More waterproof digital cameras

When looking for a take everywhere camera I really want to take it everywhere. Who wants to leave your expensive digital camera under a towel poolside while on vacation? Not me! Why miss out on fun underwater shots or stop shooting when the weather turns bad. It has taken quite a long time for camera manufacturers to see the value in making their cameras waterproof. Way back in the film days I had a Minolta WeatherMatic that shot 110 film. It was great for snorkeling.

Pentax came out with the Optio a few years ago and have continued to update it over the years in a half-hearted manner. I still think the first model was the best. I haven’t played with the new Optio W60 yet but it doesn’t have enough compelling specs to make it a must have just yet. If they would just bumped up the frame rate of the video capture and beefed up the waterproof specs I might be sold.

Now on to the newly introduced cameras.

First up is the Canon PowerShot D10
Not sure about the looks, particularly the protruding strap or carabiner attachments but I like the under water specs, up to 10 meters. Much better than all other point and shoots from major manufactures. The Pentax W60 does 4 meters but most do only 3. I wish the D10 would capture HD video, but sadly that is also missing. I understand that manufactures don’t want to cannibalize other product lines but I wish they would realize that most people don’t want to carry a video camera and a regular camera.

Read all about it and see more pictures at dpreview or CanonUSA

Last up for today is the FinePix Z33WP brought to you by Fujifilm.
Billed as the worlds smallest waterproof camera the FinePix Z33WP looks very nice. It is the first camera I have seen that has buttons that actually look like they are waterproof. Fujifilm has always made great cameras but they didn’t quite hit the mark on this one. Double the waterproof specs and they have a viable camera. Sure most people will never go diving with it but it would be nice to know if I dropped into the deep end of the pool at the club it wouldn’t be ruined. I am also not thrilled with the color selection either. I like the black but that is not a great color when you drop it in the lake and need to find it again. I guess green it is for me. Still not on my must buy list. Maybe Nikon will jump into the pool next.

Read more at Dpreview or Fujifilm