Digital Cameras

[mattp]

Anybody carrying around any of the current compact digital cameras? Sony makes one (W-1) that fires up instantly and has a real nice monitor, but some reviews suggest it may not be durable and may not produce sharp images; the Canon digital Elph has proven reliable, but it is frustratingly slow to start up; Pentax makes one that is water-resistant, but many others pack more features into a smaller package; a few are really really small ...

[Dru]

Olympus Stylus Epic is super light, small and water resistant as well

[Chriznitch]

I've been using the Canon ELPH (Powershot S410) and have been really happy so far. Pretty durable and lots of options (incl movies!). The zoom (x3) is the only drawback

[Timcb]

I've got the Pentax Optio 43 WR and really love it. there are smaller cameras to be sure, but I love all of its features and it's taken some great pictures for me under a variety of different lighting conditions (including while under 15' of ice). The water resistant feature (can handle submersion in 10' of water for 30 minutes) is fantastic because I'm never concerned about it getting rained on (which can happen from time to time).

 

it's an awesome camera

[tomtom]

I just bought a Konica-Minolta Dimage Xg. Small size, fast startup, and no protruding lens (the optical zoom is internal). Good snapshot camera.

 

 

[Alpinfox]

Olympus Stylus Epic is super light, small and water resistant as well

 

While I have been pretty happy with mine, I think I'd probably get something else if I were buying a digi today.

 

Pros:

-Small/lightweight

-Metal casing = tough

-3X Optical zoom

-Weather resistant

-Great battery life

-Pretty inexpensive now

 

Cons:

-Lens cover door switch gets gummed up (this happened to a friend's camera too, not just mine).

-Lower image quality than competitors (Canon optics are better I think)

-No audio recording

-Only 16 seconds of video recording

[MisterMo]

I'm using a Canon S-50. Far and away not the smallest out there. I like: viewfinder that zooms with lens, ability to turn LCD off, non-proprietary battery and memory. I'd be happier with fewer "features" in a smaller package. Im nervous about the lifespan of the sliding door on-off gizmo. I find I rearely shoot at or need 5MP but there's no harm in having that; they print nice. In general I'm really happy with it; it's easy to haul around everywhere unlike the Nikon & 5 lenses I used to lug on mountain trips.

[JoshK]

I'm too lazu tp read this thread but the sony W1 is the best climbing camera I have found. 5mp. 3x zoon, huge LCD which is good for framing pictures with camera at arm length as is common while belaying.

[mattp]

Josh,

Do you have one? I've read that despite the Zeiss lens they have poor optics or something and take slighty fuzzy pictures, and that they are "fragile" at least in the sense that the doors or plugs break off. Also, some say that large LCD can be more prone to damage in cold weather.

 

Despite these quesiton, it seems like the most packed into the smallest, though.

[rbw1966]

I have, and love, my canon powershot G2. Certainly heavier and bulkier than most but its taken a beating and keeps going. Optics are good and loaded with manual features I still havent figured out.

 

My advice is go with Canon, but in a smaller, more compact model.

[blue_morph]

I chose the Canon S410 and have been using it for most of this season. Canon cameras are built really well and will likely serve you longer than the cheaper models. I looked into the Olympus Stylus because of it's weather resistant qualities, but didn't like the actual camera as much. The Canon S410 Elph isn't slow to start up as far as I'm concerned. The auto focus works really well and there is a neat feature that I can stitch together shots to have a 360 degree picture. Now that's cool.

[JoeMack]

Check out the HP R707. Good size, excellent pictures, nice video, small size and some nice auto features (red eye deduction, adaptive lighting)

[Mr._Natural]

just got the olympus stylus 410. start up is quick, 3x optical zoom, wx proof burly gaskets around opening compartments, sliding lense cover seems quite substantial, very compact, 20 sec vids w/decent audio. haven't found anything to complain about, yet.

[Chriznitch]

I chose the Canon S410 and have been using it for most of this season...there is a neat feature that I can stitch together shots to have a 360 degree picture. Now that's cool.

yeah, I love the "virtual tours" I've got of various summits. I also splurged for the 256mb card, so it will hold a couple hundred top quality pics (or a couple thousand low qual), or prolly a half hour of video

[JoshK]

Josh,

Do you have one? I've read that despite the Zeiss lens they have poor optics or something and take slighty fuzzy pictures, and that they are "fragile" at least in the sense that the doors or plugs break off. Also, some say that large LCD can be more prone to damage in cold weather.

 

Despite these quesiton, it seems like the most packed into the smallest, though.

 

I find the picture quality very good. It is on par with the Canon S500 that I owned for 2 weeks prior to the Sony. Everything else about the Sony was better than the Canon to boot. Obviously compared to my D100 SLR the pictures aren't as good, but for that size I think they are among the best.

 

Not certain about the cold weather issue since I've only had the Camera since July. You can shut it off to save batteries but I can't say whether the screen can actually become damaged.

[arlen]

Sometimes the fuzzy image is just due to a low aperture requiring a slow shutter (prolly why the Yashica T4 was so great--you can't zoom the aperture smaller).

 

I've been using a teleconverter on my lowly Canon A60 with pretty good results--it gives you more choices, including removing the52mm lens adapter when you need it to be compact. The W1 takes an adapter too.

[thelawgoddess]

Josh,

Do you have one? I've read that despite the Zeiss lens they have poor optics or something and take slighty fuzzy pictures, and that they are "fragile" at least in the sense that the doors or plugs break off. Also, some say that large LCD can be more prone to damage in cold weather.

 

Despite these quesiton, it seems like the most packed into the smallest, though.

 

i'm still waiting until i can afford this:

[marylou]

I bought a Canon s40 when they came out. Good camera if you need fully manual....but my s40 is being replaced with an s410 Elph. The s410 performs very well against larger cameras in terms of lens quality, and has a way better macro than most of the rest of the real smallies.

[eternalX]

I was using my gf's Sony this weekend to take pictures and I hought that the flash took forever to charge. Anybody else see that problem?

[cj001f]

I was using my gf's Sony this weekend to take pictures and I hought that the flash took forever to charge. Anybody else see that problem?

Flash's take alot of energy; this isn't surprising. I don't use them outdoors.

[jon]

Matt get the Nikon D2x, it will have everything you would ever need and it is super lightweight, a must for mountain speed climbing!

[Ursa_Eagle]

I'm still using my Canon S200 (2.0 MP digital elph.) The image quality is rather good. I blew some of my pics from last summer up to 6x8, and they looked spectacular. As for the camera, I use it caving, climbing and hiking in all weather conditions. I've had it covered in frost, it's been rained on many times, the lens cover is bashed in, the CF Door is held on with duct tape, and the camera still takes great pics. I want to replace it with an S500 at this point. The major drawbacks in my eyes are the low-light pictures, (but with a lens that small, only a certain amount of light will be able to get in), and the lack of direct manual feedback/control (shutter speed, aperature.) For caving it would be nice to have a flash shoe, but that would make the camera bigger/heavier.

[Gary_Yngve]

I have a Canon S400 and have been happy with it. The S500 that Ursa_Eagle has is basically a 5Mp version of it.

 

Regarding the zoom being only 3x:

the body is small, so the lens is relatively cool at a 2.8 max. Any zoom beyond 3x in all but bright sunlight you'd probably want a tripod.

 

The S400 does let you bracket exposures +/- 2 in thirds, and you can use the half-press to use the light meter on what you want.

[Ursa_Eagle]

The S200 has the exposure control and half-shutter press too. But it doesn't say what the shutter speed or aperature is, and there's no way to control it directly (set it at a given shutter speed or aperature.)

 

Oh yeah, another the problem with the S200 is the contrast of the LCD changes significantly if you tilt the camera up or down, so sometimes I have a hard time getting the right exposure. The S400's LCD is significantly better, and I'm assuming the S410 and S500 are better than the S200 as well. It's not just me, my friends who have S400's comment on my LCD when they use my camera, and they have a hard time getting the right exposure.

[RichardKorry]

I have a Pentax Optio S4: 4MP, very small (fits into an Altoids box), 3X optical zoom, very good image quality (certainly as good as any 35mm point-n-shoot I've used), easy to use (my wife, self-proclaimed technophobe, uses it). I've had it about 6 months. My only complaint is sometimes it takes too long for it to write to the SD memory. It has a 12MB internal buffer and I don't know if I'm overflowing that or what.

 

The key things for me is that its SO small that I will always bring it along as it fits in my pants pocket comfortably.

 

It's also very easy to operate with one hand which is useful.