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Posted

 

Anyone care to share their impressions of any small digital cameras that they have taken climbing?

 

My criteria:

at least 2MP

at least 2X optical zoom

small and relatively sturdy

 

Thanks.

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Posted

The little Canon (s230? Is that the right model number? somebody help!) is a sweet unit. I got one of the bigger Canons but would have bought this little gem if it had met my needs. It is TINY!

Posted

The new Olympus 300 series is super small, 3.2 megs, 3x optical zoom (equiv of 35-105mm on film camera), and weather resistant, one of the only digitals with latter feature which is nice for those stormy climbing days.

Posted

I don't recommend my canon elph S110. It doesn't do a very good job of taking picture of distant objects (like mountains). It tends to blue them out. Don't know if its something I'm doing, or if its the camera. Good for everything else, though.

Posted

I have a Canon S40 and can recommend it (I think it has been replaced by the S45 which is essentially the same with a couple extra features.) It has good battery endurance, is reasonably small, is a clamshell-type camera so the lens is pretty well protected, has lots of feature to maintain control of the exposure/white balance, takes compactflash cards (so can store a lot of pictures), is 4 MP and takes good pictures which can be enlarged to 11X14. Typical limitations of a camera this size, but no more than you would expect. My main gripe is the 4-way swithch which is used to scroll through menus or select items, but with practice I've gotten used to it.

 

Overall solid performer. thumbs_up.gif

Posted

I bought a 3.3mp from walmart.com for $157 brand new. Vivitar 3715 though I don't think it has optical zoom, just something like 3.2 digital.

For supersmall though, I saw a Casio 2mp that makes the Elph look big. Don't remember the name, but it is on their website.

Posted

I recently picked up a Canon Powershot A70 and really like it. It is 3.2 MP, 3x optical zoom, has a number of features and takes really nice pictures. It is pretty small and uses 4 AA batteries. The A60 is the same camera, but in a 2 MP variety for about 100 bones less.

Posted

I really dig my Olympus D40 Zoom. At 4 megapixels it's a little more pricey then the ones already mentioned here ($350 to $400?) It has 2.8X optical zoom. It's very, very small; fits in just about any pocket. I have accidently dropped it a couple times with no problems, so I would call it pretty sturdy.

 

My only real beef with it is to save size they went with a two battery system, so you either have to resign yourself to changing them regularly or just avoid using the LCD screen.

 

 

Posted

I bought an Olympus Stylus 300 a few months ago and have been thoroughly impressed. It's the only"weatherproof" camera on the market, very compact, has a tough metal body and gives great pictures w/ decent options for a point and shoot. I haven't had any problem w/ shutter lag but I have not tried any action shots. The battery life has been really good. On a recent trip to Wyoming I shot 50 pictures or so any didn't have to change to the spare battery for the entire week. thumbs_up.gif

Posted

I bought a Canon Powershot S45. Gets 4.0 megapixels. Lots of features. Add a 256MB flash card and you're good for a month in the Himalaya! Weighs less than my 28-80mm lens for my Nikon!

I give it thumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gif

Combine it w/ iPhoto on a mac and you've got an idiot proof system!

Posted (edited)

Fence Sitter--

 

$500 and it comes with a 32MB card. I think costco has the cheapest price. Did I say it has a 3X optical and 3.6X digital zoom? Blah blah blah... it takes great pictures.

 

 

Edited by Matt
Posted

Sombody had mentioned the Cannon Elph S230. That's a great camera that meets your criteria. It retailed for $399 last fall but has since been replaced by the S400. If you can find one, it should be in your price range.

Posted

I have the Canon S200 (2.0 mp, 2x zoom), and it's worked great. It takes better pics than the Pentax Optio S and Casio Exilim. It's certainly durable (I've got a few dents in the front, and the lens cover no longer shuts, but the camera still works fine), it can handle a little weather (note: it's not advertised as being weather proof), and it's certainly small and fairly lightweight. If weight and size are your primary concerns, I'd definately suggest the Optio S or Casio Exilim though. They're smaller and lighter, but as mentioned, the picture quality isn't as good as the Canon.

 

Also, digital zoom is completely useless, don't use it as a consideration.

Posted (edited)

I bought the Olympus Stylus 300 and really like it especially the fact it is weatherproof! I found it for $300 plus shipping at dbuys.com. Whatever you buy, expect to spend up to $100 more for accessories such as extra battery, larger meg card, DC adapter, reader or what ever else you might need. I think 3.2 megapixels is more than adequate, but they make a Stylus 400 with 4.? megapixels if that is a concern. As far as shutter delay, if you puch the shutter 1/2 way and hold it, it fires quickly when you go the rest of the way.

Edited by David_Parker
Posted

I just got a Canon G2 and I'm incredibly happy with it, although I'm still learning how to use all the features which it has a lot of. It's not small enough to fit in your shirt pocket but is much lighter then my Nikon SLR. Got a 512 meg card and I can take like 300 4MP uncompressed images. Got mine at buydig.com.

Posted

The elphs are the way to go. small, light, and great pics. I would think you could grab a used one of ebay rather cheap. you've seen the ones on my site, yea? Those were all taken with an s110? (maybe 175 on ebay). i had an olympus d-110 and it sucked ass.

 

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