DP Review has just published a waterproof camera group test of a Canon, a Pentax, two Olys and a Fuji. Useful reading for anybody in the market for a small ruggedized outdoor camera.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q209waterproofgroup/

These appear to be a growing market niche, and it's nice to have our choices expanding. There are still some major players on the sidelines, but I'll bet not for much longer (talking to you, Nikon and Sony).

Cheers,

Rick

I just noticed this as well. Pentax (the one most recommended in the review) also just announced an upgrade to the model reviewed; it is now the W80. It's got a 28-140mm equivalent zoom, 720p video, and rated to -10 deg C. It also claims to be "the most shock and water proof camera ever." At 4.8oz with battery, this could actually be an excellent compact backpacking camera.

It's really great to finally see a 28mm waterproof. Why is 28mm not the standard these days anyway? I mean, how often do people zoom in to photo a bird vs step back in the middle of the road for a group shot? It's incredible to me that Canon is still stuck in 35mm.

Edited by jcarter1 on 07/01/2009 12:17:55 MDT.

Hi John,

I agree, the new Pentax looks promising, especially because of the lens. Canon took their sweet time getting 28mm into the G-series, so I suppose they could relent on some other models as well. Someday.

For now, based on design I'm most impressed with Pentax and Ricoh. There may be hope for future Olys, now that they've released their first camera with SD rather than an xD card. I'd love to see Nikon waterproof the P6000 while fixing some of its quirks (no idea if this would be possible). The feature set (including GPS tagging and OVF) would be irresistible.

Cheers,

Rick

It is a lot more complex to design a 28-140mm than a 35-105, IE you need more elements and groups to do it . So they tend to be bigger,heavier and more expensive. That is outside the capability of some of the lens manufacturers that supply the brand names consumers know. (the vast majority of compact cameras are not made by the brand you buy)
The manufacturer that has pushed the 28mm end has been Panasonic, however they overcame some of the problems with the wider angle (linear distortion in their case) by having correction software built in their chips.
Franco

Does anyone know if the Pentax W60 has barrel distortion issues at 28mm? I've been a very happy Panasonic user for about 4-5 years now, so I guess I've gotten a little spoiled with 28mm no distortion.

I bought one of those W60s off the internet. I was very unimpressed. The pictures were not that good. It had a built in panorama thing that was useless. The thing got returned after only a couple of hours.

I am very bullish on Canon PowerShot D10.
:)