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Camera questions

4K views 32 replies 20 participants last post by  Luke Davis 
#1 ·
shopping for a digital point-n-shoot right now. I'm liking the Olympus cameras right now for price and features, but because I'm an essentially lazy dude I'd like to be able to pull the card from the camera and stick it right into my little laptop here to download.
Is that how it's done? I have a card slot on this notebook but don't know if compatibility between camera and laptop will be an issue.
thinking about the stylus tough 8000
spaz
 
#5 ·
If you think using a USB cable is tough than your are in fact incredibly lazy.

What I mean is, if your laptop's built in card reader can't handle the camera you want's card don't get a different camera, get the camera you want that has the features you want and use a USB cable. USB is as simple as interfacing gets in the computer world.
 
#11 ·
Nobody has used that camera yet so who knows how good of a camera it will be.
 
#10 ·
Josh, slot is 1" by about 1/8", should handle most common cards.

Jason, I AM an incredibly lazy dude. The ideal would be to be able to pop the card out and slide it right into my laptop, but I won't cry like a LEETLE GURLIE if I find myself having to use an adapter....just think it would be cool not to have to screw with it.
thanks for all the feedback guys, I'm not much of a technorati.
 
#12 ·
if I find myself having to use an adapter....
It is called a USB cable. I have like 200 of them from work related crap. Nobody wants them and most have too many. If you want a free "adapter" let me know. I have a pile of them, a good size pile.

It is soooooooo easy to use them you won't even call them an "adapter" or an "interface" as long as you know where My Computer is in Windows.

Also, I would stick with Pentax and Olympus. They have been doing the waterproof camera thing for over 4 years now and Panasonic and Canon's similar cameras aren't even out yet.
 
#13 ·
I have an Olympus Stylus 500. It is water resitant(sp) but not water proof. But it took a swim in the Yakima one year. I didn't know it fell out of my pocket until I was going to take a picture and it wasn't there. I searched in the river for it and found it under a rock under the water. I opened it up then and there and took the battery and the card out. I took it home and had it dry out for about three days. I then put everything back in and turned it on. Been using it for four years now. Works like a champ.

Like the Olympus cameras.

Jim
 
#14 ·
I'd suggest you look at Josh's review of both the Olympus and the Pentax WP cameras.
 
#21 ·
Bob, you used my camera the other day right? Olympus Stylus 850SW (submersible... saltwater just fine and dandy, just rinse in fresh with your other gear) - 8.0 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, supermacro with LED takes great fly shots, and it does great out fishing since it fits easily in a vest pocket. Oh, and it was very inexpensive, let's see here... couple hundred bucks, think it was on sale I don't remember paying that much. :hmmm:
 
#24 ·
wow, I was so busy enjoying the fishing I didn't note the brand/model.
For just a little more, I can get a stylus tough, which I can (and will) sit on, drop, take for a swim, etc. I think it has a 3.6 zoom too, image stabilization, and the controls seem easy to use, right up my alley. I noted a thread several months back about cameras but I had some unanswered questions.
there's so much to know about some things:eek:that I don't know.
 
#22 ·
Perhaps there are really only two signficant difference between the Olympus and the Pentax waterproof cameras. The Olympus can take a 5 ft drop onto a hard surface, while the Pentax can't. The Pentax video is limited only by available memory, while the Olympus makes only 15 second clips. Since I've been wanting to video fish releases, I went with the Pentax.

--Dave E.
 
#23 ·
In a nutshell, the most important point Josh made is the engineering difficulties in building these cameras will certainly limit their ability to take great pictures.

Hey Jergens, if you want an awesome waterproof setup there is a great option already that I have tried but it is a bit bulky for hike fishing, fine for float fishing. I am going to sell my Canon G9 case called the WC-21. The case fits the G9 and goes down to 130 feet no problem. It takes INCREDIBLE pictures in or out of the water because the G9 is a great camera. The main reason I don't like it is that the damn thing is big and heavy. If you primarily float and want pro photos for something like a fishing magazine, I think this is the way to go. If like me, you hike 10 miles on a PNW river several days a week, you want something like the P&S offerings.
 
#26 ·
I have actually sold an image or three... I use Canon lenses and have a bunch of very good ones... Most of the ones you see on the sidelines at NFL games, actually... And some other white ones and black ones. My camera pack for a normal day fishing weighs 40# and pack it every time. (Lowepro waterproof bag is incredible!)

I have Canon, Pentax and Olympus P&S cameras and have used them for quite some time...

You could not give me a Panasonic or SONY camera (buying a camera? Buy it from a CAMERA manufacturer!)

Canon P&S cameras led the way for quite a while outside, but their lack of water tightness is hurting them. They are not really much different from the Olympus or the Pentax in IQ.

The first Olympus waterproof was better than the first Pentax, based on returns to dealers for problems. Most of the real differences were in the user-friendly areas. The Pentax of a couple years ago had improved things enough to outpace the Olympus, but the latest Olympus is easier to use, same-same on IQ, slightly more user-friendly, tougher and has fewer returns than the Pentax.

None of the camera makers use particularly good glass in their P&S lines. It may be Leica or Nikon or Zeiss glass, but it will not have the quality found in better DSLR lenses from the better makers. There will be more variability within a given model with them, but nothing like as much as 20 years ago.

I have had three P&S Olympus failures, two Pentax and four Canon failures. Time spent with each is probably 60:10:30 respectively. One Olympus, both Pentax and one Canon failures were electronic, unexplained. One Canon and one Olympus died a horrible death when dropped in water while open. The last Olympus failure was a focusing failure and they replaced a much older camera with the latest and greatest at no cost to me... The last two Canon failures were related to cards not writing, but they were camera failures.

More than once I have gotten water inside an Olympus, dried it by warming it in an airy place and got away with it. I find the Olympus ridiculously tough. I currently have an 850SW. My son has a 790. I have had the 720, 750 and 790.

Cameraland in NY City is where I buy all my gear these days and have had fantastic service from them on everything. Invited one of the owners up three years ago to go fishing after having bought cameras, lenses, binocs, a couple Laser range finders and spotting scopes from them over the span of quite a few years now. The "Fourth Annual Once In a Lifetime Fishing Trip" is scheduled for this coming July... Talk to Doug. I posted his picture holding a yelloweye in Powder Monkey's thread tonight.
art
 
#27 ·
Been interested in getting a tough point and shoot for this exact reason. My Nikon D300 is a little too much to bring along, plus dropping it is not a risk I am ready to take.

I work for a canon dealer so I can get a good price on the new water proof canon P&S. Might just buy it and do some testing and tell you guys how it holds up.
 
#28 ·
I'll chime in here. I do photography for a living, but I won't mention what brand I use. I'll says this: from what I've seen of Oly and Pentax image quality, it would tough for Panasonic or Canon (and Fuji) to do worse.

The problems I had with the Pentax weren't physical-body related; they were noisey images and ridiculous battery life.

Model-in, Model out, the best p-n-s maker out there is Canon. Camera after camera are solid in functions and features, image quality, and price. Other manufactures make good and sometimes great cameras--if a little niche oriented, which is fine--but if I had to buy on brand alone, it wouldn't be a question. (Remember, talking about compact cameras here.) I can't wait to see what they're doing with the D10, though the 3x zoom not-wide zoom is impressively ho-hum.

Panasonic is offering HD videos their camera, if you care about that kind of thing.

Personally I won't buy a pentax again. I almost went for the Oly 1030, but was waiting for the price to drop a little. Then they replaced it and jacked up the price, and now the flood (ha ha) of other makers is upon us. I'm just hoping one of them makes a camera that takes pictures that don't look like watercolor paintings. That would great.
 
#29 ·
OK, the deal has been done.

I got an Olympus stylus 1030 SW. put an 8 GB card in it.
It's one of the Tough series. 10.1 megapixel resolution, takes movies (underwater too)

waterproof to 33 ft, shockproof to a drop height of 6.6 ft, freeze proof to 14 degrees, and crushproof to 220 lb. sounds like an average day of winter steelheading:rofl: too bad it's not drunkproof or dumbass proof.

thanks for the input everybody, will post some pix when I get out again.
Bob
 
#30 ·
After dunking two cameras, I too am looking for one, but somewhat inexpensive. I see Costco has the Olympus 1050SW waterproof for $199. I have owned Fuji Cameras previously. They seem to focus the fastest with hardly a hesitation. Is the 1050SW a decent camera for the price? Thanks pals.
 
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