I found the time to disassemble the camera today after work.
The bad news are that there was water almost everywhere but it wasn't salty :) (it must be the table water I poured from the battery compartment to dissolve the sea water).
The good news are that there were not many signs of oxidation (as far as I can see because most of the electronics are beneath an RF shield which seems hard to remove)
and the SD card was OK so no files were lost.

But for sure the chances that the camera will ever function again are very very very slim.
Even in the unlike situation that the camera would function again underwater use would not be advisable :) and since this feature
was the most important one that made worth of this camera (it is otherwise a mediocre point and shoot) the only reason to try to repair it is my curiosity.

I would not expect DSLR quality from a compact camera of that kind but I prefer to be worry free and a rugged camera is fine (???) for this when I do not carry my DSLR kit around when camping/hiking/at the beach.

Olympus TG-5 and Nikon AW300 are still out of my budget.

Olympus TG-4 and Nikon AW130 are 2015 models and are already replaced by newer but more expensive ones but fit my budget and do offer more or less the same features.




Indeed the choices are many and the price spans from 130 to well beyond 300 euros.
Finding these models where I live is probably out of question and going to a physical store where I can find them is not that easy.

On the other hand from the owners' reviews in amazon I see that almost a 10% have a leakage failure within the first uses which is a risk that I have to take in general even when using a waterproof camera
in the water and the choice of the Panasonic seems more attractive since it is one of the cheapest in my list and a failure would not break the bank but image quality is poor (CCD sensor and narrow aperture).

I even consider getting a Chinese GoPro rip-off with water resistant case that would cost me around 50 euros and save the rest for a higher quality 1" sensor "manual" compact camera with better image quality.

Too many options and alternatives that have me already confused.

The best for me is to let it rest for a while and decide later what to do without making an impulse driven buy.

I have considered it but it is 100 euros above my budget (I can get it for no less than 400 euros).

I can also get Olympus TG-4 (whithin budget) that has a F2.0 max on wide and RAW capability as I can see in the tech specs.

Hi everybody,
I am looking for a compact camera (preferably waterproof/rugged) with decent image quality, optical image stabilisation with an as fast as possible lens
with decent zoom range (5x or more) so that I can have it with me when I am not willing to carry my DSLR kit (Canon 600D with 10-18mm STM, 18-55mm STM,
55-250mm STM, 50mm 1.8 STM, 35mm 2.8 macro STM).

I had a Fujifilm XP150 (water resistant camera) but a couple of days ago the seal broke and sea water entered the SD/battery compartment and I don't know if I can fix it.
The zoom button was not responsive on the tele end and the camera would stall before I realised what has happened.
I removed the battery and the SD card, spilled some table water inside and left it standing upright to drain the water (it was the only thing I could do since I was on vacation).

This camera was not something special (just OK image quality with very poor low light performance and unusable audio when capturing video in concerts and festivals) but I could carry it around wherever without any worries if it would break (it was on the cheap side but it was rugged enough the 4 years it lasted).

Now I plan on buying first a compact rugged camera and maybe later on getting a second more advanced compact with more manual controls so it can replace up to a point my DSLR kit.

My budget is tight at the moment and I would not like to spend more than 300 euros/$.

On the low end I can see one of the following options:

1) Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FT30
2) Fujifilm FinePix XP130 (I would not expect this to be an improvement towards the XP150)

For a faster lens within my budget I consider:

3)Nikon COOLPIX AW130 but it seems like this is an e.o.l. model but meets the criteria for image stabilisation and F2.8 aperture on the short end and 24mm to 120mm (35mm equivalent).

Does anyone have experience from these cameras?

Are there any other suggestions?

Thank you for your time!!!