The best digital camera for travel reviewing

The best digital camera for travel reviewing

To choose the best digital camera for travel,we usually think of model electronics that are able to endure severe weather conditions. In fact though, we can just obtain  a  camera  that is off road and waterproof.

As an example once when I was on of my trips to the countryside, I found little amounts of dirt and sand inside my Nikon Coolpix 2100 cameras view- finder, even though  it was just the second time I had taken it with me there, and as much as I like the nikon Coolpix 2100 , I decided that it is not suitable for this type of conditions .

So my problem here was to find a digital camera which doesn’t fear bad weather condition and some rough , and I didn’t want an expensive model just one that would be  not more than 300 dollars.  The Pentax Optio 33WR, Casio G. Bros GV-20,  Sony DSC-U60 and Olympus mju-400   were some of the cameras that came to my mind that were  near this  price range.

Our first 2 cameras fail through because they don't have optical zoom and the shooting quality of their 2-megapixel matrix was not of a a high quality.  The Olympus mju-400  model passed  the approval due to its 4-mega pixels matrix,yet the basic characteristic  features of Pentax are better. Its exposure are in the range of 4-1/2000 seconds versus the Olympus range of 1/2-1/1000 seconds. Its screen is 1.6 inches compared to the 1.5 inches of Olympus, with a bit of better parameters of focus distance. It is possible to use 2  AA type batteries with the Pentax and make it more easy and convenient for shooting,  as for Olympus you have to use the network to charge it up. The format of the Pentax  Sd memory card is more wides pre aded too then the xd-picture card of the Olympus, and fits very easy to a pocket PC.

Nevertheless, the Pentax won in the end during the time when both of the cameras were examined. One outstanding aspect of the Pentax 33 WR camera  is  its lens, when  we use optical zoom does, it does  not leave its protected case and does not leave the dimensions too. The Pentax camera is like  a cube that is separated into 3 parts and on each  of its sides there are rubber protectors. The camera battery and the crossing point section covers are  protected constantly by the rubber sealants. When  the camera is protected by its seventh class of  the standard JIS, it could stay than without any consequences up to 30 minutes on a small depth.. Undoubtedly, we aren’t going to test it, but we feel already that  the Pentax has all the right functions needed.

A person can come up with a lot of things in times, for example while on an expedition in the forest,it started to rain incessantly,and while other travelers cameras were put in covers to protect them from the rain , I  kept staying in the dirty and took pictures without a hassle  . I even dropped my camera several times in the dirt tracks on the  muddy road but I just picked it up and continued to take pictures after  rinsing  it with  water from the bottle and  wiping the camera with a napkin, this shows how useful that the cameras seventh class of standard JIS  really is.

An  important fact  of this camera is the time it uses to prepare for shooting, or better said the time that passes from the moment we switch the camera on  to  the moment when we are ready  to take a photo.  At one time  I  watched how a  Land Rover was driving into a   deep mud pool, immediately  I pushed  the On&Off button  and the camera was ready to  shoot right away   and the photo was taken successfully. The Pentax 33 WR   manufacturer say the cameras   readiness to shoot is about  time 1.5 seconds, but to me it appeared  that for  this time it tends to be zero.

The  management of this camera is pretty simple too is , but it requires some time to adapt to the features. Like the  Navigating pad or  the button of the menu and the 2 buttons to switch modes.  The buttons are positioned so that it makes it  hard  to press them if you are wearing gloves.  I  still remember how easy it was to  handle the Nikon Coolpix management  and even wear winter gloves  while using it .

However there is also the option to choose the program mode (P) and just  shoot, shoot and shoot some more or  zoom in&out,  few times to switch-off flash. This mode is great for people such as Journalists when they just want to shoot to get a successful photo, and got  no time to install  parameters of  their shootings. For me personally,  around 90 % of the pictures that  I take, I use the program mode and wouldn’t be surprised if the other owners of this camera would understand me about this issue.

Apparently around 80 % of the photos become successful and it’s important to just choose  the photo that has a good content.  People who are Fans of photographing insects & flowers would be satisfied  with the opportunity of the macro shooting mode: the minimum distance of the camera to the object is equal to one centimeter,  but as for myself I like to  take pictures of big objects.

Additional framing can be done at home with Photoshop. Indeed, my pictures are not comparable to the ones that were taken  with a reflex camera and a better lens, but the Pentax 33 WR camera can fit easily in the  pocket of my jacket  and doesn’t need  a special case with it. Oh, and I forgot to mention about the cool  ‘comment the picture’ function, that lets you record your voice or any sound to add to the picture that you have taken.

There is also the possibility to use this camera as a high grade digital Dictaphone, I was able to record almost 8 hours of sound on a 256mb card. You can make movies too with a 320×240  – 160×240 resolution with sound ‘about 15 frames per second’. The size of the movie in  the format MOV is as well limited only by the size of the memory card used.
So lets look at the shooting  and installations modes. It seems that I  used fewer than half of the installations that are possible.  This is from the time when the pictures for my friend already filled the entire disk.

The Pentax 33 WR can shoot in 4 resolutions (1024×768,2048×1536, 640×480 and 1600×1200) plus 3 quality degrees (raised,well,the best,).  Its white balance could be set to different positions (auto, shadow/overcast, daylight, manual installation, luminescent illumination and artificial illumination.
You could also decrease or increase the exposure time  to add some special effects, or choosing the preference to switch off the digital zoom (4x) which  with the optical zoom gives the maximum zoom x11.2. There are nine subject programs to choose from with this camera (landscape, night portrait night shooting, portrait snow and beach, sunset, flowers, fireworks and regular everyday shooting.
It is even possible to do panoramic shooting, but the camera on its own does not have the option to for joining images  together .  But  this mode is helpful  to take an amount of photos that then could be put  together on a computer. The sensibility of the camera is set either manually or automatically ‘it is equivalent ISO50- ISO100- ISO200- ISO 400), to measure the TTL-exposure you  use those following modes (evaluative, center weighed average or spot.  The zone of focus is likewise either wide or spot.

There’s also the mode of uninterrupted shooting so that you would be able to capture a successful moment.  The manufacturer doesn’t state  the timing between 2 photo shoots, but as it appears it is seems to be approximately just about 2 photos per second.  There is the possibility to use the continuous shooting mode while taking pictures until  your memory card is full.  During the photo shooting while  you use a mode of serial shooting, a series of four pictures is done and those will be kept as uniform files.

Using Interval shooting would allow you to create a set quantity of photos with an equal interval time between them with an , and the photo shooting can start at a predetermined moment. Different from the 2 previous modes here it’s possible for us  to use the flash. For some reasons   reason this function can be linked with the opportunity of espionage.
The camera can be disguised and set while  the time is determined. The important  thing is that the cameras alarm clock must not go off or  otherwise the camera would be found  and you will be busted, but enough with the spy talks i am hope nobody would ever be caught in this situation anyways.

Whoever that chooses to buy this camera would be the active adventurous type of person who likes to take photos in the great outdoors and not be afraid to get dirty sometimes. Recently when I went mountain climbing I took it with me and at the attitude of 4100 meters above sea level things aren’t that easy, and the Pentax appears to be  well adapted for the cold , because ts face did not get frost-bitten at all (unlike my face)  and to my surprise while I was reading its manual guide I found out that it says the temperature range to use it is from 0-40 but I believe at that time it went even lower then zero degrees and I just hope it wont have any future affect on my cameras performance.

The Pentax has a great design to work with any kind of support and  is as well designed to work with a support, and through the 4 seconds exposure its  lens with the aperture ratio of  f/2.8-f/3.9 will take the needed amount of the information with a  darker enough conditions of shooting. Surely, I hoped that I could get a greater time of exposure, but for taking pictures at night in the city or  winter woods forest  in the headlights during an off roads car  ride this exposure, certainly, would be sufficient enough. The cameras support  is also great for shooting by using  the automatic release, which  allows you to shoot in just  10 seconds after you press the button.

The only  recommendation that I would give to someone who plans to  to  own a Pentax 33 WR is careful treatment while   transporting it, I know it might sound  inconsistent, but the cameras objects are not  protected by anything. There is no protection cover for it and there isn’t also any chance for using a neutral optical filter.  To carry the camera around in a rag cover can be enough.  As a matter of fact , this camera’s resistance is pretty high and strong against any deformations, it has strong  . Plastic details that are adjusted  so well that if you squeeze the camera with your hands  there wont be any  scrape at all.

It is also better to get a charger with the camera accumulators  because even  with the most expensive alkaline batteries, you won’t  be able to probably take more than 50 pictures.