rick.harvey Loc: Invercargill, New Zealand

Greetings all...

I am intending to purchase an all-weather, ruggedized digital point and shoot camera as a back up to my Nikon DX dSLR and also to use for my photo-a-day project - www.rickharvey.co.nz/dailyphoto.

My first reaction is to invest in a Nikon AW-110, but I have read glowing reviews of a couple of other similar cameras such as those from Panasonic and Olympus.

I know in the price and specification range of the P&S cameras I am looking at I will not get the same image quality as my dSLR, however I would appreciate the groups' comments and suggestions as to a suitable camera, bearing in mind that I do not wish to do any (or at least a not great deal) of PP on images straight out of the camera.
Cheers, Rick

the hiker Loc: San Diego

go to the top of the page and click on search topic for w/p cameras and you will get the information you are looking for.the Olympus TG 3 was rated no.1 by W/W rafting company OARS and the Nicon AW 120 was no.2

watchcow Loc: Moore, Oklahoma

i got a great deal on a Nikon AW110 this year for my wife to take on a missions trip. the main thing she liked about it was that she could offload the images t her phone and in some of the places she was visiting they had internet access and she could then post those pics to their project facebook page. She has enjoyed it and the wifi features are actually useful. the battery life is not too bad, and the GPS is fairly responsive and includes a map that at least includes major highways.

the zoom is limited, the flash is weak, and it could be more responsive. it is not a DSLR i have to keep reminding myself of that. for me price point and durability were more important than absolute image quality. even so, we have seen nothing disappointing about the images and she uses the camera indoors quite a bit. The VR works pretty well and the movie modes are decent too. the controls are maybe too simple. the main thing i could see annoying SLR users is that there is essentially no fully manual mode on this camera. you can still control a lot and manipulate the exposure but you pretty much do that by setting one of the more controllable modes and then adjusting with exposure compensation. the exposure system is good enough that i can't recall having to dial in any compensation. but we have only had it 6 months.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Yes I would look at the Olympus TG-3, I was looking at that one myself. It's a rugged weather and under water camera.

"The TG-3 offers four macro modes: Microscope, Microscope Control (maximum 44.5x magnification from 1cm), Focus Bracketing and Focus Stacking (multiple images are taken from foreground to background, and the areas in focus are automatically merged into one perfect shot"

kpassaur Loc: Valrico FL

I was fishing with a friend of mine a few years ago and he had a Panasonic DMC-TS1 which was one of the first “Ruggedized” models on the market. He had it hanging on a lanyard around his neck. He told me that there is an entire book on fly fishing that is illustrated with photos from this model.

Anyway, his photos were great for a Point and Shoot and that model was the first generation of Panasonic’s Ruggedized models. They were on their third generation at the time and I picked up a used one for a hundred dollars and I still use it all the time. It is about the size of a pack of cigarettes; it weighs nothing to speak of and takes great photos. I know now that they make ones that are tougher etc. but how tough do you need? This old one is waterproof to 10 feet so you are not going deep water diving but if you are fly fishing and fall in no worries, great for underwater shots in the pool.

I forgot how far you could drop it; I think that was about 10 feet as well. I would recommend it to anyone looking at a Point and Shoot even if they were not after the “Ruggedized” models.

lukan Loc: Chicago, IL

I second this ^^^ suggestion! Great Out of camera jpegs, exceptional fast little lens, rugged build, and leading-edge picture-taking software would make the TG-3 my choice for your needs.