Yikes! Help needed for the photo challenged!

[eva]

I'm so glad that this board is here. I didn't even know until today that it existed until someone on the cruise board told me about it. I know very little if anything about cameras, but find that I need to buy a new one. I have a real problem with breaking cameras. Not even sure what it wrong with the Olympus Stylus I have now, but have found that it is not usually worth the trouble to find out. Last camera I demolished was from sand. Sent the camera in and found out it would cost more to fix than buy a new one. Maybe I am looking for a camera that doesn't even exist. But here is a wish list for my next camera:
* Is under $500
* Is pretty durable (at least water and dust resistant, maybe sand )
* Can be used in the cold (will be going on an Alaska cruise next year)
* has an image stabilizer
* fairly easy to use
* and here's the kicker, uses alkaline batteries (No matter what, I always seem to be out with no charger when my battery kicks out.)
Does anyone have a suggestion for this camera challenged individual? I would really appreciate any advice you can give me.

 

[Groucho]

If you're after water/dust resistant, the two big players are Olympus and Pentax. I'm not sure that any of the water-resistant ones have image stabilization.

Steve's Digicams has a best cameras page with best picks for different categories. Under "all weather", there's two Olympuses and a Pentax. The Olympuses claim to have "digital image stabilization" which is nonsense, it's just marketing talk for "high ISO". The Pentax has a similar feature they call "blur reduction" - same thing. All three take lithium batteries, not AAs.

In other words... I fear the camera you're after just plain doesn't exist.

You might be better off buying one camera for use in harsh environments and one for use in more protected areas, that has more advanced features like image stabilization.

 

[eva]

Thanks. I was afraid of that. Any decent cameras you can suggest that take AA's?

 

[jann1033]

i always wonder this when i hear about battery problems...can't you just buy enough for 3 sets of rechargables? that way you have one on the charger, one in camera and one backup...at least that's what i do and have never had a problem with them running out. i also bought this thing that hooks up to your car cig. lighter or a battery( ie car battery) and has outlets so when we are someplace minus electricity( ie camping) i can still charge them up. it's cheaper than buying disposables constantly. i have those rectangular shaped batteries( can't think of the name now) so maybe the charge lasts longer but i always get at least 1-2gb of photos per charge( saying that since that's about what i usually take a day and i still have a charge left so not sure how many they would take to run out )and i just keepmy charger in my camera bag so i always have it along for the ride
also you can buy waterproof jackets for lots of cameras so if you find one you like maybe that would help..they aren't cheap but maybe cheaper than 2 decent cameras.

 

[ukcatfan]

I agree with Jann. Just get a few extras. There is an extremely limited selection of all weather cameras, so you probably are going to have to get over that or look at using something like an Aquapac. As for the low temp thing, most digitals have about the same operating range as far as I know. Possibly using film for those shots would be better?

Kevin

 

[handicap18]

As for using in the cold, its not the camera, but the batteries that make the difference. So make sure you have good batteries.

Check out the Canon S2 IS or S3 IS. They take AA's, have a long zoom, is under $500, has IS and in auto modes it is easy to use.

Sony H5 (or other Hx series) is similar, I don't know for sure if it takes AA's.

Have fun shopping.

 

[Groucho]

My wife suffered the "proprietary battery jinx" at a birthday party yesterday... the battery died on her Canon SD600. She popped in her backup battery... and it was dead, since she had swapped batteries when that one died and it'd slipped her mind to charge it. (Hey, it happens to the best of us!) Fortunately, my mother was there, who has an SD630 that uses the same battery and has a spare, but my wife just ended up using the SD630 itself, since my mother wasn't. (And I hadn't bothered bringing my camera!) She could have easily been stuck with no working batteries and no options to get it working again.

When we got home, first thing we did was charge both batteries. Hopefully we'll learn from this and it won't happen again.

And I can't say TOO much, I had almost the same thing happen to me, I had my camera out on Friday, the batteries died, and my spares were dead... and I wasn't somewhere where borrowing AAs from someone was really an option. I will admit that lithiums have an advantage is that they don't drain so much when not in use, compared to NiMHs.

 

[jann1033]

forgot about the cold part...lots of cameras tell you how cold you can use it in..mine was -30 i think....and that would be air temp not wind chill since inanimate objects don't suffer from wind chill....so even alaska probably would be ok for most normal cameras( doubt you are going mid winter?)...just remember to put it in a ziplock baggie before you go inside after you have been outside a while and let it acclimate to the warmer temp before you open the bag.

the only thing i noticed using my camera in single digit temps was i swear the noise level is worse so i'd use the lowest number ISO you can

 

[iggbees]

i went to alaska on a cruise 2 years ago and we never had a problem with our cameras needing to acclimate to the weather. it was worse on our cruise to the bahamas! unless you are going in the dead of winter (which i doubt) it's not really that cold there. we even got up at 5 am to see tracy arm and it was windy, but most everyone had maybe a fleece on. other than that everyone was wearing t-shirts/jeans most of the time.

i wouldn't worry too much about the cold weather when looking for a camera.

ps. you're going to LOVE alaska. it's fantastic.