I've taken to carrying a small (8x12cm) piece of synthetic chamois in my PFD for wiping the lens of my 43WR. I keep a couple of extras in a ziplock under the deck. I cut them from a much larger piece that I bought at Walmart for about $3.Mike_Jackson said:I love my Pentax Optio 33WR - it is very dunkable and I have rolled with it in surf several times. The only problem I have with it, and this is the case with every camera I have tried in kayaks is water drops on the lens port - hard to get rid of.
I guess the new version is the 43WR and should be even better.
I feel the same way about my Pentax Optio WR43 in regards to land use. It does have manual modes, manual white balance and other higher end features but a very short optical zoom and not very ergonomic. However, unlike my other cameras, I can tuck this one into the pocket on my PFD and it's ready to go immediately. Even though I now have an Ewa bag for my Panasonic, it still takes a few seconds to retrieve it from the cockpit and is a bit more awkward to use. On land, the Panasonic is my camera of choice.qrpboater said:I have the new Pentax Optio WP, which is a 5mp camera submersible to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. Although it is a basic point and shoot without manual modes, it does have +/- 2 EV exposure compensation, and it's very small and light. Since it uses a proprietary Lithium rechargable I bought a second battery for it. So far, it's easily lasted 2 or 3 days on a charge.
In dry conditions, the Optio WP is no substitute for my Olympus C-5050 or Pentax SLR, but on the water it shines.
Bruce
Flagstaff, AZ
(NW connection? I grew up near Ketchikan.)
I'm not sure, but I think you also give up the flash hot-shoe which is only important if you intend to use an external flash. If burst mode is important to you, be sure to get the fasted SD cards you can find - 60X or better - otherwise you won't realize the rated number of shots/second. With my FZ20 and a 60X card I can get about 3 frames/second at full JPG resolution for as long as I can hold down the shutter release.Miklos said:I just went through the camera shopping trials. Shortlist included FZ-20 and Fuji 5100. One of my main criteria was burst mode speed (wife rides hunters/jumpers). That ruled out the Fuji, and many others. Then I saw the Panasonic FZ-5 which was rated slightly faster shot to shot than the FZ-20 and important to me, cheaper. What you do give up with the FZ-5 is manual focus and at max zoom (12x) the FZ-5 is f3.3 and the FZ-20 is f2.8. But, hey, its cheaper, smaller, 12x optical zoom, image stabilization and 5mp. While its not DSLR, I have been more than pleased with its speed and picture quality.