Digital p&s recommendations?

Melissa and I need to purchase a new digi p&s. We've got a few paramaters to work around but are mostly wide open to suggestions. The one I'm seriously considering is the Olympus Stylus 770 SW. Waterproof and can take a 5' drop (good for a klutz like me). Anyone have experience with it?

Requirements:

- Small enough to fit in a pocket (i.e Casio Exilim size)
- Image stabilizer

Preferred:

- Optical viewfinder
- At least 3x optical zoom
- Weather resistant

Any suggestions are sincerely appreciated.

Bret, I just recently got a Fuji F50se and so far I really like it. It is fairly small (a little thicker than the Casio, but still very pocketable), has a 35-105 equivalent zoom, and has great image quality at high ISO's. It also has an IS function, but so far I don't see much advantage, but since the high ISO's are still usable, you can just dial that up instead. Obviously, image quality is subjective from different people, but I have taken shots at ISO1600 that are plenty usable for snapshots (4x6 prints), and that is what I needed it for. I can't speak for its durability too much, but my wife did drop it from about 5' onto a dirt trail, and only came away with a few scratches, still works fine. I doubt it is very water resistant though. does not have optical viewfinder, but i found i never used mine on my old p & s anyways. Email me if you want to know more details.
Chris

Thanks, Chris. I'll check out the Fuji on the web. Glad to hear it survived the drop with only a few scratches!

I don't remember if it was this particular model, but my brother in law had just bought a new Olympus (waterproof) last christmas. He and my sister were staying with us, so he and I got to play around with the files a bit. I remember we were both very disappointed with how much noise the images had. If I remember correctly (and I probably don't), it was difficult to get to manual settings, and the camera liked to pick high ISOs. Also, it seemed to have trouble with DOF, and the background would be fairly soft. Now, take into account I have very little experience with P&S cameras, and I wasn't able to spend a lot of time messing around with it. Of course, the waterproof aspect is very appealling, and I believe he chose to stick with the Olympus, since they had already lost two cameras to water (they do a lot of outdoor activities, like lake kayaking).

I use a little Pentax Optio W10, 6Mp, its waterproof and takes full frame video, so is great to have in the car all the time. Rain and underwater are no problem. It seems durable enough. Battery life is good. There is a newer version out now too.

Bill

I've been using a Fujifilm F30 for the last year as a supplement to my 4x5 setup. It takes pretty good quality pics, and really excellent macros. Fuji is know for having good higher ISO quality, however I find that ISO 200 and below are noticeably better quality.

The only bummer with the F30 (as with any pocket camera) is that the image quality is not quite up to stock photo quality. For this reason, I just bought a Ricoh GX100, which seem like it has much more potential for this. It's a compact camera but not quite pocket sized... also probably not the best choice for easy p&s. I was also looking at the Canon G9... similar sort of high end compact but with longer lens zoom.

Have you looked at the new G9? Not quite as small as the other excellent recommendations, but you can shoot raw. Biggest downside for me is that the wide end is only 35mm (35mm equivalent). I'd love that same camera with a wide end of 20mm or 24mm

I have looked at the Canon G9 and I really like it, except for the fact that it doesn't offer any weather-resistance. I guess it's not a huge deal. Image quality appears to be extremely high.

Paul: The new G9 accepts a wide angle adapter that gives you ~26mm and a 2x tele-converter to give you ~420mm.

Could be a good way to go for adventure stock photos shot while climbing, hiking, etc. long distances. Hmmm....

I Vote for the Canon A640 10mp

Hey Bret,

Thanks for the info on the G9, I did not realize that. I need to look into that for sure, may have just given me a good idea for Xmas :-).. Concrr with your last statement, especially if you assemble it with a RRS plate, one of the new superlight CF Gitzo tripods, and maybe the RRS BH-25 head.

I like the Fuji P&S models a lot, but whatever brand you choose, make sure to get a camera that supports RAW capture.... as I've found out the hard way, there will be times when everything comes together and all you have is that P&S - and JPG just won't cut it.