+Thrak Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 I've often wished I had a camera with me when caching but I don't want to carry aound my current camera in the cache bag. It's a bit heavy and also I don't want to trash it. What do you use for a caching camera? I'd like a small, durable, inexpensive digital camera that I can toss in my cache bag and not have to worry about it getting trashed. I don't need professional quality pics but I don't want garbage pics either. Any recommendations? Quote
+Miragee Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 I have a small Fuji Finepix A340 optical zoom camera that takes good pictures. I got it new on eBay for a good price. I got it because it takes the same xD cards my Olympus-5060, which I take caching, but which I am very, very careful with. Quote
+Thrak Posted January 11, 2006 Author Posted January 11, 2006 Ebay. There are 10,754 items listed on eBay in the category Digital Camera, Point and Shoot. I'd kind of like to narrow it down.......... Quote
+Moose Mob Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) dollar-mart has semi disposal cameras for $20-$30. They hold very few pictures (10-20) and the resolution could be better. They are cheap, effective, and no big loss if you drop it in a creek. Edit: dollar mart = k-mart/walmart/target/walgreen's/CVS/and a maybe even few grocery stores. Edited January 11, 2006 by Moose Mob Quote
+Doc-Dean Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Ok, What's your price range? How many megapixels do you want? If you want simple cache pictures to post on the web - anything over 3 megapixels is overkill. The point is for it to be a disposable camera - if it falls in a puddle or gets banged up you shouldn't have a heart attack about trashing it and buying another one. Quote
+Miragee Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Check out Techbargains.com. Right now they have a link to Onsale.com for a Canon A520 Compact 4Mpixel 4x optical zoom digital for only $149.00. That is a very nice camera for that price and it takes very good pictures. Quote
+sbell111 Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 You could also use your cell phone. Those cachers with a Zire 71/72 could use that. Quote
+HolyCowboys Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Check out Techbargains.com. Right now they have a link to Onsale.com for a Canon A520 Compact 4Mpixel 4x optical zoom digital for only $149.00. That is a very nice camera for that price and it takes very good pictures. This seems like a very good price on the Cannon. We have been looking at them at Best Buy. I think this one sells for 200.00 in the store. Quote
+Thrak Posted January 11, 2006 Author Posted January 11, 2006 You could also use your cell phone. Those cachers with a Zire 71/72 could use that. I don't have a cell phone - I freaking HATE phones! - but I have considered getting one specifically for caching. I've found myself in some places where I'd like to let somebody know where I was and where I figured if I got hurt I would really need to be able to contact someone. I hadn't considered a phone with a camera but I guess that many of them do have that capability. How are the pictures? Quote
+Bluejaytoo Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 I guess it depends on your definition of inexpensive, but I've been singing the praises of the Pentax Optio 43WR ever since I got mine. It's out of production now, but they are always on eBay. It has 4 megapixels, a 2.8x optical zoom, optical viewfinder, and it's waterPROOF. (In spite of the "water resistant" graphics on the front, it is water proof; it has a JIS Class 7 rating.) It has rubber corners to absorb impact. It is more likely to survive being dropped in a creek than about any other camera out there. I wear mine around my neck when I'm kayaking. Quote
+Thrak Posted January 11, 2006 Author Posted January 11, 2006 Wow - it's tiny! 3.2" x 3.0" x 1.2". I checked some pages and it seems to be a good unit for what I want - more than I wanted to spend but I may go that route anyway since it's so small and waterproof and such. Thanks. Quote
+Bluejaytoo Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Looks like they're going for around $250 on eBay, new. That's $100 less than I paid for mine. Here is a pretty glowing review of it. This is a panoramic I shot with it just after I got it. Quote
+Thrak Posted January 11, 2006 Author Posted January 11, 2006 Dang it! This always happens to me. I started out thinking $69 or so and now I'm thinking in the $200 range. Sigh...... Same thing happened when I decided to get a GPSr. I started out looking at the yellow eTrex and ended up gettting a 76CS. Quote
+Chiro75 Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Keep in mind there is a HUGE difference between water resistant and waterproof, particularly when it comes to cameras. Quote
+Bluejaytoo Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Keep in mind there is a HUGE difference between water resistant and waterproof, particularly when it comes to cameras. That's why I pointed out the JIS Class 7 rating. Quote
+Thrak Posted January 11, 2006 Author Posted January 11, 2006 I'm actually also still wondering about the quality of cell phone pics. I can't imagine they are very good but I really have no clue. I've used a cell phone exactly twice ever and never taken a picture with one. Quote
+Miragee Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 I don't think you can take a picture like this with a cell phone . . . Taken at "Subject to Flooding" cache. Quote
+Airmapper Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 I just got my hands on a Polaroid i832. 8MP (I can lower the resolution for GC pics.) Very small, and I've only had it for a few days but really like it. It was $150 at Wally-world, normally $300. The thing eats batteries like nothing I've seen before, so getting some rechargeable batteries is a must. Quote
+AtoZ Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 I use my cell phone camera, as I usually have the phone with me. cheers Quote
+Thrak Posted January 12, 2006 Author Posted January 12, 2006 I use my cell phone camera, as I usually have the phone with me.cheers But....... how are the pics? Can you point me to some cache log pics you've taken with the phone? Please??? Quote
+Dreamin'Eagle Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 The pics from cell phones are ok at best. personal I use a vivatar camera I got at waly world only cost abotu $70 and takes some absolutely beautiful pictures. if you want I can dig up an example of each and email them to you. emailo me and let me know if you want examples I will go look for them now. Quote
+fox-and-the-hound Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 (edited) PM'd you. Nikon CoolPix 2500. Cheap/Tough/Rechargeable! Edited January 12, 2006 by fox-and-the-hound Quote
+Bluejaytoo Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 BTW, here's a panoramic I shot with the Pentax Optio 43WR. It's too big to post here. Quote
codeman3 Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 my best friend got one off the internet 3 megapixel for 50 bucks works better then dads $500 sony proffesional!!! Quote
+Cool Librarian Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 Cell phone camera pics stink unless you shell out a lot of money (and then the camera/phone is fragile, and the pics still suck). BUT, I recommend having a cell phone with you while caching, especially if you cache alone more than .25 from the car. You can get a plan for 19.99 and a free phone at most dealers (and get a Nokia if you can as they are tougher - DO NOT get a motorola - very fragile, for the most part). Anyway, I use a Canon Digial Elph, which I love for caching. Quality is very nice, it's very small and light, but at about $200, it may not be "disposable" (at least for me, anyway). My boyfriend uses a Fuji Finepix that cost about $100 - takes nice pics, a little bulkier than mione, but still light and nice for the cache bag. Quote
+sbell111 Posted January 12, 2006 Posted January 12, 2006 Cel phone pics aren't great, but they get better and better every year. I was playing with one at the Verizon store the other day that had a 1.3 mp camera with flash and used a mini SD card for easy transfer of pics. Certainly, that's not a great camera, but considering that I never forget my phone, but always forget the camera, its pretty good. Quote
+Thrak Posted January 13, 2006 Author Posted January 13, 2006 PM'd you. Nikon CoolPix 2500. Cheap/Tough/Rechargeable! I checked these out and they are indeed very affordable on e*** but...... it seems that they use a proprietary rechargeable battery and many if not most of the used ones for sale need a new battery which runs around $30. One of the reasons I'm a Garmin fan for my GPSr is that I can run it on AA batteries. I'd like to stick with units that all run on the same type of power. If I'm going to spend $40 - $50 plus shipping for a used camera and then have to spend another $30 plus shipping for a battery I might just as soon double the amount and get a new camera that uses AA batteries. It would also be a plus to get one that uses the same Smart Media that my current camera uses so I don't have to get a new card reader - I prefer to do that rather than use the camera's power to download directly to the computer. Many thanks for the recommendation and the PM - it got me looking in other directions than I had been and thinking about more aspects of what it is I may or may not want. I really don't actually want to have anything else to lug along with me but I do seem to keep wishing I had a camera when caching. Cache bag, GPSr, stick, glasses (they have to go off and on), now thinking of camera and cell phone. I may even need to get a mini recorder to play the Indiana Jones song when setting out. Sheesh, where's my Batman utility belt? Quote
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