UKC

Panasonic FT2 or one of the Olympus Tough series...

What would you recomend? What have you used?

Looking for something that will join me on my many adventures....walking & climbing in winter & summer, gorge walking, white water/surf kayaking, expeds in cold places without the access to mains power, hot, dusty places...

In reply to Katie86: I've got the FT2 and would rate it very well as its quite small but seems to cope very well with being dropped and submerged repeatedly when canoeing.

Mine also came with a rubberised case thing which means you can’t accidentally open the battery cover when in use. The battery life on it seems pretty good as long as you don’t try to transfer photos. Although I think you can only use the Panasonic batteries in it for some reason.

Andrew

In reply to Katie86: used the olympus, and very happy with it, never broken and image quality is good (better than other compacts ive used)

In reply to Katie86:

Nikon Action Touch L35AW looks fun!
Or the classic Canon A1 Sureshot

I have the Olympus Tough

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Olympus/oly_stylus1030sw.asp
I have taken it scuba diving, snowboarding, rock climbing, up Kili, down Gaping Gill
Dropped it, frozen it, banged it and still going strong.
The zoom isn't the best and no smile features etc. But great apart from that.
The photos look pretty nice and get good comments, indoors at parties the flash can be a bit much.

The latest version is pretty expensive, so see if you can get one of the older ones, but it should last you a long time.

In reply to Katie86: I would recommend having a look at the DMC-FT1 as that was the previous model and the specs aren’t that much lower but will probably be quite a bit cheaper.

In reply to Katie86:

Yeh I was looking at the FT2 in a panasonic shop the other day. Image quality is phenominal and you can see the screen even in direct sunlight which can be a problem with some cameras.

I wanted an DSLR or the Panasonic TZ10 as a bit of the compromise but the (very knowledgable) panasonic guy said the FT2 could take the same quality of photos and very similar zoom to the TZ10. He just said that if you drop the TZ10 it's f*cked!

Seing as i've broken a screan on a camera and killed one through water damage (on the hill in minging weather) I don't think I could be trusted with a non bomb proof camera.

I've looked at some of the cheaper cameras like fujifilm WP camera which I would happily take kayaking but they don't work below zero AND the biggy, i'm taking it out to Baffin Island in 4 weeks time! I don't want to compromise on image quality.

However £350 brings tears to my eyes....just think of all the outdoor gear you could get with that....anyone know where is cheap but still good for cameras?

In reply to Katie86: I got my FT2 for about £320 which included an 8gb card and a neoprene case for it although that was from a local camera company which gave a bit of a discount.

In reply to Katie86:


I wasn't joking with my recommendations. Yes they are 35mm, yes you can only get them second hand, but they fit the bill! Look them up, you might get a nice surprise.

Failing that, if you do go for a proper "bombproof" digital, I'd recommend taking a disposable waterproof 35mm one as backup anyway. In case cards get corrupted or camera gets lost. You can get them for well under a tenner which is a reasonable insurance policy to ensure you get SOME pictures.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I'd probably take my old 6mp Nikon compact camera as a back up. It's so small and lightweight that it'll just be one of those luxuries...

In reply to Katie86:

That wouldn't be a bombproof backup though, would it.
I'm just recalling a (now 5-6 years old) article about photography on Everest, where all the laptops and digi cameras froze up well beneath the summit. I'm sure the technology has advanced since then, but I thought it mildly amusing that the only summit photos were taken on disposables by Sherpas

In reply to Katie86:
I've got an olympus tough 6000. Been dropped several times, got wet cold etc...

Downsides? Its slow and the image quality is pretty pants really compared to comparable priced normal digital cameras.

Mrs W has a canon powershot D10 and it takes substantially better pics. Its also waterproof/shockproof etc...

In reply to Mike_Watson_99:
and the canon d10 was the one i was going to go for

but then i found that boots were selling the fuji z33wp (a camera which i happily acknowledge is not as good as the d10) for £60. i figured i'd probably break it before i got any good at taking photo's so what the hell. it was a recomendation from a kayaker on here actually.

used it on the beach, in the sea, in the pub, on a wet hillwalk and in the sink (you have to try it right?) and so far it's been every bit as good as the sammy nv10 it's replacing, but smaller, without the sticky outty lens and it takes sdhc cards which the old camera didn't.

not sure it helps with the buying process our plucky heroine is trying to make though

In reply to Katie86: The tz10 is a stunning camera, ive had it a few weeks now and im well chuffed, had an ixus 750 before that which i took everywhere, always been a canon man, but this tz10 is the bizz and the hd avchd movies are virtualy the same as my dads 800 quid sony hd camcorder!!.

In reply to HATTSTER:

My parents have just bought themselves the TZ10...I'm very jealous, although the FT2 should have the same image quality

In reply to Katie86: my gf has the indesctructible Olympus SW1030 cost about £200. It has fallen down rock faces, bounced across tiled floors, has videoed and taken photos when surfing, thrown about in the sand, used under-water in swimming pools, taken on minus 10 camping trips, strapped to bike-helmet when MTBing. Body is a bit battered but it still works (sounds like me...) Photo quality not amazingly sharp. Screen can be hard to see in bright light, for best shots you need to select correct setting for activity - indoor, action, underwater, close-up etc