Pentax Optio W90

I just bought a new Pentax Optio W90 with faculty development money (luckily...). This camera is claimed to be waterproof to 20 feet, and shockproof to 4 feet. I haven't used it under field conditions yet, although I probably will Wednesday afternoon at the Flint River east of town. I'm curious if anyone has experience with this camera, good or bad. It's a pumped-up point and shoot, not an SLR, so I know it won't make super high quality, professional output. My interest is purely in a camera that won't die if it enters the water (and I'd like to photograph banded darters, etc., underwater at some point). As always, thanks.

I just bought a new Pentax Optio W90 with faculty development money (luckily...). This camera is claimed to be waterproof to 20 feet, and shockproof to 4 feet. I haven't used it under field conditions yet, although I probably will Wednesday afternoon at the Flint River east of town. I'm curious if anyone has experience with this camera, good or bad. It's a pumped-up point and shoot, not an SLR, so I know it won't make super high quality, professional output. My interest is purely in a camera that won't die if it enters the water (and I'd like to photograph banded darters, etc., underwater at some point). As always, thanks.

I have also been looking at waterproof cameras. Here is a review which includes the Pentax W90 you might enjoy reading. ET http://reviews.photo...meras-pma-2010/

Yeah, I saw that review. I've encountered people who are unhappy with the picture quality, but then it's not an SLR, either, and these same people have never had the waterproof feature fail. So my understanding is that there are tradeoffs involved with this kind of photography, and that's fine for my purposes.

I don't have any personal experience with this model, but I am very interested in how it works out for you. I've been thinking about going this route for a while, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

All of the photos I have seen from the waterproof point and shoots are lacking in picture quality. I have been holding off hoping that Canon or Nikon would come out with a waterproof point and shoot with reasonable picture quality and a decent optical zoom range for outdoor photos.