Wide angle capable small camera..

hi,

I'd go even further and say that 24mm is not enough either, ideally I'd like something around the 18-20mm mark. Don't care about splash/water proof either.
Used to have a Kodak V570 compact still have but son killed the focus on the one lens (was a dual lens compact, fixed wide 22mm iirc, 28-whatever zoom on the other) Is there anything similar in the market?

Want to cheaply combine reasonable quality architectural and boating photography :rolleyes: and no, I don't want to carry about a DSLR, nor my F2 Nikon...

cheers

V.
There's your problem innit.

Reasonable very wide architectural shots are not something you mention in the same breath as compact camera really.
They are built to do a job of snapping and for the user who will not notice soft edges, distortion, vignetting and other images faults.
Because compact have so many pixels on a small chip these days there is a lot of interference between pixels and that is why compacts tend to have a lot of image-processing in camera.
I use a Sigma 12-14 full frame lens on my D7000. In DX lenses there are some 10-20mm zooms.
I believe that the "tough" compacts are the way forward, but there are compromises. The Sony Cybershot has a 25mm equivalent lens.
The "tough" cameras all have short zoom ranges as they don't feature an external lens.
Some have tricky extra zoom reach using fold-in elements or digital cropping of the chip image.
Generally if you want a long reach zoom it won't be shock and waterproof.
My experience is that the lens mechanism will be the thing that kills the camera.
 
I looked at the reviews. Picture quality not the best, no wind noise filter for video. I can't remember if zooming during filming was available.
It had some features which could be interesting. I wouldn't count it out. It depends on what the pictures are going to be used for. The Olympus TG620 slightly pipped it in my opinion.
If you are looking for a "tough" camera you aren't going to get the best images available from compacts, but you can take images when the other cameras have gone home.
Plus the odd drop won't kill it.
 
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