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kuan
Sport climber
CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 14, 2007 - 01:09pm PT
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Any recommendations on a compact digital camera?
I have a digital SLR, but find that more often than not, I leave it behind on climbing trips. Not only is it quite big and heavy, I'm such a klutz that I'm terrified I'll drop and break it!
I'm looking for something that is fairly compact with really good picture quality. Rugged would be nice too, but it doesn't have to be one of those waterproof, droppable cameras. (I hear the image quality isn't so great on those)
Thanks!!!!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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May 14, 2007 - 01:19pm PT
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Canon SD 800.
Light, small, wide angle lens, image stabilized
Peace
karl
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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May 14, 2007 - 01:20pm PT
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Canon SD800 is pretty hard to beat at the moment.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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May 14, 2007 - 01:27pm PT
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Further concurrence - I got a Canon SD800 IS...it works quite well. Very tough too.
Still drooling over the D-LUX3 however...
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kuan
Sport climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 14, 2007 - 01:37pm PT
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The D-Lux 3 looks nice, but at it's price, all I could afford to do is fondle it!
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nutjob
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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May 14, 2007 - 01:44pm PT
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Perfect timing! I need to pick up a camera to add some eye candy to the epic adventure TRs I'll churn out this season.
LOOK OUT BURT I'M COMING FOR *YOU*.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Knob Central
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May 14, 2007 - 01:57pm PT
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Kuan, the Panasonic LX2 is the same camera as the Leica. The two advantages the LX2 has over the Canon SD800 is that it will shoot RAW with aperture or shutter priority, and that it is a widescreen (16:9) device. The advantage of the SD800 is that it is smaller without a protruding lens. The LX2 is much closer to the image quality of your SLR than the SD800, but the RAW files are 20Meg each so you need 2Gig cards to hold very many photos. I own and shoot an LX2 so let me know if you need any more info.
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Indianclimber
climber
Las Vegas
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May 14, 2007 - 02:07pm PT
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As Karl says make sure you have an optical viewfinder
Just bought a Canon Powershot SD900
10 mp,3x optical zoom,Viewfinder and stability control
$349 at Bestbuy
2gb card $30
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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May 14, 2007 - 02:07pm PT
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I've got one of these and am generaly happy with it. I was unable to destroy the previous Fuji also. It uses their prosumer high dynamic range sensor. The follow on version (E990?)has higher pixel count, image stabilization and more positive stops on the switch positions.
It has an optical vewfinder, uses two AA bateries, will shoot RAW and has all the controls of a much more complex camera. You should be able to find one under $300
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Fujifilm/fuji_finepixe550z.asp
This one shows what the HDR sensor is capable of on a scene with a huge exposure range. Some shake blurr though
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Carolyn C
Trad climber
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May 14, 2007 - 02:21pm PT
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Has anyone who owns a Canon had the "e18" error with the lens extension/retraction? If so, were you able to fix it? Sounds like it is a big problem if you get the error, but I'm not sure.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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May 14, 2007 - 02:24pm PT
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"The LX2 is much closer to the image quality of your SLR than the SD800,"
DIsagree, the sensor is noisy and you can't remove the noise without losing sharpness, Raw won't help you much with that.
Another plus of the sd800 is face recognition technology so your person gets in focus even with complicated backgrounds
Peace
karl
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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May 14, 2007 - 02:39pm PT
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Karl and Indianclimber are right - Must have an optical viewfinder (not LCD only). When it's bright out on the rocks, you'll need it!
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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May 14, 2007 - 02:50pm PT
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I, too, am very pleased with the Canon SD800. With its use of the newer DIGIC III image processor, performance is very good and loaded with features. It's very compact and has a view finder. ...very quick to turn on.
There are many positive reviews. There's one at www.dcresource.com.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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May 14, 2007 - 02:51pm PT
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Also another reason for an optical viewfinder. When you get old your arms aren't long enough to get your eyes focused on that then too little screen.
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cjain
Mountain climber
Lake Forest, CA
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May 14, 2007 - 02:57pm PT
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One big downside of the Canon SD-800 is that it uses a proprietary rechargeable battery. For traveling and for longer trips, it is nice to have a camera that takes AA batteries. If you carry a few spare AA batteries and not ever worry about the batteries running down.
Because of that, I just got a Canon A710. It is not as small as the SD-800, but still small enough to carry in a pocket or clip to my pack strap or a harness. It has image stabilization with a 6x zoom. Like the SD-800, it also has an optical viewfinder. I find an optical viewfinder very helpful for taking pictures outside. The biggest downside is that it isn't as wide angle as the SD-800.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona710is/
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a710-review/index.shtml
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Indianclimber
climber
Las Vegas
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May 14, 2007 - 02:57pm PT
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The other thing to consider is batteries, if your traveling
overseas or dirtbagging you wont have 110v to charge the
camera so you could consider a camera with AA batteries,however
they do tend to eat through those batteries really quickly
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