Waterproof Digital Cameras

While many digital camera manufacturers opt to offer their products in boxy cases, Pentax choose to deliver the Pentax Optio WG-2 Waterproof Digital Camera in a unique angular housing with a front that is bordered with lightning-like highlights. Underlining its rugged looks and features is the carabiner clipped to its strap. The camera is available in a combination of black and red, black and white, yellow and black, or just plain black.

Fitted with a 16-megapixel CMOS type sensor, the camera can take photos that can be enlarged to poster size or used as your PC’s wallpaper without becoming too grainy. A 5x optical zoom covers a 28 – 140 mm field of view, making it suited for panoramic as well as close up shots. Complementing this is a 7.2x digital zoom. Six LED lights surround the lens allowing you to illuminate your subjects when shooting in macro mode.

If you want to add the exact location where your photos are captured, you can use the camera’s built-in GPS. If you upload your photos to your social media accounts, your friends will readily see where in the world you are. You can, however, opt out of this feature if you feel you don’t need it.

The Pentax Optio WG-2 Waterproof Digital Camera does not only look rugged. It is rugged. It is designed for adventurers who like to spend time in the seas or lakes, on snow-covered mountain tops, and in the wilderness. With its airtight construction and special seals, the camera can dive as deep as 40 feet into the water and still continue snapping photos. It will also keep on working even in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. And if you drop it from a height of 5 feet, or even crush it with 220 pounds of pressure, simply pick it up and keep on shooting.

You can also use the Optio WG-2 for taking short videos at a resolution of 720p or 1080p at 120 FPS capture and 30 FPS playback.

Rugged cameras that can take real punishment are now marketed by most manufacturers that it is easy to find one. Finding one, however, that is inexpensive yet tough is another matter. This is where the Fujifilm FinePix XP20 Digital Camera comes in.

The FinePix XP20 is designed to work underwater in depths of 16 feet for up to two hours, which should give you ample time to take plenty of photos of swimmers in the pool or fishes in the lake. Apart from its waterproofing, it is also tough enough to stand a fall from a height of five feet. It also functions under freezing conditions, down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, making it suitable for capturing photos while skiing or ice skating.

Inside the camera is a 14-megapixel CCD sensor which produces high resolution still images as well as high definition 720p videos. These are recorded at 30 fps. In order to minimize blurring resulting from camera shake, which is common enough while panning during action shooting, the camera is equipped with sensor shift stabilization.

At the front of the camera is a Fujinon optical zoom lens with 5x magnification, and an f-stop ranging from 3.9 to 4.9. The zoom is equivalent, in a 35 mm lens format, to a zoom of 28 mm to 140 mm, thus allowing you to take panoramic scenes and close-up shots.

Picture composition is done through a 2.7-inch LCD display with 230K dots. With face detection capabilities, you are assured that the faces of your subjects, up to 10 of them, remain clear and focused. It also has automatic red-eye removal and in-camera editing. And you can even have the Fujifilm FinePix XP20 Digital Camera automatically upload your photos and videos to Facebook or YouTube using its Windows-only FinePix Studio software.

With its measurements of approximately 95 mm x 58 mm x 16 mm, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC TX200V Digital Camera can easily be mistaken for a cell phone. This impression is reinforced with its sleek face consisting of a glass panel. A second and closer look reveals the lens and its built-in flash.

The lens is a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, and is incorporated inside the camera body; hence there are no protrusions on its face. It does extend internally allowing it to optically zoom up to 5X. At the back of the camera is a 3.3-inch OLED touch screen display, which features 1,229K dots with brightness control. With this, you can easily compose your photos even in bright conditions.

The camera boasts of an airtight construction, rendering it waterproof to a depth of 16 feet. It can also keep sand and dust out, making it perfect for the beach.

Inside the elegant body of the TX200V is an Exmor R CMOS sensor with a whooping 18.2 megapixels. This assures you of ultra-high definition images, with background noise reduced up to six times more than those taken with ordinary cameras.

Focusing is extremely quick as the camera uses the sensor’s 240 fps throughput to send image signals to the BIONZ processor, which, in turn, regulates a high-speed actuator motor in the lens.

Instead of using digital zoom to complement its optical zoom capabilities, the camera relies on a Clear Image zoom that analyses the pixels of an image that is being cropped, and creates additional pixels to prevent it from becoming blurry.

Featuring Background Defocus, the TX200V allows you to narrow your picture’s depth of field, thus blurring anything in the background that could detract from your subject, a feature which used to be exclusive to SLR or DSLR cameras.

Other features include face detection, smile shutter technology, and anti-blink functions.

Reflecting young people’s active lifestyles, cameras have increasingly become tougher and sturdier. And they are no longer limited to firm ground. Instead, you can take them right into the water. Both big and small camera makers have presented their own models. Among the former is Nikon, which released its Nikon Coolpix S30 Waterproof Digital Camera.

The Coolpix S30 is suited for poolside and beach use. You can dive 10 feet into the water with it to take photos of your kids making faces underwater or of colorful fishes and seaweeds. It is can even stand drops from about 2½ feet.

Equipped with a 10.1 megapixel sensor, your photos are sharp and distinct making them ideal for printing. In addition to pictures, you can also take videos in HD (720p). Since silent movies are things from the past, the camera allows you to record accompanying sounds.

Operating the camera is a breeze. It comes with oversized buttons that are easy to handle and manipulate even with wet hands. A 2.7-inch LCD monitor that remains clear even under bright conditions makes picture composition a cinch. These are compounded with a shooting menu that is also easy to understand.

To assure you of clear photos, Nikon incorporated its Electronic VR Image Stabilization into the S30. This offsets the effects of camera shake that may result when pointing and shooting is hurried. The camera also recognizes smiles. It will automatically shoot if it sees your subject smiling. Although primarily designed for outdoor use, it is fitted with a TTL auto flash for indoor use.

At the end of your shooting sessions, you can watch your photos in a slideshow mode using playback effects. You won’t have to do that in silence as the camera has built-in music for background.

Introduced in 2012, the Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS Digital Camera immediately became the flagship of the Tough series. While it was built to be even more robust than its older siblings, what really sets it apart is its f2.0 high-speed lens.

With that kind of aperture, you can shoot sharper photos even in low-light, which is often the case when shooting underwater. Instead of relying on a slow shutter speed to admit more light, simply open up the aperture, and reduce the odds of blurring your photos due to camera shake. This also allows you to freeze fast action. With the aperture opened up, you can set faster shutter speed. With the TG-1 iHS, you can capture a clear image of a manta ray or shark speeding right before you.

The lens optically zooms in on a subject up to 4x. This is backed up by 10x Super-resolution zoom that further enlarges an image. What is more noteworthy is the camera’s optional converter ring adapter. This allows you to expand the optical zoom of the built-in lens from 4x to 7x using a tele converter lens. Going the other way, you can also attach a fisheye converter lens to expand your panoramic view. Both of these lenses, like the camera, are waterproof to a depth of 40 feet. You can also attach any 45 mm filter to the converter for special effects.

The Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS Digital Camera is fitted with the original Tough sealing system and a double lock construction making it waterproof to a depth of 40 feet. A special coating is applied to the lens that makes it water repellent, so you won’t have to worry about water droplets appearing on your pictures. It is also applied to the 3-inch OLED monitor to make composition convenient.

The same seal and construction that keeps water off also renders it dustproof. It is also freezeproof up to 14 degrees F, so you can keep on clicking whether you are in the middle of a sandstorm or a snowstorm.

Constructed with a polycarbonate resin and a metal frame, the camera is crushproof even under a 220-pound weight. And if you drop it from a height of 6.6 feet, its protective frames keep its mechanisms from any damage.

The camera boasts of a 12-megapixel sensor for clear shots. It captures both stills and videos at a 1080p resolution.

Released in January 2012, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20 Digital Camera succeeds the TS10 as the company’s tough model. Improvements have been made both outside and inside the camera, making it tougher and better at capturing clear and sharp photos.

The TS20 can dive 16 feet into the water, which is six feet deeper than its predecessor. Like the TS10, it is also shockproof, capable of withstanding a drop from up to five feet; and freeze-proof up to 14 degrees F. It is also dustproof, so that even if you drop it on the shore, all you need to do is brush off the sand. If that is not enough, dunk it in the water and wait for a few minutes for the sand to float away.

With a CCD sensor that is expanded to 16 megapixels, the digital camera captures high resolution pictures that can be cropped or printed in large photo papers without any noticeable blurring. It can also record HD video in 1280 x 720p in 30p MP4 format. And if you can’t wait to share your photos or videos with your friends, you can install the included software and upload them directly to YouTube.

Featuring an ultra-wide angle 4x optical zoom (25 – 100 mm in its 35 mm format equivalent), you can take panoramic vistas and close-up portraits with the camera. The optical zoom is doubled with the camera’s Intelligent Zoom function or digital zoom.

Composing pictures is easy with the 2.7-inch Intelligent LCD which features 230k dots. Brightness is adjusted in 11 steps in response to different shooting conditions. An anti-reflecting coating minimizes, if not eliminates, glare even when shooting under bright sunlight.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20 Digital Camera powers up quickly, so you won’t have to miss those unexpected shooting opportunities. Its four active outdoor scene modes also helps quickly adjust camera settings suited for sports, snow, beach and surf, and underwater.

Although the camera will not shoot professional-grade photos, it is perfect for bold and audacious souls who want to keep memories of their adventures in the seas and mountains.

Loaded with features, the Sony Cybershot DSC-TX20 Digital Camera guarantees clear and crisp images as well as the right exposure and color saturation, regardless of whether you are shooting under bright lights or using its built-in flash, stationary or moving subjects, and close-up or panoramic sights.

To begin with, the camera boasts of a 16.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor that perfectly complements its Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens. Such a marriage results in a high-resolution, extremely fast, and exceptionally sensitivity camera even in very low-light conditions. With its BIONZ image processor, you can even shoot up to 10 fps.

Optical zoom is rated 4x with a focal length ranging from 4.43 mm to 17.7 mm (25 mm to 100 mm in 35 mm format). This allows you to shoot panoramic landscapes and moderate close-ups. If 17.7 mm is not close enough, you can use the camera’s digital zoom of 16x. With its Clear Image Zoom, the resolution of the digitally enlarged photos will not be unduly reduced.

One of the finer features of DSLRs is that you can adjust their apertures to regulate depth of field. Having a shallow depth of field will result in a photo with a sharp subject and a blurred background, thus emphasizing the former. You can also achieve this effect with the Cybershot DSC-TX20 with its Background Defocus feature. And you need not even worry about f-stops.

Among the other camera features are Face Detection which automatically adjusts focus, exposure, and white balance to human faces it detects; Smile Shutter which captures a smile the moment it recognizes one; Anti-Blink which enables the camera to take two shots but saving only the one with less squinting, and if it detects a blink, a warning signal comes alive; and Motion Detection which ups the shutter speed and ISO sensitivity if motion is detected thus reducing the possibility of blurring.

You get all these features, and a few more, in a package that is designed to take harsh punishment. You can take the Sony Cybershot DSC-TX20 Digital Camera to a dive in the ocean at 16 feet or drop it from a height of 5 feet and continue snapping photos. Since it is airtight, you can drop it on the beach but you won’t find a single grain of sand getting into the casing.

Olympus is one of the first, if not the first camera maker to issue a digital camera with basic waterproofing –the mju model. It was this unit that Olympus went on to develop into the long line of Tough series cameras that became a favorite of adventurers who wanted a camera they can take swimming and skiing, drop, or even put a load on. The Olympus Tough TG-820 Digital Camera is one of them.

The TG-820 can keep water out down to a depth of 10 meters, and will continue operating even in temperatures of -10 degrees C. It is also shockproof, able to brush off a drop from a height of 2 meters. If you accidentally let go of the camera while falling and happened to land on it, and if you do not weight anywhere near a 100 kilograms, there is no need to worry. The camera is crushproof up to that weight.

Boasting of a 12-megapixel CMOS sensor, the camera captures high-resolution images suitable for making poster-size prints. An optical zoom with 5x magnification provides you with enough versatility to take panoramic as well as close up images. In the language of 35mm film cameras, 5x is equivalent to 28-140mm. The camera uses a folded lens in order to keep it inside the camera body at all times.

The outer shell consists mostly of polycarbonate to keep it lightweight yet impact-resistant. It has a metal plate inset at its front both for added protection and aesthetic reasons. There is also a metal screen protecting the lens when the camera is turned off. It automatically slides back if the camera is powered up.

Composing your photos is quite pleasing with the camera’s three-inch HyperCrystal III LCD screen. It has 1,030 dots delivering images of excellent clarity. Its built-in flash features red-eye reduction as well as fill-in and off modes.

Rugged and tough enough to be taken 33 feet underwater, you can take photos or videos of swimming fishes and undulating sea plants with the Canon PowerShot D20 D-Series Digital Camera while scuba diving or snorkeling. As it can withstand extreme temperatures ranging from 14 to 104°F, you can bring the camera with you when going skiing on the snows of Aspen, or sandboarding on the sands of Abu Dhabi. If you drop it from a height of up to five feet, you can simply pick it up and continue snapping photos.

The camera also takes great pictures. Featuring Canon’s HS SYSTEM that consists of a 12.1-megapixel high-sensitive CMOS sensor and DIGIC 4 image processor, you are assured of clear and properly exposed shots even when lighting conditions are poor. Videos are recorded at 1080p full HD for well-defined and vivid images that can be played on an HDTV using HDMI cable connections. Recording is done with a dedicated movie button, which also allows you to zoom in or out while recording.

With the PowerShot D20′s 5x optical zoom, you can shoot portraits up close and personal at 140 mm focal length equivalent as well as sweeping panoramic views at 28 mm. A 4x digital zoom further allows you to enlarge and crop captured photos.

The camera can be focused either manually or automatically. It has face detection as well as live view. When using autofocus, it can be set to keep a single image anywhere within the frame, center image, or multiple area within sharp focus. It is also capable of tracking a moving subject to keep it sharp and distinct.

Relying on GPS technology, the camera automatically records where your photos are taken, whether you are climbing to the snow-capped top of Kilimanjaro or diving in the crystal-clear seas of Palawan.

The 3-inch screen is a PureColor II TFT LCD with 461,000 screen dots and a wide viewing angle that helps when composing your photos.

If you want to bring home vivid and vibrant photos of you skydiving or scuba diving adventures while on vacation and claim your bragging rights for them, the Canon PowerShot D20 D-Series Digital Camera is obviously the camera to bring.

Created for adventurers who like to scale mountains and dive into the oceans, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 Digital Camera incorporates devices such men and women commonly need –a GPS system, compass, altimeter, and barometer. And since the camera is expected to take pictures in the harshest of environments, it is constructed as tough as possible.

Special seals and rings keep water out of the camera even at depths of 40 feet, allowing you to take photos of colorful fishes and unusual seaweeds. It is also shockproof. Even if you drop it from a height of over six feet, you can simply pick it up, brush the dust and dirt off it and continue snapping photos. Whether snowboarding down the mountain slopes of Aspen or sandboarding on the sand dunes of Abu Dhabi, the camera is the perfect companion for you as it is both freezeproof and dustproof.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 Digital Camera also takes great photos and videos. For starters, it is fitted with a Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens with an optical zoom of 4.6x. In a 35mm camera, this is equivalent to 28mm – 128mm. This means you can shoot wide panoramic shots as well as frame-filling close-ups.

With a 12.1-megapixel hi-speed CCD sensor, captured images are clearly defined with vivid and realistic colors. Its LSI Venus Engine includes intelligent noise reduction, high-speed burst shooting, and an extremely fast response time.

For persons who like to have a degree of control over their shots, the Lumix DMC-TS4 allows a manual override of shutter speed and aperture. You can either freeze or blur quick movements, or vary your depth of field.

If you are not feeling particularly creative, however, you can let the camera’s Intelligent Auto (iA) mode take over and make the appropriate choices for virtually every shooting condition.

Measuring only 4.1″ W x 2.5″ D x 1″ D, the camera is compact and fits easily into shirt pockets. It weights approximately 6 oz.