René Seindal

I got a very nice email yesterday, from a PR represetative of Panasonic Nordic, with an offer of lending me a Lumix DMC-FT1 (TS1 in the USA) camera as soon as they get the first test cameras to the country in late March.

The deal is that I will test the camera in real life paddling situations in Spain and Italy, and naturally supply Panasonic with feedback on the camera, and pictures and videos taken during this  spring and summer.

I find it very exciting that Panasonic now enters the niche market of rugged, waterproof cameras suitable for use while kayaking.  Until now our only choices as kayakers have been various models from Pentax and Olympus, none on which have been that spectacular. It be very interesting to see how Lumix DMC-FT1 measures up.

The basic camera specifications of the Lumix DMC-FT1 is in line with the latest offerings from Olympus and well ahead of what I have seen from Pentax. It has a 12.1 Mpixels sensor (images of 4000×3000 pixels), with a Leica 28-128mm (35mm equivalent) lens, which is approx. 4.6x optical zoom. The display is 2.7″ at 230.000 pixels.

As for ruggedness, the Lumix DMC-FT1 is not top of the class but it is close, and it should be enough for what most of us need when kayaking. It is dustproof, waterproof to a depth of 3m and shockproof up to 1.3m, just like the Pentax Optio W60 and the Olympus Tough 6000.

Where the Lumix DMC-FT1 really distinguishes itself from the other waterproof cameras is its video capabilities. It can record video in 720p HD-TV video quality: 1280×720 pixels, 60fps in AVC HD Lite format in three qualities (17Mbps, 13Mbps, and 9Mbps). The AVC HD video specification is a highly compressed MPEG4/AAC3 format, so it should be possible to get good length registrations on common 2Gb or 4Gb SD cards (of which I have loads).

It uses standard SD memory cards (it has always annoyed me that Olympus has to use a different memory card than everybody else), it has a USB 2 connection for data transfer to a computer, and a HDMI output for playback on HD-TVs or other recorders.

Naturally, the software in the camera has a gazillion different functions,but some sounds useful in a kayaking context, like auto focus tracking of moving objects and a special “Quick AF” setting for impromptu snapshots. It also boasts automatic facial recognitions, that is, automatic tagging of persons in photos when enough photos a single person has been taken.

I can’t wait until I get my hands on this new toy

Links:

• Nyt hybridkamera til udendørs fotografering (Lumix DMC-FT1)
• Panasonic.net – World’s First Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof Digital Camera with AVCHD Lite Motion Picture Recording
• Panasonic Nordic on Flickr – DMC-FT1
• DPReview – Panasonic unveils DMC-TS1 rugged compact camera

When my Pentax Optio W10 died last November, I bought the newer model Optio W30, expecting it to be at least as good as the W10 if not better. I was wrong. it is not a better camera for several reasons.

The Optio W10 was easy to operate, even with cold and wet hands, and it took good photos for an economic point-and-shoot compact camera.

The Optio W30, in comparison, is much harder to operate. The buttons aren’t very responsive and often it takes a bit of fiddling with both hands to change a setting, something that was achieved much faster with one hand on the W10.

The camera sometimes doesn’t recognise the memory card. The card might be working for a while, and they the camera suddenly complain about “Internal camera memory full” and it has lost the card and stored a handful of photos in the camera’s internal memory. The only cure is to switch it off and on again.

It’s a point-and-shoot camera, so it should be able to turn on quickly and take photos almost instantaneously, but the W30 is extremely slow, much slower than the W10. The delay from the shutter button is fully pressed until it takes a photo can easily be 1-3 seconds, after which the chance for a special or particular shot has often passed.

The culprit seems to be the auto-focus function. The camera takes a long time acquiring focus, and in the view-finder you can see it try several times, using both time and battery.

The colours in the photos are much too bland when using the preset modes, and the photos often appear both undersaturated and slightly overexposed. The only solution I have found to this problem is to always use the P mode, which allows me to increase the saturation and manually adjust the exposure value.

On top of all this, the camera is excessively flash-happy. It will practically try to flash whenever there is anything less then bright sunlight. I have even seen it flash when outside, on an overcast day, when using the landscape preset mode. I fail to grasp how the camera firmware can even consider using the flash when in landscape mode. How can it make sense using the flash when I have explicitly stated than the motive is outside the flash’ range?

When disabling the flash the photos come out grainy and unsharp. They’re often grainy and unsharp when the flash fires too, because the motive is too often outside the flash’ range.

The Pentax Optio W30 only works fully satisfactory in perfect light conditions, and that is not satisfactory, especially not when an earlier model performed so much better.

I’m not an expert on the innards of digital cameras, but to me it seems like Pentax has used a CCD chip that is not sensitive enough for the camera, probably to keep costs down, but by degrading the central element of the camera, whey have ruined it.

Do I need to add that I’m not as happy with the Pentax Optio W30 as I was with the older W10 model. If only I could have my old camera back.

I have bought a new camera, a Pentax Optio W30. I’ve been very happy with my W10, and frankly, I’m amazed it has survived the abuse I’ve put it through for as long as it did, so I have no problem getting another Pentax Optio.

Compared to the Optio W10, the Optio W30 has a slightly better resolution, its more waterproof (down to 3 m for 2 hours) and more dustproof. I’m a bit annoyed that it uses different batteries and different chargers, so my old spare batteries and chargers won’t work with it.

My camera is dead. It’s been a bit flaky for a while, the flash stopped working a while ago, and after my paddle with Francesco Ravasio on Friday it wouldn’t turn on anymore. I’ve tried everything, but no go.

It’s been a good friend from some 1500km paddling in the last year or so, taking thousands of photos.

I guess I’ll be looking for a replacement soon.

It can be a bit difficult shooting pictures when you’re sitting in your kayak, especially if there’s a bit of action around you, and it can be impractical having the camera dangling around your wrist when paddling or manoeuvring.

Fortunately, there are other ways to attach a camera on a kayak.

I have found some cheap suction cup camera mounts at actioncameras.co.uk and it works quite well. It can handle a weight of up to 3 kg, so the 155 g of my camera is no problem.

At times it can be difficult to get the suction cup to stick to the kayak. Most of the surface of the kayak is curved, and plastic kayaks often have a slightly rough surface which gives the suction cup a weaker grip, but once it is correct attached it can take quite a deal.

I have used mine in both wind and waves and it almost always stays put. Actually, it seems to stick better if it gets a bit of water every once in a while, but unfortunately the waves have a tendency to leave droplets on the lens.

Needless to say, always attach both camera and mount with strings or wires to the kayak. They can break lose and they can also come apart. I have seen both.

Finally, an example of the kind of pictures you can get by using an automatic shooting mode and a suction cup camera mount on the kayak:

If you want to take photos from your kayak, you’ll want a waterproof camera that’s easy to operate. I certainly wouldn’t recommend taking you expensive SLR

I have search a bit on the net, and apparently there are only two producers of simple waterproof digital cameras: Pentax and Olympus.

Pentax Optio W10

A 6 Mpixel camera, image size is 2816×2112 pixels. It has 3x optical zoom.

Waterproof until a depth of 1,5m for up to 30 minutes.

It can also record video in 640×480 pixels at 30 fps, e.g., almost TV quality.This is the camera I have.

Pentax Optio W20

A newer version of the Option W10, now 7 Mpixel, image size is up to 3072×2304 pixels. It has 3x optical zoom.

It is waterproof up to a depth of 1,5m for up to 30 minutes.

It can also record video in 640×480 pixels at 30 fps, e.g., almost TV quality.

Olympus µ 720SW

This is a 7 Mpixel camera, image size up to 3072 x 2304 pixels. It has 3x optical zoom.

It is waterproof up to a depth of 3m and can withstand a fall from a height of up to 1.5m.

It records video in 640×480 pixels at 15 fps.

Olympus µ 725 SW

A newver version of the Olympus µ 720SW. It is a 7 Mpixel camera with 3x optical zoom.

It is waterproof up to a depth of 5m, can withstand a fall from a height of up to 1.5m.

It records video in 640×480 pixels at 15 fps.