Capt. Rob wrote:
Sorry, no pics; the OptioWP was in my pocket but I was too busy to
take it out!


Good little camera...I must pick one up soon and leave the others home.

I love the bulletproof nature of the OptioWP. I can slip it in my
pocket and not worry if I hop in the kayak of get splashed in a dink.
Its waterproof to 5 feet and has no external moving parts, so it's
also sand proof, etc. It definitely wins in "the camera that takes
the best picture is the one you brought with you" department.

However, I've been disappointed in the quality of the pics in
demanding situations. There is no viewfinder and the screen is washed
out by bright light. There have been times that I've just held it up
and hit the shutter, hoping for the best. Last week we sailed (yes
we were actually sailing!) through three pods of whales. These aren't
bad as snapshots:
http://www.sv-loki.com/whale1.jpg
http://www.sv-loki.com/whale2.jpg
http://www.sv-loki.com/whale3.jpg

but they don't compare to what I got with the Canon G5 3 years ago:
http://www.sv-loki.com/Whales/whales.html

One thing I keep forgetting to do with the Optio is to manually preset
the focus - that would have helped for the whale shots. And, although
the WP is still sold, there are three models newer.

And of course, the G5 (or any other camera I have) would not have been
there for:
http://www.sv-loki.com/IMGP0684_edited.jpg