Digital camera question.

[oldharry]

Re: Fuji 5600...

[ QUOTE ]
Your Fuji 5600 sounds great. Is it waterproof for use on the boat?

[/ QUOTE ] Thats drawback no 1! But at £180 you cant get everything.....

I used my old Olympus on the boat, also totally non waterproof, and with sensible precautions never had any problem with it. Keep it in its case, in a dry locker, dont leave it around while under way.... that sort of thing. It survived all that quite happily.

 

[flyingjunior]

Re: Fuji 5600...

I would go with the pentax opio i have had mine for nearly a year and it has survived numerous offshore races, very simple to use and is small enough to put in a jacket pocket. 7dayshop is prob the cheapest to buy from.

 

[Erre]

Re: Fuji 5600...

Agree; Pentax Optio (W20 model) has proved to be all I had hoped both in terms of picture quality and robustness. I come from a background of using high-end Nikon digital equipment and was looking for a pocketable, properly waterproof, decent quality digital. The Optio W20 fits that bill!

 

[jenku]

I second that. A good optical zoom is the most important feature if the camera is to be used at sea. Most small ones have 3x which is far too little. I have an otherwise crap HP Photosmart camera with 7x and that works OK. Bad thing is it does not have a viewfinder, only a screen which is really bad. Still I rather take that camera than my wife's sony which is better in all respects but has only 3x zoom. And do not confuse optical and digital zoom, many do advertise lots of zoom but only 3x is optical rest is just cropping the pic digitally which is worthless.
That said, my work's Canon with 14x would be the best, but it is a bit biggish and I don't dare take it on the boat.

 

[Malcb]

I've been using an Olympus Mju720sw for the last year. Waterprrof and shockprroof. Very satisfied with the results. Only drawback is there is no viewfinder, which makes it a bit hit and miss on a bright day.

I've used it on RIBs and sailing boats. Just rinse it off at the end of the day.

 

[MarkJohnson12345]

The wife has one.

Its an excellent buy. And excellent results.

Mj

 

[Jonny_H]

Another vote for the Olympus Mju720sw /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
what do you want to do with the camera?

[/ QUOTE ] Brendan,
The "smart arse" answer is of course take photos but thinking about it that pretty much sums it up anyway. I have no specific requirements. Something that will take decent snapshots obviously but also something that will yield decent quality "enlagements" on special occasions. Something that can be used as a point and shoot camera for SWMBO.

A reasonable optical zoom range but not necessarily as much as 10x. Being waterproof is not high on my list of rquirements as I think my serious sailing days are over.

I am not keen on the very small ones and some of the optical view finders I found too small. (I had job to see the Ixus viewfinder nevermind use it). Maybe SWMBO will sway me way from the more chunky to something slimmer though.

 

[BrendanS]

I was just thinking that other than the lack of viewfinder, a good mobile phone/camera, would fulfill many of your requirements, at a very reasonable price with a contract.

 

[jenku]

Mobile phone cameras usually have crap zoom if at all. Not useful at sea. I tried it, it came out like this. And I was only 20m from that boat!! Mobile phones simply are too smal for good optics (at least yet). Maybe forever, as lenses do need some space and cannot be replaced by electronics right away.

 

[Duffer]

There's a good roundup of what is available in the August issue of PC Pro (out now). Of the superzooms (10x optical) the image quality of the Panasonic TZ2 and Olympus 550 UZ is better than the Fuji S9600. They are also much lighter.

The Panasonic is about £190, the Olympus (with fixed 28-500mm lens) about £290. The Fuji 9600 (£235) is rather better than the 6500 or 5700. The Ricoh R4 or R5 is also worth a look. Check prices and specs at www.pricerunner.co.uk Of the 3x zooms the Sony W35 (just £114) is recommended.

 

[Lakesailor]

I find that as there are so many of these cameras, and new ones being released all the time, these comparisons are very useful. It's just a question of deciding which features are important to you and going with the recommendations.

 

[duncan]

[ QUOTE ]
I find that as there are so many of these cameras, and new ones being released all the time, these comparisons are very useful. It's just a question of deciding which features are important to you and going with the recommendations.

[/ QUOTE ]

yep - sums it up for me. You have to decide what's important for you.......and accept that everything is a compromise!

I am delighted with the oly SW720 - but have had little chance to use it in real anger as it keeps being borrowed for holidays at the moment (by people who have bigger and better cameras but just want to chuck it in the bag, get 500 pics on one card and battery (I give them 2 but no-ones used the second yet). I am sure the pentax optio w20 would be similarily usefull. SD is a better memory system than XD as well - the latter is the bottom of the pile pretty much as it's passive and very devoted to a single application. The loss of a viewfinder on this small cameras is little loss as the viewfinders are difficult to use - yes in bright sunlight the screen is almost useless so guess, shoot a few, and erase the ones in camera you don't like in the pub in the evening!

You can get into the top of the range digicams - SP550z etc
and marvel at their 18x zooms, low light capabilities IS etc etc and will deliver stunning pictures straight to the printers
time and time again - or you can buy last years equivilant for half the price but generally without the above 3 features. ebay can be a great source of a bargin here as many 'need' the latest and yesterday's has little value. I have bought a couple for under £20.

You can lug around a full DSLR system if your boat (and car) are big enough but I don't think there are many that will handle significant exposure to seawater (Oly E1 + pro series lenses excepted) and won't deliver pics straight to the printer to better the above digicams either!

just for fun here's a pic I took a few days ago ...... it is a camera thread!