Digi camera advice? DURABILITY!!!
 

Well, Uncle Sam has decided that the next year of my life would be better spend in a desert, and I want a camera that can keep up.

I'm looking for something around $150 (new or used?)
Needs to be; Durable, easy to use, easy to transfer pictures with, good rechargable battery life, and take decent pictures. I have a best buy, shopko, kmart, and walmart to choose from for new. Used? I dont have a clue...

Dust and impacts will be a fact of life. I dont want it to be fragile... If I buy new, I'll get the replacement package thing. I'm computer litterate but I dont want to have 5000 features that I will not ever use. I need to send pics to my laptop (usb or wireless). A good battery life would be great, something that lasts a 24 hour day at least before a charge would be great, and I dont want to deal with AA batterys everywhere. Decent pictures? Not art or landscape quality, just good enough to have the subject matter look correct at 25meters or so...

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you
~Nate

I would look at a Sony camera. We have 3 of them and have been taken everywhere with no issues.

I would look for something thats water proof, chances of it keeping the dust out are probably better.

I have a SONY and also a Canon. The Sony has a rechargeable battery that is specific to Sony. With the Canon I can use regular old AA batteries. Unlike the older digital cameras that took regular batteries, the Canon doesnt eat up batteries quickly.

The Sony has a proprietary memory card. The Canon uses a standard Sandisk memory card.

My wife is visiting up in Michigan. She didnt take with her the usb cable that came with her SONY. Her camera memory card filled up and she had to take her camera to a local CVS to have them put her pictures on to a CD. They also had to manually delete the pictures off her camera VIA THE CAMERA so that she could continue to take new pictures.

Hindsight is 20/20. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten her a Canon also.

Just my 2cents.


Hey C280! I'm in Venice also. Where u at?

Hello. Yes sir. I am in Venice. Summer time only thoue. We are in Venetia just off of Jackeranda Blv. We love it there.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1448

Shockproof, freezeproof, crashproof, waterproof.........anything else ;) I have the older 6000 series and I can tell you, its one tough cookie, thats for sure.

Cool. Where can I find one within my budget?;)

~Nate

Get a Fuji J20. Its cheap coming in at only $120 and its 10 mega pixels. That will give you 20 dollars more after tax to get a memory card and a little more to go toward a case. Its very basic but basic is what you asked for, it takes good pictures and is easy to use. So you could probably get the camera, a memory card and a case for near $160.

http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FinePix-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B001QEJPOG

Check out www.fatwallet.com there are always postings for great deals on cameras.

Have fun in the sandbox! ;)

Also get the biggest memory card the camera will take you never know when you will be able to load the pics to a computer and also shop for deals on good camera batteries.

My Canon has been through hell and back with me (being in college) and it survived beautifully. The model is A540, but don't think they sell them anymore. Takes beautiful pictures still, uses AA (as mentioned above), All the pictures I have posted in OD were taken with my A540 (there is a thread on lightning pictures specifically on OD that I shot with that camera). They still have affordable P&S cameras that are built solidly, my parents recently picked up a great Canon with 10x optical zoom and fantastic picture quality.

My unit and I just spent 4.5months in Iraq and I can't say that anyone's digicam/laptop/anything fell victim to sand/dust/abrasion/impact.


That being said:
1) We are an AF unit that specializes on sitting on our collective arses until something breaks =) (Air traffic control systems maintenance)

2) Our time period was only equal to 4.5months.

All the army guys on base (who do stay a year and run around a lot) had non-hardened digital cameras and none of them were complaining that

A year visit and more "running aroundy" conditions might change this. Remember, that if you are on a base of Any size my place - (COB censored=) had an exchange with a small selection of digital cameras...AND any size memory card you'd want. Newegg also ships to APO's IIRC if you want to pay less and wait.

I hate that Sony uses their own memory stick, (memory stick pro duo?) but the Exchange had those too.

I'd jsut get whatever will work when you get home, and if it breaks while you are over there, grab a cheap one from the exchange.

The availability of 120vac power might be interesting, you might have to leave your camera charging in a "common area" from time to time (if you have to plug it in) - something to think about.


-John

Nate,

The Stylus Tough 8000 goes for $299 at B&H and the 6000 goes for $224. Get it from there, best prices in US.


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/598179-REG/Olympus_226750_Stylus_Tough_8000_Digital_Camera.html

Looking for an excellent rechargable battery? May I suggest the Sanyo Eneloop. Don't just take my word though , check out the 751 reviews in the link. http://www.amazon.com/SANYO-eneloop-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B000IV2WAW We use them in a Canon A630 which is also a great product. Stay safe and best of luck to you.

I have a Canon A1000is point and shoot. I paid $175 for it in December and it can be had for $150 now. It takes decent pictures and has a pretty good battery life.