Lars
Active member
I think it's interesting to note what compact cameras did (and didn't) survive over the years. Treating cameras like tools (you know, a crowbar?), here's my experience:
Ricoh GR1:
No survivor. Power button too easily activated when packed, resulting in a broken lens mechanism. This happened more than once; I broke two of them. The LCD on the second one quit.
Canon S45:
Survivor? Not sure. I still have it, but never quite liked it so it didn't get much use. In all honesty, it did survive Chile.
Sony DSC-W1:
Survivor! Followed me everywhere over a year in Australia - bull dust, canyon descents, accidental creek dips, ocean cliffs in storms, South Sea waves, hundreds of hours out in the dunes. And about a million or so road ruts. Still works like a charm (although image quality was never stellar).
What makes this camera take a beating or five is that it's no typical Japanese miniaturization engineering masterpiece. As far as compacts go, it's outright clumsy. AA batteries, gigantic Memorystick cards, deeply recessed LCD, reeeally thick body all covered in aluminum. It bounces well on granite, tested more than once .
Canon G9:
Don't really know - pampered it, sold it after two months. Just not the compact I wanted.
Lars
Ricoh GR1:
No survivor. Power button too easily activated when packed, resulting in a broken lens mechanism. This happened more than once; I broke two of them. The LCD on the second one quit.
Canon S45:
Survivor? Not sure. I still have it, but never quite liked it so it didn't get much use. In all honesty, it did survive Chile.
Sony DSC-W1:
Survivor! Followed me everywhere over a year in Australia - bull dust, canyon descents, accidental creek dips, ocean cliffs in storms, South Sea waves, hundreds of hours out in the dunes. And about a million or so road ruts. Still works like a charm (although image quality was never stellar).
What makes this camera take a beating or five is that it's no typical Japanese miniaturization engineering masterpiece. As far as compacts go, it's outright clumsy. AA batteries, gigantic Memorystick cards, deeply recessed LCD, reeeally thick body all covered in aluminum. It bounces well on granite, tested more than once .
Canon G9:
Don't really know - pampered it, sold it after two months. Just not the compact I wanted.
Lars