Advice please for rugged compact

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andrewcollier

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Andrew Collier
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This post is on behalf of a friend of mine whose son is shortly off to Africa for 12 months and has asked for advice on a compact.

I said the worst risk to any camera is probably dropping, seconded by rain/sand or falling in water, so something very rugged and waterproof is needed. I think I saw such a camera advertised, but I cant remember the brand. He is sensible enough to put price as a secondary issue, prefering to get the model most suitiable.

Does any body have any experience of any model with these features?

Thanks for any ideas.
 
Its Olympus I think. Saw the advert as well and its shockproof, waterproof and seemingly everything proof!

Olympus was the make, that im sure of!

EDIT: Dalton beat me to it! :( Thats the one I was on about!
 
How about the Fuji BigJob or the Ricoh G600? Both very rugged.
 
I have just bought a G10 and got to say that although it is early days - I love this camera!!

fairly rugged (certainly well built), 14.7 megapixels, full auto or manual controls, video, big preview screen, good battery life and loads of Canon accessories with which it is compatible.

I bought the wife a Leica C-Lux 1 for her birthday but this (although much chunkier) will be the (portable) weapon of choice for some time to come.

Late thought - It does have a Canon battery so it will need mains for charging. This may be a drawback in which case you might need to narrow your choice down to cameras that use AAs.
 
I have the Olympu MJU 790SW, the one actually advertised on TV. I have had it since Feb 08.

Its a gem, it really is. It is just as they describe on the advert, its waterproof to 3m which is very handy when snokreling and really good to use when the weather is a bit rough.

Is it rugged? Damn right it is mine has been battered and bruised, is covered in scratched and dents but it still works like a dream.

A true story for you:

Over Easter we went up to the Peak District for a walking holiday unfortunately the weather was dreadful. One particular day we went out walking near Buxton, my young neice wanted to be incharge of the camera and as it is advertised as being virtually indestructable I didnt see the harm.

About 30 mins into the walk she confessed that the camera had fell out of its bag and was lost. I was gutted but remained calm like a good uncle should. We decided to back track to see if we could find it but it was snowing heavily and I thought it was lost for good.

After about an hour I saw the strap sticking though the snow, the camera was in a tractor rut that was full of water and that was covered in snow. It had probably been there for a good while.

I washed the camera off in a stream, dried it in my coat and it was as good as new.

Picture wise the quality is excellent for a compact the super macro mode is really good and I often use it at work to photograph damaged PCB's

Its not cheap but it is ideal for someone travelling who may get into places where other cameras may not cut the cloth.
 
Quaker said:
I have the Olympu MJU 790SW, the one actually advertised on TV. I have had it since Feb 08.

Its a gem, it really is. It is just as they describe on the advert, its waterproof to 3m which is very handy when snokreling and really good to use when the weather is a bit rough.

Is it rugged? Damn right it is mine has been battered and bruised, is covered in scratched and dents but it still works like a dream.

A true story for you:

Over Easter we went up to the Peak District for a walking holiday unfortunately the weather was dreadful. One particular day we went out walking near Buxton, my young neice wanted to be incharge of the camera and as it is advertised as being virtually indestructable I didnt see the harm.

About 30 mins into the walk she confessed that the camera had fell out of its bag and was lost. I was gutted but remained calm like a good uncle should. We decided to back track to see if we could find it but it was snowing heavily and I thought it was lost for good.

After about an hour I saw the strap sticking though the snow, the camera was in a tractor rut that was full of water and that was covered in snow. It had probably been there for a good while.

I washed the camera off in a stream, dried it in my coat and it was as good as new.

Picture wise the quality is excellent for a compact the super macro mode is really good and I often use it at work to photograph damaged PCB's

Its not cheap but it is ideal for someone travelling who may get into places where other cameras may not cut the cloth.
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Thanks for the reply. I have put the same post on several forums, and most folk say the Olympus. What I was really hoping for was someone who had one and could relate just such an incident as your self, so that's great.

Just to put the icing on the cake.....my friend comes from (and I live near) Buxton and are well aware of the conditions on the moors.

Thanks again.
 
I have the 1030SW, and can confirm that its a tough little camera. It lives in my backpack when i'm out on the MTB and has suffered numerous 'spills'.

It also went on a works outing an was subjected to repeated dunks in beer glasses etc, and was dropped more than one by drunken idiots (me included!).

As for the waterproofness and sandproofness, it survived a week of kids using it on the beach in Tenerife recently.....



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Chris
 
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