Digital Camera for Skiing

[JD]

I have an olymupus stylus seires. No view finder, but it's small, waterproof, coldproof, shockproof. The photo quality is fairly good. I've had photos published in Guide books and a calender that I took on it. I think it hit your price point, we picked up a new, left over 790, 7.1 MP. It takes up to 30 minutes ov video too.

 

[dmc]

Dont get something too small... It's tough to deal with when it's cold...

 

[SteveInCT]

I have an olymupus stylus seires. No view finder, but it's small, waterproof, coldproof, shockproof. The photo quality is fairly good. I've had photos published in Guide books and a calender that I took on it. I think it hit your price point, we picked up a new, left over 790, 7.1 MP. It takes up to 30 minutes ov video too.

I second that. I bought a Stylus 1050sw (10.1 mp) last year at Costco for about $199 and can't say I have ever had a camera I have felt more comfortable with on my adventures. It is shockproof to 5ft (can withstand a drop), freezeproof to 14 degrees, waterproof to 10ft, and crushproof up to something like 220 pounds. I can hike, ski, fish, etc with it in my pocket without worrying about it. It also has some nice features like tap mode so you can change settings and take the shot by tapping different parts of the camera which is nice when wearing gloves. Is it the best camera I have ever owned? Nope. The focus can be slow at times and it isn't the fastest at taking the picture. On the other hand, it takes good pictures and I can bring it anywhere without worry for around $200. Pros and cons with everything, right? Here is a link to the one I have:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_archived_product_details.asp?id=1395&fl=4

The new version (STYLUS TOUGH-8000) ups the ante to 12mp, and can withstand a bigger drop (6.6 ft), etc. I am not sure if they have made any improvements in the internals for focus speed, etc, but it might be worth a look:

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

Happy shopping!

 

[Greg]

I have a SD700IS and just upgraded to a Panasonic ZS3 (TZ7). No viewfinder, but the LCD is very large and bright. It has an AMAZING auto mode for difficult shots in complex light. 25-300mm zoom. Relatively compact. Fast. Best of all it shoots 720p HD video with very good quality, and can zoom while filming. You could potentially shoot video and frame grab from it for your blog....very easy to get action shots at 30fps.

That TZ7 is a nice camera. It was a bit out of the price range when it first came out and I settled for a TZ3. Great zoom on those cameras. Haven't tried it skiing yet.