's the kind of option I have no fear of taking out in situations where other cameras would simply never be even considered. Take a look at the sample pics to see if you can tolerate its output.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/digita.../Ricoh-G600/p1

[bisbonian]

If you go with the Olympus check to see if you can get all the features of the camera without resorting to using their proprietary xD cards.

I have the SW850 and while the camera can use a micro SD card I can't access any of the advanced camera settings unless I use an xD M+ card.

Max size of the xD card is 2GB which may not be a big deal. However google something along the lines of xD malfunctions and you'll find that the xD card can have some serious issues.

I know there are many people who've never had an issue with one of these cards and I say good for you. I had 2 out of 4 cards crap out on me on a recent trip, both at about 500 images. I sent the cards to a couple of places to get the images recovered as I couldn't get it done myself and no one could get my images back. I finally sent the cards to recoverfab over in Germany and they were able to do their magic and get all my images back for me.

It was expensive.

I now use this camera for those times where I don't really care if I lose the pictures; if I ever go on another epic journey I'll be shopping for something along the lines of a Canon.

[DriveShaft]

Originally Posted by bisbonian

If you go with the Olympus check to see if you can get all the features of the camera without resorting to using their proprietary xD cards.

I have the SW850 and while the camera can use a micro SD card I can't access any of the advanced camera settings unless I use an xD M+ card.

Max size of the xD card is 2GB which may not be a big deal. However google something along the lines of xD malfunctions and you'll find that the xD card can have some serious issues.

I know there are many people who've never had an issue with one of these cards and I say good for you. I had 2 out of 4 cards crap out on me on a recent trip, both at about 500 images. I sent the cards to a couple of places to get the images recovered as I couldn't get it done myself and no one could get my images back. I finally sent the cards to recoverfab over in Germany and they were able to do their magic and get all my images back for me.

It was expensive.

I now use this camera for those times where I don't really care if I lose the pictures; if I ever go on another epic journey I'll be shopping for something along the lines of a Canon.

Speaking of annoying xD options...Fuji also used to make a shockproof model that took its shockproofing seriously...called the Fuji Bigjob. The BigJob & the Ricoh were intended more for serious industrial work like pictures at build sites, and the like. You open the memory compartment door on the bigjob, and you know...it's not a prissy little camera. :) I haven't ever seen on on this side of the atlantic though.

[DriveShaft]

Incidentally...wrt water-resistivity...take the ratings with a grain of salt. Any water resistivity is given to you by way of what's essentially a collection of gaskets. Catch a hair across any one of them and you can kiss your water resistance goodbye.

[fullmonte]

Originally Posted by DriveShaft

The Ricoh g600 might be what you're looking for.

Does anybody sell it online in the USA? A search pulled up only Aussie vendors.