A Little Camera Help,

[seapower]

Okay I'm just about ready to crawl out from under my rock. I'm thinking about getting a digital camera, I know nothing about them. I do take picture's with "film" camera's. Been thinking about the Olympus "Tough Stylus" family. They are supposed to be good for a 6 for drop and under water for 33 ft., have image stabilization. I see some beautiful stuff on the water and in the wood's. I see some great picture's here, any thought's would be welcome. Frank

[controlled chaos]

I am not a photographer but I have the olympus stylus 850sw and I freakin love this thing. I have beat it down pretty good and it still works like a champ. I bought it for my deployment to afghanistan b/c the dust there ruins most cameras in weeks. The olympus was a stud, I kept it in my turret the entire time I was overseas and it never missed a beat. Then when I got back home I brought it down to costa rica for a week where I kept the camera in my boardshort pocket the entire time. I surfed for hours at a time then spearfished down to 40+ feet and even surf fished and swam across river mouths with it sitting in my pocket. It spent more time underwater than my head did. Not to mention the countless trips offshore I take it on. The only thing I do is rinse this bad boy off after I use it and I checked the seals every so often. This camera is TITS!!!! For around 300 bucks it can't be beat, period.


Dave

[seapower]

That's kinda what I've been hearing about those camera's. They have a few other's (I think like 4 or 5) in that same line. The problem is I don't know what I do or don't need, as far as feature's go. I'm not interested in "nickel and diming" it. I'd like to get something that will take GOOD picture's. I've alway's felt whatever a good camera cost's, it's worth it in the memorie's captured on film. Frank

[cravertosu]

Glad to hear you're coming of digital age Frank!! I think the Olympus is a great choice! Always great to have a camera that's waterproof and shockproof on the boat!

Looking forward to seeing you first pictures!!

Tim

[controlled chaos]

I know what ya mean. I have no idea what all the little doodads on my camera are for. It does take awesome pics though. All I have ever done was adjust the flash to on or off depending on available light. Thats about as technical as I get with it. Here are some pics that I took with the stylus 850sw. They have been resized so you can't really tell how good the detail is but I zoomed in on the teeth of this crazy needle fish or houndfish so you can sorta tell. I know there are cameras out there that take better pics but it is just hard to find a camera that is durable and takes good pics. I am sticking with what I got for now. I just wanted to give you an idea of this particular cameras abilities. Good luck finding something that works for you and post up some pics when you get it!!!

Oh yeah.. The ladies in CR make certain pics seem better than they probably are.

Cheers,
Dave

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Frank,
I highly recommend the Stylus. I have the 770 and I have completely abused it. It has lasted over a year now being beaten, frozen, dropped, you name it. It takes decent pics and you can film underwater with it. Bang for the buck it's tough to beat for a fisherman/duckhunter. It is the first one I have ever had that wouldn't be through after a wet freezing day.
Holwachagot

[La Gringa]

We are on our second Olympus Stylus and about 85% of the photos we take for the blog and here and elsewhere have been taken with an Olympus.

For portability and durability you can't beat them. I would recommend also getting a rubber skin for it which helps with the dings and bangs even more.

It does not do well with things far away and the underwater is so-so. Gringo usually works with those images to bring out a better picture.

We have two Sonys that are not as rugged but much prefer them. But here we are afraid most times to take them anywhere. If Sony came out with a ruggedized camera we would get it in a heartbeat.

Olympus just doesn't seem to have the kind of reliability that we need. Mind you, we take a camera everywhere we go!! But the first Olympus leaked underwater inside the first year. Gringo baked it in the oven at a low temp for a few hours and we got it working again and used it for another year on land only. Then later on the interface cable stopped working but fortunately we had a card reader directly in the computer. Now it's stopped altogether.

But we are not your typical camera carrying folks... I will say that but still if you advertise a rugged camera then it better be able to keep up with the Gringos...!!!

I'm looking forward to seeing some photos tho...!!!!! You KNOW where you can post anything "cool"... heh, heh, heh...

[seapower]

Sound's like the Olympus will do the job for the boat and as a pocket camera in the wood's. My wife suprised with a 2nd hand Nikon 35mm with a wide angle and a zoom lens yesterday. I've only been wanting a 35mm for 50 years, no kidding. I think I'm gonna play with it to see if I can figure it out. Alway's wanted a camera that can "capture" the gleem in a bear's eye. Frank

[clt_capt]

Frank,
Most of the instant photo processing labs will also be able to give you a disk with digital photos of your pictures - usually pretty cheap - might not be quite as quick as a digital camera, but you'll be able to post those.

The 35mm will be faster to take pictures than many of the less expensive Digitals, so you can get a series of pictures.

Good luck

[SeaBiscuit]

Frank,


The 35mm will be faster to take pictures than many of the less expensive Digitals, so you can get a series of pictures.

Good luck

This is a great point that captain Fred is making. I have owned a number of "cheaper" digital cameras and of those the Olympus stylus ones were my favorite. The common drawback, however, is the delay from pressing the button to actually "capturing" the shot. Makes taking "action" shots almost impossible. The high dollar digitals (SLRs) improve a great deal on this.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures Frank!

SeaBiscuit