Even though it's not the lens, there's no point picking up bad habits. Because sometimes you will also need to clean the lens itself, and you don't want scratches on that. Splashed water and dust in the air will contain stuff that scratches plastic or glass. Hard water that has dried is really bad for this. Definitely don't rub any residues around.
Camera/photo supplies sell lint-free lens cleaning materials but the chamois-like version of PakTowls (as another posted noted) should work fine as long as it is clean. Do NOT get the PakTowl line that is rough and thick (they make two different materials).
Indoor shots I just purchased the camera and have taken indoor shots for the most part. Thus far I am really pleased with the color reproduction, and clarity. Am looking forward to taking it out on the water.
There are two methods that work The “dunk and shoot quickly” method coats the lens with water evenly, which results in good exposures. The “Lick, shoot and spit” method removes the water, but the salt can be a bit hard on one’s tongue over the course of the day.
I have yet to find a method of keeping a lens dry that doesn’t cause lost photos and lots of swearing.
Indoors Great little camera for the price range. However, if taking indoor photographs with much frequency is your main objective then I would not recommend it. If you are like me though - taking outdoor shots mostly in wet weather and then occasionally taking indoor photos, this may be the camera for you.
Would fog-proofing goop work? Mentioning spit made me think of it. Spit is the original fog-proofing for divers’ googles, but the synthetic stuff lasts longer and can be applied with a mere finger.
sea kayaker mag I think the october or nov. issue had a waterproof bag for SLRs and digital SLRs. I mention this because you could then pick up a nice used 5.0 Mp SLR, keep it dry on your boat and use it without the bag on land. I don’t have the case (yet) but I love my Minolta Dimage 7 and got it for a song on Ebay.
different options I keep my digital equipment out of the boats re: sun, surf,sand and bouncing around. For the watersports, I use a “Yashica T4 weatherproof” film camera. The German Zeiss optics combined with the hardiness of the camera make it ideal for rough conditions, and foto quality is superior to most 35mm SLR’s. Similarly, at times I also take along a Contax T2, again with a Zeiss lens. This camera has a titanium body, and handles the tossing around very well. Either can be seen/purchased on Ebay,usually around 180.00. What a steal for camera’s that have a cult following!
Yashica T4 I have owned one of those for years. Good exposure accuracy and autofocus, along with that sharp Zeiss lens. I thought this camera had been discontinued.
I find the T4’s 35mm focal length too short for from-the-kayak photography.
I haven’t tried it, but… …the problem with camera lenses is drops of water, which anti-fog applications probably won’t help. Then again, they might make it easier to blow off any drops without fogging the lens. I guess I’ll have to give it a try.
Be careful with Rain-X It’s not compatible with all lens coatings. Check with the camera manufacturer first. It should work fine on housings with plain glass lens ports. Hmmm, something else to try.
Olympus repairs I have an olympus 400 Stylus and have used it on lakes and slow rivers. It has never been soaked or banged around, but last trip it stopped working. I sent it back within the 1 year anniversary and at first Olympus denied the warranty because the camera had scratches on it. After complaining to my local shop where I bought it, Olympus has agreed to fix it at no charge. It is a great camera, but the lens would not engage and nothing I can think of could have caused it. Anyway, I am thinking of getting my mother one for Christmas.
"Lens would not engage" Do you mean it would not zoom?
That seems to be common among point-and-shoot zooms, which rely on battery power (with SLR bodies, the user manually zooms the lenses). Makes sense: most zooms are external zoom (lens “telescopes”) and susceptible to dust/grit jamming.
Also, the little plastic gears that a lot of cameras are made with now are pretty cheesy, IMO. My first SLR, a Canon Eos Elan, died after less than 100 rolls. I got it repaired, and the same thing happened shortly thereafter. I got rid of the camera and bought more heavy-duty SLRs. The Elan was very light, and unfortunately there was a tradeoff.
Aquapac I have an olympus C750. It’s not waterproof. I got the waterproof casing for it but it was way too bulky so sent it back. I then found the aquapac. They claim you can take photos through it-very clear vinyl. I did not bother. The opening is 3 levers you can throw in a second, pull the camera out and shoot, then reseal quickly. The 10x optical lens takes incredible photos. Obviously, in white water or rain, the camera would stay in the bag. My son has the Minolta Z1, it focuses faster, if doing it over, I might get it instead or the Z2. We also have a film Pentax WR-105 that my wife has appropriated since I got the digital camera. We have had it for 4 years, gone every where, including me finding it hanging over the side of the canoe by it’s strap, banging around in the water and still taking great photos. Everytime I throw a CD of photos into my computer at work and enjoy my last trip, I love my digital camera, but film is nice also.
By the way, cheap CD’s have a relatively short half life (5-12 years?) and should not be your method of archiving- do a little research online. I did get archival CD’s at Office Depot sometime ago. Only $1.50 per CD, and they will hold a lot of photos.
Has its own chatroom? (Plus Optio review Would you mind posting the link to it here?
Based on recent comments about the Optio 43WR posted here and elsewhere, I bought one a few days ago. I am tired of missing once-in-a-lifetime shots because my “good” camera is inside a Pelican box between my feet and under a sprayskirt, etc.
But it’s been a trial to get everything working correctly, what with the peripherals and software. Here’s a rundown of what happened in my case:
I asked the salesman, “Will this work with my Mac running OS 8.6?” He answered by pointing to the bottom of the box, where it said something was compatible with OS 8.6. Unfortunately, that something was the included viewing and editing software, NOT the USB cable for downloading photos from camera to computer. The USB cable requires OS 9 and up–and this info was printed on the SIDE of the box in small print. I did not discover this till that evening when I tried to use the cable.
Meanwhile, the camera got squirrelly. I tested a bunch of the functions, including making a short movie. The first time, it worked. After that, there was no sound with the video. The microphone still worked, because I could make plain voice recordings. I checked and double-checked to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong (like turning down the sound), then called Pentax support who said the camera must be defective. They also said it was better to ditch the USB cable as a downloader and buy a card reader ($10 to $20 for SD-only reader). Card readers are more backward compatible with older OS. OK, that’s not much money and it saves the camera from wear and tear. Not to mention saving battery power.
3.Speaking of batteries…meanwhile, the camera ate AA alkalines like crazy. I mean, just setting my preferences and doing a little testing killed one pair within 15 minutes. The second pair lasted about the same. I tried to use the NiMH batteries I had bought (with a fast charger) but those batteries came uncharged. I put in a third set of AA alkalines and began charging the NiMH batteries.
I brought the camera back to exchange it for another Optio 43WR. Yeah, I really wanted this model only. They had no new ones in stock but I said I’d be willing to exchange for the demo unit. I also got the only SD reader they had, a plastic store-label item packaged with a 128MB store-label chip. It said it was compatible with OS 8.6 and up. I exchanged the unopened 256MB chip I’d bought with the camera for the reader+chip bundle. Bad move.
That night, I installed the software that came with the SD card reader. The instructions left out a step! Fortunately, it was a step that a Mac-savvy user (even me) would know so I got everything installed and running. Yippee! Downloaded a few files. Uh oh. After a few chip insertions and removals, the reader died. DIED. I knew it had felt like a cheap POS when I opened it but now I knew it was a cheap POS!
Next, I called the local Apple store asking what they recommended that would work. They said they had a $30 LaCie multi-card reader in stock. I said, “Hold it for me” and got that. More money than the SD-only reader, but I figured a LaCie would be worth the extra $$ plus it can read other types of cards if my husband or friends want to use it.
I also called the Pentax tech support line again, to ask (a) why the batteries were so short-lived, and (b) how to turn off the LCD display. I told him, “The manual says to conserve battery power by turning off the LCD display, but…” He interrupted me, “But nowhere in the manual does it say how to do that!” We laughed. He told me how. He also said to use lithium AA instead of alkaline AA, even though the manual states that alkalines should give approx. 100 still shots on a set (I did not get anywhere near that number). The only lithium batteries the manual mentioned were the funny 2-wrapped-as-1 type–not one word about the blue-and-silver Energizer “digital use” AA lithium batteries, which I use in a Nikon N90S film camera. These were the batteries he recommended. I wrote all this info on the manual.
I removed the system extensions I had installed for the bad reader and installed the software for the LaCie, plugged it in, and restarted the computer. The reader’s light came on but I got no icon mounted on the desktop. #!@^&$!! not ANOTHER problem!?! Also, I was not sure which of the 4 slots to put the chip into. The smallest one was too small and the two largest ones obviously were not it. The one that looked right would not take my chip so I carefully inserted it upside down into that slot. Seemed to fit OK but then the reader’s light died. DOUBLE #!@^&$!! Tried calling Apple store (got a service rep who irritably said nobody on shift could help; holiday season craziness in the store, I think), then tried calling LaCie tech support. Of course, it was after hours and nobody was there. I gave up and tried to think of something else when I went to sleep.
The next morning, I called LaCie tech support and described the problem. I booted up the computer while on the phone and she told me that yes, some chips needed to be inserted upside down. Though I had already tried that last night, I did so again. Miracle of miracles, this time the unit’s light stayed on AND it started making those familiar reading-media noises. An icon appeared on my desktop. WHEW!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else goes wrong.
I still need to take back the bad reader for a refund, soon. You can bet I’ll use that money to buy a brand-name 256MB chip.
Looks like the best way to deal with the batteries is to use the rechargeable NiMH batts for around-home use or car- or motel-based travel, where I can recharge them every night. For wilderness camping trips, I will carry several pairs of the blue-and-silver Energizer lithium AA batts. I sure hope that takes care of it! That, and turning off the LCD for non-macro, non-movie use of the camera.
The camera itself I am pleased with. Very impressive close-focusing macro feature, and I really, really like the internal zoom lens. The movie ability has me tickled pink, as I can now document some rare behaviors my dogs perform (no, not silly pet tricks). I can even play the movies (.mov format) on my Mac, something that a friend of mine cannot do with the movie files generated by his Olympus (mpeg format).
Image quality is not the same as what I can get by shooting with my film camera and then scanning on a high-res film scanner, but so what? It’s not meant to replace my tripod-based photography. And it’s a heck of a lot more convenient for those “Hurry up and show us the pictures!” needs.