Im considering getting a digital water proof camera;
Choice Pentax optio W90
or Panasonic Lumix DMC FT1
They both seem really good. THis technology blows me away. Face recognition of up to 32 faces , It recognizes a face and will automatically focus on it. Hows this though..auto pet recognition..automatically recognizes up to 3 cats or dogs. Pretty useful when your SUPing.



www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/panasonic-lumix-dmc-ft1-waterproof-digital-camera-121-megapixel

http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod6822.htm

Pretty sure the Pentax only lets you take x amount of video footage.. but has the take a photo every 5 second option..
The Lumix is an awesome camera with HD vid.. But i have seen a fair few of them take in water (mate owns a camera shop)
I have the Olympus tough. and tough describes it perfectly. I think the new ones come out with a HC card rather than the old XD 2Gb.. IMHO this is the best camera for wear and tear.. I strap mine to my kite all the time and it takes an hour and half of footage..

jeremy said...


Im considering getting a digital water proof camera;
Choice Pentax optio W90
or Panasonic Lumix DMC FT1
They both seem really good. THis technology blows me away. Face recognition of up to 32 faces , It recognizes a face and will automatically focus on it. Hows this though..auto pet recognition..automatically recognizes up to 3 cats or dogs. Pretty useful when your SUPing.



www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/panasonic-lumix-dmc-ft1-waterproof-digital-camera-121-megapixel

www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod6822.htm

I have the Panasomic Lumix... its a great camera and takes awesome water shots, and also great overall camera. I had a few Olympus tough and found that the seals broke over time, I've had my panasonic for just over a year now and no issues!

I have the Pentax Optio W80. Had a nightmare when I first bought it. Stopped working after 2 days and I had to return to shop. They couldnt fix it and had to send it back to Japan to get a new circuit board installed. All up took about 10 weeks and 2 surf trips went unphotographed

On the flipside though it has been pretty good since. One thing about the pentax is it doesnt take very good photos in low light conditions.

Just saw in the new domayne catalogue this morning - fujifilm waterproof cam (3m) - various colours, 12mp, 5 x zoom etc for $227. You can also get a floating strap for them I think. Seems pretty cheap.

I'd be really interested to know what people think of the Canon Powershot waterproof camera. I've been looking at point and shoots for a few months and the the usual reviews aren't generally written by people like those that use these forums. So if anyone has any feedback on it I would be hugely appreciative

http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod5971.htm

Thanks

An older review but good detail here: www.dpreview.com/reviews/q209waterproofgroup

www.dpreview.com/reviews/q209waterproofgrouppage17.asp

Got the Lumix last Christmas and cant fault it, the only issue I have is trying to get used to the shutter delay when taking a surfing photo as opposed to a SLR camera

Waterproof cameras is there such a thing????.

Got agree with Scotty100..... I had the 2 olympus 1050/1080 cameras and they both stopped,I took it back and they fixed it 6 weeks later only to have it die again and got it fixed again as it was still under 12 months old.

I then went to Bali recently and paddled out to Ullawatu only to reach into my pocket and find it dead (pissed off paddler).

Took it back and the store manager was really great and gave me the new Sony waterproof camera and it had condensation in it after the first use taking pictures of my son on his bodyboard at Burleigh.

Straight back to the shop and the manager gives me the new Panasonic DMC FT2 and a free 5 year warranty and tells me with the Olympus underwater camera every second one comes back for repair.


I must say that none of the cameras stopped from water leakage, except for the Sony. They all had electronic failures and the repairer couldn't explain why this had happened.



I now have the new Panasonic Lumix DMC FT2 which so far has been great.
The new Panasonic FT2is HD video and has a really cool silicone case to protect it which I think is a great idea.The picture quality is great and it is 14 megapixcel.

Go the Panasonic and get the extended warranty.

Waz

hey ted, how did you strap your camera to the kite? any photos of the setup?

scotty100 said...

as a large electrlcal store owner and as fully unbiased as your to far away to sell to . nothing comes close to the new dmcft2 panasonic, the fuji is sh-t and you all said the olympus is sh-t the hi def video quality is as good as a purpose built camcorder.
I have had good advice from forum questions i have asked about, due to only sup for a year and half , and now i can return some advice from someone who been in electrical for 20 years

So am i right in saying this is the new Lumix?? I have the old one and love it i might have to have a look into this one

Belly

brownie49 said...

Got the Lumix last Christmas and cant fault it, the only issue I have is trying to get used to the shutter delay when taking a surfing photo as opposed to a SLR camera

Not all cards are equal. Get the fastest card you can. Might cost a lot more but significantly cuts down shutter lag.

Pete

Olympus has been bagged here !!

I have a 10x Optical Zoom Olympus (not water proof), probably 7+ years old now, only 3 megapixel, but it takes a great photo. Massive aperture lens, lets stacks of light in, during low light situations. Takes a pretty good surf photo from the shore. There's always seems to be a treat pine log or post to rest it on (when on full zoom - no anti-shake) !!

Mine only has a little 1"1/2 screen. Still going strong.

It has plenty of features, takes decent video. Also has a setting, for 8 frames per second, for sequential surf photos.

I'm thinking about upgrading it, for a later version of the same camera.

Plug and go into the computer. Acts like a memory stick. I even transferred some Excel files via the camera once, when I was stuck without a memory stick!

Lobes said...

petemc said...

brownie49 said...

Got the Lumix last Christmas and cant fault it, the only issue I have is trying to get used to the shutter delay when taking a surfing photo as opposed to a SLR camera

Not all cards are equal. Get the fastest card you can. Might cost a lot more but significantly cuts down shutter lag.

Pete

I had no idea. What are the best cards?

Look for cards that have a high MB/s transfer rate. The new Sandisk Extreme has a transfer rate of 30 MB/s. Make sure your camera can support whatever card you buy. A 16 MB Extreme card is pretty close to $200-

I use the Ultra III in my Lumix FT1 and the Ultra IIII in my Canon D50 (super fast). Hopefully the FT2 will support the Extreme.

Pete

Might have been said, too tired to read all the posts,
but I have an Olympus and I rekon the lenses are crap. It takes pretty average photos IMHO. If you play with the settings it gets a bit better but the the point and shoot photos are average at best. Also the auto focus delay is takes way too long. Also the power up is slow. Iturned it on the other day to get a photo of the Spirit Of Tasmania leaving the dock but by the time it was ready to take a photo the boat was through the heads!

The Lumix has a much better lens and the best feature is that you can zoom in and out while recording video. When I got my Olympus no digi cams had this feature that I could find and I did a lot of research. The best thing about this means you can sit on your board and film a mate 200m away and still get up close with the footage and zoom out as they get closer. I'm not sure about the reliability (letting water in etc).

I don't know much about the latest models (last 6 months) but I'm sure every brand has something that would do the job.