I need a new point and shoot camera for work.

[Irving]

I've been using an Olympus Stylus TG-830 for work for a few years now. It's a rugged, water proof camera that I really like. According to the date on the battery, it's been around since 2012. Now it's doing weird things and not turning on. I'd like another rugged (probably water proof) camera for work. Is there such a thing as a point and shoot that comes with a wide angle lens like my cell phone does? For someone who takes several thousand pictures a year for work, I know almost nothing about cameras, so I'm turning to the hive mind here. Reliability and durability are required. Please give me some ideas.

[Irving]

Looks like there is a newer model TG-870 that has a wide angle. Even used prices seem steep though. Still interested in what you guys might be aware of so I can get one quick and not spend forever trying to research.

[whitewalrus]

Can you use your cell phone? The point and shoot cameras have really been replaced by cell phone cameras. Hard to find people who use them.

[Irving]

I had to do that today, and have in the past. I hate using my cell phone though because I have it set-up to upload to the cloud so I have to delete hundreds of pictures a week and I already have 1,000 photos on there so it's always a major pain to transfer photos because it tries to load them all before I can just grab the latest ones.

I need to replace my phone as well. Maybe I should just replace my phone and disconnect my current one from everything and use it exclusively for photos.

[Bailey Guns]

I like using something with an SD card. It's a lot easier (in my opinion) to manage photos. Aside from that, there are so many choices in so many prices that it's hard to recommend something to someone else. Just having a rough idea of what you do that Olympus seems pretty much perfect, though.

[Erni]

I would suggest a gps and wifi enabled point and click that can be configured to dump pics to your computer. That should simplify your life.

[CS1983]

Maybe hire a struggling artist to do interpretive sketches of sites. For the experience and portfolio building potential, of course.

Something in the style of Gustave Dore would provide a compelling argument for a higher claim.

"Property owner notes that fiery hailstones rained down after supernatural meteorologists noted impending hellstorm, destroying roof. Recommend roof replacement. Owner's wife turned into a pillar of salt while looking back; catastrophic loss of life. Recommend moving away from Park Hill, Denver."

https://catholic-resources.org/Dore/Images/OT-013-med.jpg

In all seriousness, why not another Olympus?

[Irving]

I've recently heard about Bluetooth or Wifi camera that make transferring photos quick with no physical interchange. That sounds nice.

I was looking at newer versions of what I have and couldn't believe how much they cost. I'll probably go exactly that direction, but since I don't know anything about cameras, and didn't even buy this originally, I figured I better ask around in case there existed some alternative that would be perfect for a steal that I would never know about or something.

Example: the next generation of this camera has all the same features, and also a wife angle lens, but I can only find used ones on Amazon for $399-$450. Which seems like an awful lot for just a point and shoot.

[O2HeN2]

...and also a wife angle lens...
Just how overweight are you implying she is?

O2

[Erni]

Just how overweight are you implying she is?

O2
No, no. A wife angle lens takes off 30 lbs.

[Irving]

Haha. I thought it always pointed at the kitchen.

[mb504]

Here is a list of 11 that probably would work well
https://www.dpreview.com/products/search/cameras#criterias=SpecsCoreParams%2CSpecsWireless% 2CSpecsGPS%2CSpecsDurabilitySearch&paramSpecsCoreParamsBodyType=UltraCompact%2CCompac t%2CLargeSensorCompact%2CSLRLikeCompact&paramSpecsWireless=BuiltIn&paramSpecsGPS=BuiltIn&paramSpecsDurabilitySearch=Waterproof%2CShockproof


I like the Ricoh WG-30W model, but it doesn't have Wi-fi and GPS (only wifi)

If you liked what you had, perhaps take a look at the TG-6

[Bailey Guns]

I like Cav's idea. Hilarious. I've done something similar with some reports I've had to write in the past. Can be pretty fun. One was actually picked up and published (along with another funny-looking-back-on-it incident) in Police magazine way back when. You might become famous!

[Irving]

One time I was taking a picture of some drip edge on a rake, and made sure that the two flies that were humping were right in the center and in focus. Other than that, my editorial days of note making are pretty much over (from experience because for some reason companies don't like that. :( )

EDIT: I've had days where I have to label 300+ photos and I always hate it. Could you imagine, "Hey, I need these 300 artistic renderings done by the end of the day. Thaaaaaaanks."

[Irving]

Okay, so I couldn't convince myself to get a $400-$500 point and shoot so I bought a cheapy Sony Cybershot for under $100. I had a camera like this when I used to work for a big corporation.

I've been having to take photos with my phone for the last few days and it is the WORST. I take a lot of photos with my phone in my daily life, but using a phone for work is terrible. It's one thing to take pictures of something with your phone, and an entirely different thing to take 70-100 photos of one thing, with a phone. Mostly, the phone (and every phone I've ever had) is slow and doesn't take as clear of pictures as a real camera.

There is a marked difference between my mid-level point and shoot that just died, and the cheap but brand new one that I just bought. If the cheap one turns out to be bad enough that I notice, I'll come back here with an update of why. I bought an auto-dimming welding helmet off Amazon and between the two still paid about half of what I was going to spend on a new Olympus TG-5 or TG-6.

[BladesNBarrels]

I bought a cheapy Sony Cybershot for under $100.
I bought an auto-dimming welding helmet off Amazon and between the two still paid about half of what I was going to spend on a new Olympus TG-5 or TG-6.

Uh? You need an auto-dimming welding helmet to run a Sony Cybershot?

That is one bright camera!

[Irving]

Ha, no I just needed two things and compromised and got them both for less than the price of one.

[Aloha_Shooter]

I really liked my Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS30. It was wifi and GPS-enabled, small enough to slip into a shirt pocket and had up to 20x optical zoom but is not ruggedized. Unfortunately, I dropped it in a stream in Sumatra and it's taken several bumps over the years so it acts wonky at times, taking pictures on its own, so I "upgraded" a couple months ago to a ZS70 with 30x zoom. The ZS70 does NOT have GPS (I misread the specs which said "GPS" with nothing under it -- meaning it didn't have a GPS chip but which I interpreted to mean it had GPS). The ZS70 is also not ruggedized and it's a bit bulkier than the ZS30 (I can slip it in a cargo or front pants pocket but not my shirt pocket) but it does save in RAW format (RW2) as well as JPG.

[Bailey Guns]

There are so many cameras on the market I don't know how anyone chooses which one to buy these days.

I really want a Sony RX10 IV but need to save a lot of pennies to afford that. By the time I do, it'll be outdated.

[FoxtArt]

Sheewt. Next time, I'd recommend searching facebook marketplace or craigslist or ebay for older SLR's - you can get them for $100 ish, with lenses, they are resilient, decent resolution (10mp-12mp) and then you have adobe RAW capability - which you won't use often, but sometimes it can make a world of difference. Shitty pictures with stark contrast between a shaded area and bright sun that you need? RAW to the rescue - 10 seconds in the editor - zip this slider, zip that one, open and save, and it's all fixed and balanced. I use some cheap cameras sometimes in the elderly midget pornog... I mean, uh, my line of work too. But if they can't save in RAW format, I never touch them. That is an insurance policy that ensures you always have good pictures when you need them.

[Irving]

and then you have adobe RAW capability - which you won't use often, but sometimes it can make a world of difference. Shitty pictures with stark contrast between a shaded area and bright sun that you need? RAW to the rescue - 10 seconds in the editor - zip this slider, zip that one, open and save, and it's all fixed and balanced.

Isn't that what HDR is supposed to do automatically?

Dropped my camera off a roof today, and surprisingly it survived bouncing around on the driveway. I thought for sure it was a goner since I've dropped a camera just like that off of a roof without it surviving before. Something I don't like, which is counter intuitive, is the optical zoom lens. That rugged camera only had a digital zoom, so nothing protruding. I'm sure actual optical zoom is better than digital zoom, but for my purposes it never matters. The zoom lens was actually the reason I dropped it in the first place. I took a few pictures, then set it in the gutter. When I went to grab it again, the lens was sticking out and caught the lip of the gutter and knocked it out of my hand and onto the driveway. Then I got attacked by a very angry bee and about fell off the ladder, but that's a different story.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Isn't that what HDR is supposed to do automatically?

Not entirely. HDR expands the brightness and color range of the stored picture (the file format has greater range available than the typical CCD). Using RAW format allows for fixing contrast and color issues at the most rudimentary level. If you have dramatic contrast between different areas of the picture, HDR will store the greatest level of contrast it can rather than wash out areas. Using RAW and an editor would let you brighten select areas that were shaded and darken starkly lit areas to give a more pleasing and representative picture (if that's what you want).

[Irving]

I can think of exactly the situations where I could use that, IF, it were important enough for the job, but it isn't. Examples would be taking pictures of the gutter, either from below, looking into the sun, or from above where the sun is glinting off the finish of the gutter lip, contrasting against a much darker yard. The camera generally has a difficult time focusing on what I want as it tries to balance the levels.

[FoxtArt]

If you've ever tried to edit a picture before, you're trying to say brighten it or adjust the contrast and it's doing it across the whole picture, so to accomplish much you have to carefully select areas, etc. and even then if you brighten a shaded area it looks like shit.

RAW stores the raw sensor data instead of pixels, which seems meaningless - but the best description I have is that it lets you "retake" or partially retake existing photographs to suit your needs to the edge of the sensor data. Say areas of a photo are severely underexposed and appear completely black, others (around the sun) are the reverse, and appear completely white. If your image format saved them as pixels, you're done - nothing you can do. But with RAW - believe it or not, the sensor has most of the original detail in those areas, so you can take a shadows/blacks slider up or down to lighten & bring all the detail out to your satisfaction, and you can adjust the highlight slider for the same, badda bing - 10 seconds later, you've just "reshot" and corrected a picture that would've been unfixable otherwise.

E.g. Imagine say the sun washing out 1/3 of the sky in white. You can bring it all the way down where the sun is it's circle of white, and you can see all the clouds and all the detail of the clouds right up to the sun. In a practical context, if a roof is jacked up but it's a bright sunny day and the chimney is shadowing an area that you need a photo of, you can just snap it from where you stand and move on, and if it doesn't show up well, you know you can fix it later.

ETA: I was typing while you posted, I guess [blah-blah]

[FoxtArt]

BTW some point and shoots can save in RAW too, it's not exclusive to SLR's.

[Irving]

Yep, those are good examples. I'm tracking. That would be a pretty important feature for photography. As is, I try to spend as little time on the photos as it is, but that's good to know for buying my wife a camera if she ever decides to get a fancy one. Can the RAW format save a lot of night shots as well?

[FoxtArt]

Yep, those are good examples. I'm tracking. That would be a pretty important feature for photography. As is, I try to spend as little time on the photos as it is, but that's good to know for buying my wife a camera if she ever decides to get a fancy one. Can the RAW format save a lot of night shots as well?

It does. The brand of camera that you choose has a big factor in that specifically - certain sensors (Nikon - using SONY sensors iirc) can extract far more from dark/night shots without getting heavy artifacts vs. say (Canon). It can be a significant difference between the brands.

Another plus: Many SLR's (and I'm lumping mirror-less in that category) record the absolute best video you can get. A lot of professional studios use nothing but SLR photography cameras to do all their youtube videos, some even cinematic movies. I'd recommend mirrorless cameras like a Panasonic GH4 ($600-700) for entry if top-notch video was your fancy - they do 4K and can do 10 bit 4:2:2 which is a big deal on such a low price point, most importantly though they have fast auto focus when using Panasonic/Olympic lenses. Other mirrorless cameras like the Sony's also are great, with a very fast AF. (e.g. A6300 does 4K IIRC) If you ever got serious about non-dash camera youtube videos, you'd really want to go in a direction like that. Then a plus - your wife can use it for top notch photography too.

[Irving]

Thanks, this thread turned out to be informative.

[Aloha_Shooter]

I recently "upgraded" my point-and-shoot camera from a Lumix DC-ZS30 to a DC-ZS70. I really loved the little ZS30 as it was small and light enough to drop in my shirt pocket, could automatically tag GPS location to the photos for me, and had enough battery life to take hundreds of pictures on a single charge as well as having built-in panorama and HDR capabilities, but it could only save in JPEG format and I was having issues with it taking pictures spontaneously.

The ZS70 is a bit larger and thicker than the ZS30. It still fits neatly in the front or cargo pockets on my hiking shorts and saves in RAW as well as JPEG formats but it won't go in my front shirt pocket and it doesn't do GPS tagging. It does have a tilt-up screen and power-waving viewfinder which can be handy in certain situations (like taking low shots without having to get down on the ground).

[Irving]

These guys did an excellent job explaining a situation where RAW would come in handy, but just in case anyone isn't quite tracking, here is an example of a picture with bad exposure. This camera does okay fixing some stuff, but I can't remember having as many out of balance photos with my last camera like this one below. So far $400 camera > $97 camera.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eYJHL8Kyoj-43yMWbR7BYEmprcs_2VbjwuX0SdlMUgyZX8wO3tcLpV1z0WGcM WSWXVmpZZ_GuQRQMoE2waiI10hEb64xDvr-ShFuB0fvmZO6F3dulBns5gTLBt3Zz7dP1e4KZuSwzWa_RKnLQ0 3__5RpqbOf6NoQm4fqtAUjHYUFFFgZPju_GoRSEawoIebI4faE ENzcCnLYBs-lwVuyL2kBR2CjVxCxLlI1x0DfD7m_ztu047RROIM-d_2nX633jQTGSH1aPwyzoqaNtHl69s3z_77LWHLQjdtNdzZ6vA hKvyGjrL0VYHDLDx2ARJXPJTWERPcoVsAAzioZ6XwCa4HccFX4 WSxG2NgnjeyoQvHAHlCPoZ60la-fuo7SGoSLfoOfykLbEwocLlSdh-_cyKv2MvzrNqfDoZlR8VL9N1zgn_8HRUW5JFHGrnAG7CyV5Ihs XWMcIQFAstMyiqpHT3aI_1h-w4rS9At7lqlBxgEwARZniXVXonPQ0eU1HCNOREfyHik6wIcJki xxaO_1UhJzH-2ztgmiVMpjAoc8xReyYVYV8Y-WI2jSHzaKHRiBv1HpkU45_CO5deR1YTAHu_GfhX2rdMhk5W0un 3KR2OmRUr5J7gqMoBuH1QSyXMsH9xcBiDtiL2_RxfTQGPivUX-sf5Ie8HLyf1h_wQRBuYk-MVLGCGSw_xfPWA64cdBb-tfo5LEJh-9KOhww4_s6ZbIo4Q=w890-h500-no

[Irving]

Another update. This camera is a total piece of shit. A significant percentage of photos is takes are blurry. Here are some example photos. Of the 35 photos I took in this inspection, 14 looked like this. 40% unusable photos is unacceptable. You often can't tell from the preview screen that they are blurry! If they aren't blurry, they are over exposed like the photo above. On my last camera, I turned the preview screen completely off because it wasted too much time and I could trust that the camera was doing it's job.

I just ordered an Olympus TG-6 for 4x the money. Apparently there is a reason this Sony was so cheap.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_kWGVvABxr0JRdJ5rjwA6dq47UyFty1v1MgC9i8rnl_XJidMFA q_wwSoNIRTBHbwh_DsKY0ppxK7VNfJP9J6CFA3MDLPNunnRwM-iA7DMggBt9KiUvlayPF11ykpLT8W5B4XJayQxJrUnKZdXX1gMD KyNaRdO6T9mU6At8-A6_dTYX-aXvKksErUl7lSShHwE3FyenzmUyXat0qNOiXN_B0E8c1CXHp4L 3xdcDs25-7BebdppVF1QC3eAAa6NU3nlavOKKyAv31nxACUelrReGjDgJdW pqxPbz-qtCf2i35euNaDQ37YEI-5rOrTpbP3m1t1-qUzLmE-1oaLBurJZ5jDPCD4p-jkbYDcePZw4TOpAdc1KpjG62LKXj3kCg_G2KawiJwym7TIkixp 1H4RkxTyuv4H49yju_BwRsOXAmO8mmbXsJLvLqlMdvb9_Jp5RD rowjmYNuN8owgQxRrW6uzvOUC4LvoCZakYqKa27bDvfWKEvxx0 2vZx8CmlnuAA0aeehwZLJMmGbUIeXgIEWVa9Owj-qHlPmDRQJOcPcJ0eTXC6_LyyFUcWHVxQSz5yIrZ1pABs8yXRSv Ebc885Co1Q1LXxXDXEth8bBIQLek6TJFy3t2UNvlJwlL1tqIEe dr-qMt8jwy_9MICz9WN4W0NH4Nxx5rGPoT0cg4C5njFB6bJuXgSBZ c-9WAsDUYSJYbSw0HPNODCm90cTFh1rd7e2NA=w1112-h625-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QS5Wcl4TfoYFuuKTJBtbGuxzmhC0zFbJ8PzzUpmlLnOq_ta8lr nnLKdWlTKCgttwji_9PcUX2M594Px1C3kRxrLlXddoYAaRVVGE 1maZNaRhyKQOHHwHPTcEsKsy0Ako0noEC5E-LPosOMILU5LOUl0Si4wMNWhU-0O18RNPIsWgBKZUOCJbiQir8C6S0r7IdoHUmUTphg-_IXxbTcEECF4zOA3ZY85SkW0CyTFfmOf3Kzrz7f4Q3Z8ejl4qI qFVGExh269er0U1_Pc4nmhpo0j5lAwkUK0TyDsyHyQlFFjV_pt 8nxTJap4hUNieiFk1427VStBAUn5dCyWeRBzdaaPiU0_3VCGUO IfwdD64ORW2mAJq2wEqkKXp5RnprS3GAPWs2uR8XxJyGBApMe9 Aw37nTKWGy2f051ekMVWMJBakxJjYEeixaxJ_GRa74GwM_EqHw VLudgjiaA03IlFKQ0Tq4VSi6AsbyU7MeYsN_R3vaeUzHt63CB3 l-KPjEZqycnhOHjnr7GetDJAzS6CXBV2EpmNKUNnXFCn2_68LPzO LM3sv81thb7gW1ew4E37LPtEnJp9mGiFsqCaGCrzSSdVGpkU5o 40YI2uXi3ZhlRcrd7xDSyqcMKtuR7Glz_NbOQynPHPRAW2RF2r _htcFeWo4FtI5XSkCLR6Y-4OneT_--31O9gMAepcDff2en66faDUbqUXGFN7a04SeWcDxnzRFTA=w111 2-h625-no

[Aloha_Shooter]

I am a little surprised that the Cybershot is that bad but the old saying of you get what you pay for applies. From what I read in Digital Photography Review, you should like the TG-6:

https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/compacts/olympus_tg6

[Irving]

I hope so. For $12, I also ordered backup batteries for my old camera in case that is the issue. Either way, I'll be sending one package back. I JUST threw out the box for the Sony Cybershot as well, but when I click on my order on Amazon, it doesn't even have an option for a return.

[FoxtArt]

I really recommend facebook marketplace (and sometimes ebay) for camera stuff.

I recently got a Panasonic GH4 with a metabones speedbooster, 64gb sandisk ultra and 4 batteries for *drumroll* $385.00.

Obviously people aren't going to know what that all is, but just the speed booster alone normally costs about that - used. And that's just a little adapter that sits between the camera and the lense! I've been waiting until someone dropped a good deal on a GH4 and snagged it, they are the lowest price point for professional level 4k video. I would've paid 2-3x as much buying that stuff used online.

Now I just need an Atmos Inferno....

[Irving]

I don't have a Facebook. Also, since it's business, and I've been super busy this summer, I need stuff now. Not a ton of time to shop for deals.

[Irving]

Got the new camera, which looks awesome. But I also got the $12 worth of batteries, which seems to have fixed my old camera. So now I'm going to send back the unopened new camera and save myself $500. I'm happy, and pictures are looking much better. Best. Thread. Ever.