In Search Of...

After this winter's unexpected swim on the PM and the subsequent drowning of my compact digital camera, I've been on the hunt for a replacement.

Given that I mostly use it when I'm fishing, skiing, or something outside, I thought a waterproof/weatherproof model would be a good idea. My guess is that it gets dunked again sometime.

But I'm surprised by the lack of decent options. I'm a loyal Nikon fan (great optics, and I've owned a LOT of Nikon products) but they don't make anything waterproof or even weatherproof. Olympus has a waterproof line. They're competitively priced and seem to have some nice features. But every review I've read says the picture quality is poor at best. While I don't shoot a lot, I'm a reasonably serious photographer when I do -- have a decent chunk of a Fine Arts degree and friends who are working commercial photographers. So, crappy image quality is an issue. Found some Ricoh models -- same story.

Rumor has it that Canon will introduce a better model in the next month or so. I'm not a Canon fan (it's a Pepsi/Coke thing -- you either seem to like one or the other) and it's supposed to be a bit pricey for a compact camera. But, I may just have to suck it up. Or, perhaps I could just start carrying my Nikonos IV dive camera (yes, I own one...). If only it were digital...

-Sean-