Pentax Optio W90?

[toxgobbler]

Going on Holiday to Iceland shortly and wanted a camera to take some good shots, but which would also stand up to a bit of abuse (glacier walking, hot springs,lava deserts etc). I have found the Pentax Optio W90 that seems to fit the bill (http://www.pentaximaging.com/digital-camera/Optio_W90_Black/) but wondering if anyone has any real world experience of one?

[S47]

I too thought a pentax Optio would be a good solution for wet weather snaps - WRONG, it give horrible noisy images and the battery life was only a few minutes. and I ended up losing a coupla hundred £'s
You're better off buying a waterproof housing for a normal compact, in my case I ended up buying a waterproof housing for my canon G7, which takes fantastic images.
The Pentax optio IMO is totally CRAP.
>
just my 2 pennath
I'm sure others will beg to differ

[Thunderace]

I had an Option WP which was stolen and replaced with a W30. I've been more than happy with both. The W30 regularly gets taken snorkling and sea kayaking, and has been pot-holing. I also have a Fuji with an underwater housing but find the Pentax more convenient for travelling.

I happily put printed output from the Pentax in A4 albums alongside stuff from a Canon 5D2 and 40D, obviously not saying it's as good as those but quality is very decent at that size. It gets used in situations where I wouldn't otherwise take a camera.

[rottie102]

I'm more than happy with my Panasonic FT2
The picture quality is good enough, it's waterproof up to 10m! shockproof, freezeproof etc.
That's from last weekend in Wales:

I would never take my SLR there :

[toxgobbler]

Interesting wasn't aware of the FT2 the review here: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_l... is very very positive, and it's about the same price as the Optio, will do a bit more research, looks like a candidate.

[dicktracy]

was wondering if you bought the ft2 in the end? i am considering it my self.

[toxgobbler]

I have purchased the FT2, going on holiday in a week and will be able to give it a proper test then, but so far impressed with build quality and initial pictures although haven't pushed it too far yet.

Edited by toxgobbler on Saturday 4th September 23:12

[CarMac]

We took the Fuji Z33WP to Turkey. Got some quite reasonable underwater shots with it and used it for most of the holiday. 3x optical zoom and the pictures other than underwater were all good quality for such a little thing. Less than £100 too. It was great to take it anywhere and not have to worry about it getting wet etc.

http://fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cam...