NYCkayaker camera

[David Wanderman]

Hi Richard,

I noticed your post and thought I might chime in as a photographer  
that kayaks. The most important thing for me is whether it will take  
good photos. Most point and shoots take average photos with a few just  
barely giving better than that. By and large the olympus cameras  
though 'rugged' don't provide the best image quality either in water  
or outside. That is not to say they are bad, just not good. Canon  
makes a water proof and rugged camera that does take decent photos but  
is somewhat bulky compared to the other offering. I personally own a  
Pentax Optio W60 that I chose because it takes above average images  
and movies. It is NOT ruggedized but I have taken it white water with  
me and it sits on my vest and gets knocked around. No problems. I  
think the rugged feature is nice and makes for good laughs when you  
drop it on the floor at a party and pick it up and take a photo.  
Pentax has come out with their own version of ruggedized cameras as  
well but I again went for image quality. Panasonic also makes a decent  
underwater point and shoot. Not sure about ruggedized. The best system  
would be to get a canon g11 with a housing and you have a semi-pro  
level camera that will take incredible photos. Only problem is it is  
big. Also, if price is a factor the Pentax I have was about 60-90 less  
than all the others but again, I am not sure if it is still made.

The big problem with point and shoots is obsession with megapixels.  
More is not better and often less is more. What matters is the size of  
each megapixel. The more megapixels crammed onto a sensor the greater  
likelihood of noise (grain) in the image and it only gets worse at  
higher ISO's (film speed). Not bad during daylight but if you need  
anything over asa 200 the quality drops dramatically. Hope that helps.

My 2¢.

David

David Wanderman
xoshooter@gmail.com
917-763-4040