Best digital camera for boating NOT A GOBRO
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Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12621
Printed Date: 15 Jun 2025 at 8:02am
Topic: Best digital camera for boating NOT A GOBRO
Posted By: nckayakgrrl
Subject: Best digital camera for boating NOT A GOBRO
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2012 at 3:13pm
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I have never owned a waterproof camera for kayaking and its about time i got one. the big questions is, whats the most durable one on the market (as tested by kayakers)? I would like to be able to carry it in my pfd. an ability to hold up over drops is a plus. i saw that most are rated for "drops" >7 feet. i don't know too many drops >7 feet i want a picture of. let me know of any thoughts you have on the subject. thanks!
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Replies:
Posted By: Mr.Grinch
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2012 at 9:00pm
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Originally posted by nckayakgrrl
I have never owned a waterproof camera for kayaking and its about time i got one. the big questions is, whats the most durable one on the market (as tested by kayakers)? I would like to be able to carry it in my pfd. an ability to hold up over drops is a plus. i saw that most are rated for "drops" >7 feet. i don't know too many drops >7 feet i want a picture of. let me know of any thoughts you have on the subject. thanks! Ok, I'll bite...... Either "GOBRO" and your drop rating critique are jokes about current paddling culture, or somehow a misspelling and a misintrepretation. Yes? No? If yes, mildly amusing. If no, I recommend the Olympus Tough series. ------------- nnln. |
Posted By: mokelumnekid
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2012 at 10:21pm
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Here is a recent review- The article has three or four pages, have to click the faint arrow at bottom to advance to the next page: http://tinyurl.com/cwx8gnz - http://tinyurl.com/cwx8gnz |
Posted By: nckayakgrrl
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2012 at 10:48am
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"GoBro" is most definitely a critique on paddling culture.
I am genuinely concerned about a camera being able to withstand repeated drops over 15 ft in my pfd. if a camera is rated for 'drops less than seven feet' does this mean that running canyon creek for a season will kill it? (and not the good kind of 'kill it') i'm not a squirt boater. The submersible depth doesn't concern me as much since, hopefully, i won't be swimming that far down. BUT angin, not withstand drops over 7 feet... that has me concerned. |
Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2012 at 12:13pm
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I'll bite too...a camera that is rated for a "drop" of 7 feet means it should be able to survive hitting a hard surface. Which means that unless your lines consist of chest spats onto rocks off Big Kahuna, that camera should last fine on Canyon Creek.
Hard to argue with the $300 price tag of the Go Pro. Some paddlers prefer to keep it in their pfd and just use it for pictures. It's a pretty awesome versatile piece of technology. Once I got over how I look and what people might think of me when I wear the thing, the footage I get makes it well worth the trouble. Most of the "Go Bro" and whatnot seems to come from people that have never owned a GoPro. I've owned a Canon PowerShot D10 for a couple years. It's been in my PFD for some waterfalls and some big water. Haven't had any problems except that I rarely get good shots with it because of water droplets on the lets. Cold water seems to affect it a bit also. I've decided that if I'm going to the trouble of taking pictures from kayaking trips it's best to keep the camera dry. |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2012 at 12:32pm
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I'm not crazy about joining the leagues of martians with their Tele Tubby GoBros on the tops of their heads, but honestly aesthetics isn't a real concern for me so much as just having that camera sticking up so high on my helmet: its only a matter of time before it gets whacked on rock or wood.
I'd be more in favor of a more streamline device that doesn't protrude out into space so much. Something tube shaped that can attach to the side of the helmet, or a device small enough to mount on the forehead zone... Anything but a bulky little box, but I admitt my expectations may not be reasonable. |
Posted By: Mr.Grinch
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2012 at 6:19pm
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Maybe the Contour line of cameras, jP? Used on the Congo, readily available from good 'ol NRS (or Aqua Sports, since Charles is worth supporting).
I'm stoked for GoPro, I remember when they first came out, and I doubted them. They did it right, though, and have done it well. Fiddleyak nailed the drop ratings, which I thought the O.P. was joking about as well as the "GOBRO" thing. Still, for in pocket digi-cam, I'm pretty stoked on my Tough. ------------- nnln. |
Posted By: not-very-clever
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2012 at 7:56pm
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Water droplets on the lense is an issue. If the camera is in your pfd pocket, the lense will be wet and blurry. I have heard folks put rain ex on it before to bead the water off better. Other wisE you need to have something dry and soft to wipe the lense clean.
-Gobro |
Posted By: STLboater
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2012 at 9:38am
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I have a Sony waterproof digital camera, the DSC-TSX (something like that) that I really love. I am a bit of a camera snob, and I have been thoroughly impressed with this camera's ability to shoot in low light conditions. This is super important considering we kayak when it is cloudy, rainy, and not much light gets into gorges. The camera also has fantastic contrast, shoots beautiful HD video and it has survived my lifejacket pocket for a while now with no problems. Two thumbs up. I have the older version of this camera... http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A5862491&ST=Camera%20Photo%20Video&dgc=ST&cid=72662&lid=1838860&acd=s_pla_dhs:000001,,901pdb6671 ------------- Kayak Academy Whitewater Instructor |
Posted By: Dale
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2012 at 10:33am
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We've had the Pentax Optio W10 and then the W80. They are OK under good conditions, but were terrible under low light conditions.
I picked up an Olympus Stylus Tough 6020(reburbished for about $100) a couple years ago and the low light pictures are a huge improvement. My only complaint about the Olympus is the processor is a bit slow. While the Pentax boots up quickly and is ready to go, the Olympus seems to take forever... especially if something cool is happening. It is also much slower to get ready to take the next picture. Even so, under most conditions, the final results are much better with the Olympus. It's tough on both cameras to deal with fog or water drops on the lens, especially on those super high humidity days. Neither camera takes good pictures if there is a lot of fog or mist hanging in the air. I'd really like to have a GoPro AND a DSLR camera to add to the kit. |
Posted By: thad2000
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2012 at 6:16am
why don't you post some pics for ideas on the quality that's available... I'm currently using a little 60 dollar camera that is rated for being dropped from 4ft and ... ok, is only suppose to be waterproof up to 3 meters. I'm waiting for it to implode. so far, I've liked it ok for something cheap and small I don't have to worry about. It's a kodak playful (big lot special, but also seen on amazon.) It's about credit card size and a a bit over a quarter inch thick. I haven't used it much and I'm on #2. The first one i think I burned out by using a cheap car charger on it. It seemed to do fine in water. low pixel rating. seems pretty quick for taking snap shots. I had it taped to my life vest. Here is a pic and a movie for an example of the type quality. actually scratch the video, I couldn't down load it.   here is a link of some on you tube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vcJkyJtL8U Many better quality ones on youtube. I think a pin hole camera is the only answer to fogging or water droplets.. (no lens and totally unrealistic.) Yes, I know these pics are not great quality. :)------------- why not! |