Dan W. at B&H Photo was kind enough to research lightweight cameras for me. He found:

1. Canon Powershot A2300 Digital Camera (3.8 0z.)
2. Nikon Coolpix S3300 Digital Camera (4.5 oz.)
3. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W690 Digital Camera (5.0 oz.)

I vote for the Canon Powershot!

If you go to http://www.dpreview.com/ and click on "cameras" in the top bar, then "camera feature search" then activate "advanced feature search'
you can then specify what feature you are after and the job is done for you...
Franco

Did he recommend one over the other for taking better pics? Better battery life would be another factor for me.

I just asked him for good (pictures) reliable and lightweight cameras. I know nothing about their battery life.

Thanks for looking into that! I've been wanting to get a camera to take on trips, but it's hard to find weight info, and for me, weight is more important than a lot of other features. Like you, I just want a decent picture.

Do you know if that's the weight with or without batteries?

If it's w/o, any idea of what the weight with battereies is?

I know the Canon website shows the weight of their AA batteries with and without the batteries, although your batteries may weigh more or less than their batteries. There's no point of posting the without-battery weight for cameras that use proprietary lithium ion batteries.

those are pretty light, be interesting to compare the specs to my current camera, discontinued Olympus FE360 3.8 oz w/ battery- I picked up uber cheap, they had one left at an Office Max and wanted it gone, made them a lowball offer and they took it- has been a great camera and the pictures aren't half bad

would like to pick up a lightweight waterproof camera one of these days (they seem to be getting smaller and lighter w/ each year)

Thanks,

I've been camera shopping as well.

BTW - the weights you list are WITHOUT batteries or memory card. For example, the total weight for the Canon is 4.41 ounces.

Susan

"would like to pick up a lightweight waterproof camera one of these days (they seem to be getting smaller and lighter w/ each year)"

Me, too. Check out the Sony Cyber shot DSC-TX20, new for this year, or even the TX10, which is last year's model and can be found cheaper as they draw down their inventory. Panasonic has one that is supposed to be slightly better, but I can't remember its model number off the top of my head. The Sony is under 5 oz, battery included. the Panasonic is slightly heavier.

Tom- thanks, I'll check those out- would be very nice not to worry about rain/snow, not looking for anything to take pics underwater- just survive typical backpacking weather :)

Mike

"not looking for anything to take pics underwater- just survive typical backpacking weather :)"

The one downside to the TX10/20 is that its touch screen doesn't function well when wet. The workaround is to wipe it dry before changing settings, etc. Not a problem for me because I do most of my trips in the Sierra, but your weather is wetter. Don't know if that's a show stopper for you, but I thought you should know.

I have no experience w/ a touch screen, it does look like it's quite a bit lighter than most of it's competitors (maybe because it is touch screen???)

I see a few of the all weather cameras have gps's in them- interesting :)

"I see a few of the all weather cameras have gps's in them- interesting :)"

Yeah, it's a candy shop out there. Sony, Panasonic, Nikon, and Olympus all have entries in the rugged camera field. Good luck, and maybe let me know what you come up with. I'm still struggling to make a choice. I lean toward toward the Sony because of its lightness, but the touch screen bugs me a little.

don't know if this sheds any more light on the subject, but here's a site that ranks some of the current contenders (w/ their justifications)

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/search/all-weather

Edited by mtwarden on 05/02/2012 21:00:47 MDT.

"but here's a site that ranks some of the current contenders (w/ their justifications)"

That is a very useful site. Thanks, Mike. Looks like it's going to save me a lot of time.

One thing a lot of small cameras are missing (the newer ones) is an optical viewfinder. While it doesn't give the best representation of the field of view of the picture, it does save battery life tremendously. The older Cannon Powershot cameras not only have optical viewfinders, take good pictures, and can run CHDK to expand the capabilities of the camera.

Steve

There are still new Powershots that have viewfinders. They're the ones that I mentioned earlier that have AA batteries. I used an older one, and the quality was great, but I can't speak as to the quality of the new models. CHDK is awesome.

If you followed the suggestion I posted above and selected 'Viewfinder type" in the advanced search section , for the "compact" type you will find that from the listed 307 cameras only 8 have an optical viewfinder, however there are 8 with an optical viewfinder...
Franco
No I don't work for DPReview...
BTW, occasionally some of those specs are wrong, still they help you speeding up comparison searches.

Edited by Franco on 05/02/2012 22:44:06 MDT.

The Sony DSCW570 is another lightweight point and shoot option: 4.1 oz with batteries.

I was shopping for a lighter weight camera today and discovered the recommended powershot on sale for $72.99 at B&H through Feb 2, 2013. I'm only saving myself about 3oz with this purchase, but its too good to pass up...