Short sad story. Sunday I was fishing in Kings Canyon NP, at a friend’s Bachelor Party. The river was pretty high, so we were working the tributaries. I was standing on a rock, looking at a probably accessible pool. I stooped over to crawl across a log to get there, and my camera fell out of my pocket, bounced off the rock, and into a modest plunge pool. I stripped down to the waist and fished around a bit but could not find the camera (it was waterproof and shockproof, so it was worth looking); then my younger son, stripped up to the waist and fished around with his toes for a while, but he couldn’t find it either.
So, I am out a camera. This one was an Olympus Stylus 725 (7.1 mp); and replaced an Olympus Stylus 400, that drowned in the Kings River a bit over a year ago…. Hmmmm.
Anyway I am now back in the market for a compact/subcompact waterproof digital camera in the sub $350 range, that is at least nominally shock resistant.
Contenders seem to be the Pentax Optio W 20 and W 30, and the Olympus Stylus 770, 850, and 790, all water proof.
I am leaning towards the Pentaxes, because I believe they have a faster shutter response time than the Olympus models (which are abominable for that attribute)
I know we go through this fairly regularly, but the answer keeps changing, as the technology matures. So,
1. What other choices am I missing
2. What are the weak points of the Pentax Optio series
3. Who has a good word about the Olympus models (competent but uninspired)
4. Does ANYONE make a small digital that still has an optical viewfinder??
Thanks in advance for the info, advice, and abuse……
Oh, I will go back and look again in September, when the water will be less than two feet deep, right now it is over six feet deep in places….
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