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Just purchased this little digital handheld. I wanted a camera that could be abused when outdoors, yet small enough to fit in my pocket. It's shockproof, waterproof, and freezeproof, (-10 degrees) so that was a strong selling point for me. Problem is there aren't too many cameras of this size and weight that offer those features, so I didn't really have a bunch of options. What I am disappointed in is the movie resolution, its AVI jpeg format, but not very sharp. Frustrating why it's such a challenge in (almost) 2008 to find a small, lightweight camera, that has impressive still and video capabilities for around $300 bucks give or take. Overall, it's a decent little piece of technology, just wasn't willing to dish out $800 for a new video camera, which I'd probably have to lug around with a handheld anyway.

All-in-one was my original goal. Don't know if I quite got there with the 790 SW though, considering the video.

What cameras are you guys using when out doing research?

Sounds like it's perfect for squatching!

Seriously, it looks nice. Get back to us with some sample pics, yeh?

Will do.

None of these has great movie resolution, and there is a one second lag time between when you push the shutter release and when I actually captures the image, right?

This just in....

My wife came home and I showed her the camera. You know what her response was?

Honey, that's so sweet of you, it's just like one I would have bought, but why didn't you wrap it and give it to me on Christmas day?

Did I say, well babe, it's really a camera for myself that I'm going to use when out in the field looking for hairy monsters? No. I just froze, and said....

hope you like it. (insert wimpy, whipped voice here)



I can't have nothin.

And besides, the video quality sucks!

Maybe she'll let you borrow it.

Yeah, shutter time's about that although it can vary quite a bit with the model, but most of the newer cams are shorting the gap. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100 is promising in regards to video and shutter time for a handheld, and is pretty much the same price as the Olympus, but isn't as rugged.

Emoticon isn't directed at you Robert, it's the face of defeat.



Well, she was kind enough to say she would.

I love my Nikon D80, but for less money you can get the Nikon D40x.

Much better pictures than any little point and shoot, because you have more control, and the lenses are bigger and better. Plus, virtually no shutter lag, and you can take 2-3 frames per second. It's smaller and lighter than you think.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40/

I'm not a Canon guy, but this one is good too.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/

The one I've used is a Fujifilm FinePix F40fd. It's video is excellent, as good as any camcorder. Can't say there are better ones or that its ideal for outdoors, but I have used it fishing.

I researched digtal pocket cams and bought the e same unit about 2 months. I also think it is the ideal pocket digital for outdoor use!

Mrs. Hominid, looks like a nice camera for the woods and water. I looked at the specs and I think you should accessorize. Buy 2 more batteries. The flash is 'small' and the overstory of forests swallows light. An affordable slave flash is the SunPak Digital Flash 018ST -- $30. For media card storage, check GEPE card safes.
So, your husband does not like JPEG movies. Have him do some experiments with sequential shooting mode: shoot from 3.5fps to 11fps in still mode. These 'Gumby vision' movies may be acceptable and conserve memory and battery-- depending on resolution settings and scene details.
Since you have a waterproof camera, it's time for half-in-half-out shots at lakes and rivers. This is called " frogs-eye-view". Defeat surface tension on the lens with a slice of apple. Yes, wipe the lower half of the lens with apple. The difficult aspect of frogs-eye-view with this type of camera is that one can not see the viewfinder/LCD screen.
BTW, bathtub shots are not called frogs-eye-view -- rubber ducky shots.

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Well, after losing the first round, I snuck out while she was at the office Christmas party, scooped up my 3 year old and purchased another camera! This time there won't be any confusion, and from playing around with it for only an hour so far, it's pretty solid.

So without further adieu, I now introduce the Panasonic SDR-S10P1. For under $300 you get a water-resistant, shockproof, (up to a 4ft drop on plywood mind you) nice little video camera. Battery power isn't amazing, if you run it continuously the manual says just over an hour, but if you use it like most people, turning it on and off, you have 40 minutes. (I'm going to check with Panasonic to see how much another lithium-ion might be) It records onto SDHC card, I opted for the 4GB, the 8 was too expensive and besides the single batterie's life wouldn't last the 200 minutes of recording time anyway. Says the 4GB will give you roughly an hour and a half, but that's yet to be tested. Funnels through USB to the PC, but isn't powered by it.

It takes about 2 hours to charge, comes with MotionSD Studio software that looks slick enough, 10X optical zoom, (no big deal I know)
weighs with battery and SD card 182g, (0.45lbs) so it's very light and pocket-sized while using MPEG2 compression at 704 X 480 picture.

I do like the fact that I won't have to purchase MiniDV's or any other recording media, however while the video quality won't shock anyone, it's much better than the wife's video resolution on her newly aquired 790SW!

Jesus, I spend way too much money today.

And oh, it's made in Japan!!!


Liked your post Catmandu, very good.

Hominid,WA thought I'd do some checking online to see about replacement batteries for that new camcorder. Check in your manual and see if the battery included is the CGA-S303. Their website lists the Panasonic SDR-10 but not specific submodels like the P1 might be. Looking at the manual for the base SDR-10 that's the battery listed.

Checking a number of sites ONLINE I find replacement batteries running from $13.49 to $34.95 but none of the sites I saw listed Panasonic as the brand, these are REPLACEMENT batteries not OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Here's the thing to watch for....

The original CGA-S303 is listed as being a 7.4 volt battery rated at 760 mAh (milliamp hours)

The cheaper replacement batteries at $13.49 are only rated at 650 mAh... these will still work, but you'll lose considerable operation time. If the loss is linear instead of 1 hour and 20 minute recording time, as the new battery, you'll only get 1 hour and 8 minutes of recording time, but I'd bet it would be less than that.

The most expensive battery at $34.95 is rated as 820 mAh so if the gain was linear you could expect about 1 hour and 26 minutes of recording time.

At the very least get a 760 mAh replacement battery.

I also found that the nationwide chain Batteries Plus carries these batteries at their stores, but don't give the price online. Check to see if there's a store near you and see what kind of price they have them for. If you end up having to buy the batteries through a local photography store I would guess the $35-$40 price range will probably be more realistic.

Batteries Plus

Store Locator is on the top right of this page under the Logo

Nice Cameras , but let's see some pictures!

That looks like a great little video camera. How much does it weigh?

Now, we want to see some HI-RES videos of Washington State Sasquatches!

moregon, all I gotta say is you rock! Thanks for taking a look. The supplied battery is VW-VBJ10, the voltage is 3.6V/1000 mAh. I'm going to look into it this afternoon, my guess was about $40 give or take.

Me too!

It's super light, pretty much why I went with it. We're talking just over 200g or 0.45lbs. I literally can carry it on my belt or stick it in my front or back pocket and forget it's there. I like that. Shutter lag is surprisingly short compared to what I expected; 1.5 seconds and I can keep it running without powering it off, as this approach allows you to save battery time so that's a good thing cause I don't have lots of that.

*Hay there everyone! Fresh fish here!*

Hmm.....
Personaly I would've gone with a cam-corder. Ah well If ya see ol' sasquatch make sure ya hold it stedy and that you're real close to 'em. Even if it means pissing him off, ya know? We need stone cold evidence for once! With that said, good luck.

Indeed.

Welcome to the forums Seijin!