I used a new camera on my last trip and I love it.  It is a Panasonic Lumix DCM-ZS20.  It fits in SealLine 2.5L roll down dry bag. I carry it in my shirt pocket.  It has a X20 optical zoom that takes it from about 24 mm to about 480mm.  The image stabilization works well. When that moose walks by you can not only shoot HD video but at the same time take still shots. I also purchased an extra battery and the 2 batteries easily got me through a 10 day trip but I do not set in camp and view the pictures on the camera. I have the GPS OFF.  No you cant put maps in it and replace the Garmin yet. I am not a fan of the touch screen but everything is available without using the touch screen.
MagicPaddler

Glad to hear you like the new camera!
I picked up a new camera recently too. It was a toss up between Lumix TS3 and Finepix XP100. I ended up with the XP100 to save some cash. At this point I'm still uncomfortable with it but hopefully it's just me.
That you can shoot video and take still shots at the same time with the ZS20 is a great option.

All-in-one fish finder (bluetooth ducer) camera, gps full of maps (and the PCD) sat phone w/ internet access.... Santa, are you listening? Oh, and chip in my brain so I wouldn't need to read the manual would be nice too buddy.

Lots of very cool stuff out there these days isn't there?

db wrote on Jul 5^th, 2012 at 6:33am:

Oh, and chip in my brain so I wouldn't need to read the manual would be nice too buddy.

That's the ticket !

I like the blue tooth idea.  Put the part with the GPS and battery in a water proof case in my pack and take my right eye out and replace it with the camera lens.  Wire the display directly up to the optic nerve.  That camera can see much better than my eyes can any way. Ya and add some nonvolatile memory too.

My pics of this year's trip were taken with a FujiFilm HS20EXR (a discontinued model which I picked up relatively cheap).  It has a 30X manual zoom to which I added a Sony teleconverter to push the zoom out to 50X.  It shoots 16mp stills and movies at 1080p (at the same time if you want).  I was very happy with the panorama feature also.  Its classed as "bridge" camera -- between a pocket camera and a DSLR.  I'm still learning how to use it (wasn't happy with my waterfall shots even with an ND filter add-on, even though I was able to produce some nice shots pre-trip).

Definitely not something you stick in your pocket (which is the principle reason I didn't wind up with any fish pictures), but I did drop it into a dry bag which I attached to a thwart while paddling.

dd

Wow I read a review of the HS20EXP. That is quite a camera also.  I wanted something that would fit in my pocket so the one I have is a good one for me.

Magicpaddler wrote on Jul 6^th, 2012 at 12:39pm:

Wow I read a review of the HS20EXP. That is quite a camera also.  I wanted something that would fit in my pocket so the one I have is a good one for me.

While I do like the camera a lot, there are a few things I find a bit "tweaky."  The oddest one is that when you turn the camera sound off (e.g., shutter clicks, selection beeps, etc.) you also turn the flash off.  My reaction to that one was "HUH?".  The second issue is that in EXR mode, the auto focus tends to work a bit too hard.  Lastly, the lag time between shots is a tad long, so if you expect that you want more than one, you probably need to set it to continuous shot mode.  This lag caused me to miss a beautiful eagle in flight shot ... I'd just pulled the trigger on a "perch" shot when he took flight ... and I sat there waiting for "refresh."  Drat!

dd

I have 2 memory cards that fit my camera and I noticed a much longer delay between shots with one of them than the other.  Don’t know what you are using for a memory card but a fast one may affect how long between shots.

Magicpaddler wrote on Jul 6^th, 2012 at 4:50pm:

I have 2 memory cards that fit my camera and I noticed a much longer delay between shots with one of them than the other.  Don’t know what you are using for a memory card but a fast one may affect how long between shots.

Doubtful that its related to the card used since I was using a Class 10 (minimum 20 mb/s tranfer rate) one.  BTW:  This "refresh" lag was actually listed in one of the reviews I read, but I bought the camera anyway. 

I was just a little quick on changing from continuous to single shot just before the eagle took flight.  Then because it takes just a little time for the camera to focus, my quick shutter release resulted in a blurry shot.

dd

It may be just that I am old-fashioned, but I hate that almost all point-and-shoots no longer have viewfinders.  The point and shoots can easily fit in a pocket and now have good zooms and resolution, but it is hard to find ones with more than just an LCD screen.  I would think there are enough of us who want a viewfinder that someone would make a decent point and shoot with one. 

azalea wrote on Jul 7^th, 2012 at 1:58am:

It may be just that I am old-fashioned, but I hate that almost all point-and-shoots no longer have viewfinders.  The point and shoots can easily fit in a pocket and now have good zooms and resolution, but it is hard to find ones with more than just an LCD screen.  I would think there are enough of us who want a viewfinder that someone would make a decent point and shoot with one.

I'm always on the lookout for a All Weather point and shoot camera. There are some nice ones out there with GPS and all the HD features that outdoor people love.

In the reviews the lack of viewfinders is always a sore subject especially with wild life/action photographers.
I think they're might be a few out there, but to initially lock in on a subject, especially at a distance, a viewfinder is a nice thing to have.

I'm surprised some sharp company hasn't come up with a folding one that gives you an option.

Something I took with the little shirt pocket camera zoomed in as fare as the optical zoom would go. Click on the picture to see the video.

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