I have a Dry-Bag that is a little smaller than my day pack. If I'm in rough water or a heavy all day rain, I'll put the camera in the bag.

99% of the time I keep it in shirt pocket or Napoleon pocket of my Windshirt. I like the zip-lock becasue it protects from sweat/ condensation but my camera is readily accessible.

I've only dumped 1 time and that was in a true solo. That Souris Q-16 tandem is stable especially with a load. I'll trade that stability for speed in a solo anytime, at least for the way I travel and the size of my packs and gear load.

I need to get a digital waterproof camera. I have a Nikon 35 mm that is/was great, but it's heavy and only has a 90 mm zoom. It's now my car camping camera.

With all the new waterproof digitals and the expanding features, I need one and sooner rather than later. Like cars, lot's of choices, hard to decide.

solotripper wrote on Jan 26^th, 2015 at 9:37pm:

Rather than a ziplock try a Dry Bag a 1 or 1&1/2 liter
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I have taken my camera for a plunge 2 times and not gotten a drop on it.  Role the top down a revolution or 2 and fold the top down so it is about the middle of the camera and snap the rolled top around the camera.

azalea wrote on Jan 26^th, 2015 at 5:50pm:


Important to remember the size of the chip that those megapixels are measured on is important. Thus a full frame 20mp captures much more detail and dynamic range than a 20mp point and shoot. Think of it like film size, the chip on a point and shoot is tiny compared to that in a DSLR.
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At $55 I wouldn't call it cheap plastic
I had a similar dry-type bag years back. It was no-where that price, but similar in design.
Had the same problems you referenced and I ended just putting in away in the bin of looked good/performed poorly outdoor gear.

I took my point and shoot Samsung this spring/fall and it's not waterproof, so I just kept in a small zip-lock in my shirt pocket.
It never got wet thru heavy rain, but it obviously wouldn't survive a complete submersion.

One think I bought and really liked and will use from now on regardless of camera type is a CHUMS brand neck lanyard made of Paracord.

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It's long enough the camera can be held in different positions but short enough that it doesn't hang down and tangle in things. I kept my camera in my shirt pocket 24/7 which made it easy to get unexpected pics.

I tried something like that a few years back for my little point and shoot.  A real pain in the ass.  If it gets wet you have water stains that affect the photo plus I found that the integrity of the lens was compromised.  What's the point of getting a camera with a good quality lens and then putting a piece of cheap plastic in front of it?  My $.02.

I'm now considering one of these for either my Lumix bridge camera or my Canon DSLR:

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This christmas I learned two things. First I took a number of my better pictures and decided to make 8x10 prints of them.  I also decided to put them on a thumb drive so I could display them on me TV.  In both cases, I needed to crop them (but differently for the two mediums).  The lesson I learned which is another difference from film, do not OVER-zoom.  Take pictures bigger than what you might otherwise and crop later.   And for my eye, the technology has advanced to the point where you have plenty of pixels to spare except for anyone planning on creating HUGE prints (even an ultra HD TV only uses 3840 × 2160 pixels).

The second thing I learned was the height/width pixels on my wife's new point and shoot are twice what my old "good" camera has.  So while I may have 10x zoom and she only has 5x, she can take a picture a 5x zoom and crop it to what I took at 10x zoom and her pic which have the same detail as mine.

I agree with the posters who use a waterproof point and shoot. I have an Olympus TG1 and have used it for 2 years on several canoe trips.  It has gotten wet a lot but no problems. It is supposed be sealed to 30 ft, but I have not submerged it for pictures yet.  What is nice about the TG series is that you can separately buy a teloscopic lens and a fish eye lens. I have the former and it is OK but a hassle to put on.  The zoom on these cameras go to about 5 or 6 x.  Sarge

Jimmar, if you're looking at buying a Pelican case make sure you get the right size.  The 1200 will just fit my FZ-200 so anything bigger is going need a bigger case.  I called Pelican with the dimensions of my camera - I originally wanted to try squeezing into an 1150, one size down - and they really helped me out.

I have the Panasonic/Lumix FZ-35 which I believe is a predecessor of the FZ-200. They are very similar. I've used it for the past 3 years on my trips, its a great camera. This year I had a little windfall and decided I wanted a "true" DSLR so I bought a Canon T5i. So far I think the FZ-35 is still my fav, but I haven't become familiar enough with the new Canon to make a valid judgement, but it is bigger and heavier and more expensive. I had always used a little waterproof roll top fanny pack and an extra ziplock as a camera bag, but my Canon won't fit.

I also keep a small point-and-shoot (I have a few different ones I've collected) in my PFD pocket. Only one has a view finder, which I like for bright sunny days, but it now has a small blur on the image.

I'm also looking at the Pelican 1200. Looks pretty good for under $40.

Good luck with the night sky photography. Last year was the first year I was up late enough on a clear night to see the stars. They were incredible.