1. Introduction 2. Canon PowerShot D20 3. Canon PowerShot D20 (con't) 4. Nikon Coolpix AW110 5. Nikon Coolpix AW110 (con't) 6. Olympus Tough TG-2 7. Olympus Tough TG-2 (con't) 8. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 9. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 (con't) 10. Pentax WG-3 GPS 11. Pentax WG-3 GPS (con't) 12. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 13. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 (con't) 14. Real World Tests (Daylight) 15. Real World Tests (Portrait) 16. Real World Tests (Low Light) 17. Image Quality Compared (JPEG) 18. Conclusion and Recommendations

2013 Waterproof Camera Roundup

One of the fastest growing segments in the digital camera market is compact, rugged cameras. Five years ago you had just two manufacturers selling waterproof cameras (Olympus and Pentax). In 2013, every major manufacturer is now producing at least one waterproof/rugged model.

That makes choosing the right rugged camera a bit of challenge. To aid in your search, we recently tested six cameras in this class, and we'll summarize the results in this article. The contenders include the Canon PowerShot D20, Nikon Coolpix AW110, Olympus TG-2, Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5/FT5, Pentax WG-3 GPS, and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30.

The following chart will give you a quick overview of how these six cameras compare in terms of features and specs:

As you can see, no camera has 'everything', but some come pretty close. While none of the cameras really 'wowed' us, there are a couple worth considering.

This article will give you a quick overview of each camera and how they performed, followed up by our final thoughts and recommendations. Head on to the next page to begin!

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision Optical at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This article is Copyright 2013 and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author.

1. Introduction 2. Canon PowerShot D20 3. Canon PowerShot D20 (con't) 4. Nikon Coolpix AW110 5. Nikon Coolpix AW110 (con't) 6. Olympus Tough TG-2 7. Olympus Tough TG-2 (con't) 8. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 9. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 (con't) 10. Pentax WG-3 GPS 11. Pentax WG-3 GPS (con't) 12. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 13. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 (con't) 14. Real World Tests (Daylight) 15. Real World Tests (Portrait) 16. Real World Tests (Low Light) 17. Image Quality Compared (JPEG) 18. Conclusion and Recommendations

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Canon PowerShot D20 Waterproof Compact Camera●

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5K Waterproof Compact Camera (Black)●		Buy on GearShop
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5A Waterproof Compact Camera (Blue)●		Buy on GearShop
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5D Waterproof Compact Camera (Orange)●		Buy on GearShop
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5S Waterproof Compact Camera (Silver)●		Buy on GearShop

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Olympus Tough TG-2 iHS Waterproof Compact Camera (Black)●	$359.00	Buy on GearShop
Olympus Tough TG-2 iHS Waterproof Compact Camera (Red)●	$359.00	Buy on GearShop

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Nikon COOLPIX AW110 Waterproof Compact Camera (Black)●		Buy on GearShop
Nikon COOLPIX AW110 Waterproof Compact Camera (Blue)●		Buy on GearShop
Nikon COOLPIX AW110 Waterproof Compact Camera (Camouflage)●		Buy on GearShop
Nikon COOLPIX AW110 Waterproof Compact Camera (Orange)●		Buy on GearShop

Comments

Total comments: 119 1 2

By tiberius_dinu (2 months ago)

I have bought the Lumix TS5 and I'm very pleased with it. The image quality is as good as it can be in this class but would not care more about. I do shoot Canon 6D but I can not take in the water or running or snorkeling. The video is as advertised and it looks awesome and that was one of te reasons I opted for TS5. I had no issues with the wifi and it connects smoothly to my ipad, iPhone and the LG android I'm using. Neat to be able to control the zoom and the settings in the camera remotely.

Thanks for the reviews I did follow them and it did help me.

Cheers

T

2 upvotes

By PicOne (2 months ago)

Would have liked to have seen some mention/discussion of options out there using dedicated or aftermarket housings in conjunction with standard compact cameras. Ie. Can u get a better performing camera + housing for not much price difference?

1 upvote

By Mikhail Tal (2 months ago)

This is the review you should have made to begin with instead of giving every single rugged camera its own review. Why do you assign these cameras for review rather than the many mirrorless cameras you have skipped or may be about to skip over like the GF5, G5, GF6, G6, E-PL5, NEX-5R, NEX-3N, just off the top of my head. Not a single one of your six individual rugged reviews got even 100 comments. I guarantee you that any one of the cameras I mentioned would get more than 100 comments if it was still the current model.

5 upvotes

By Barney Britton (2 months ago)

We don't judge success by comments - if we did, every other news story would be about Adobe Creative Cloud.

16 upvotes

By Mikhail Tal (2 months ago)

Simon Joinson himself said that you judge success by traffic and I'm sure there's a strong correlation between number of comments and number of page views.

Comment edited 19 seconds after posting

5 upvotes

By Timmbits (2 months ago)

bah! come on!
no harm was done.

0 upvotes

By Mikhail Tal (2 months ago)

We're talking about cameras that should have been reviewed and weren't, not whatever your definition of "harm" is.

0 upvotes

By monkeybrain (2 months ago)

I doubt there is a correlation between comments and page views. Most page views surely come from people who are not registered members of the site. DPReview reviews cameras that will generate more page hits, so why budget DSLRs are reviewed in a timely fashion and also consumer friendly cams like these rugged cameras (summer's almost over though, these are a bit late I'd say).

0 upvotes

By Mikhail Tal (2 months ago)

If you honestly think that a review with 50 comments and a preview with 700 comments are equally likely to have the most page views between the two, you are completely delusional. More likely is that you just don't understand correlation very well.

2 upvotes

By AbrasiveReducer (2 months ago)

Barney makes a good point. A doorstop from Nikon will generate 10 times more comments than an unusual or outstanding camera from a small fry like Ricoh.

0 upvotes

By Mikhail Tal (2 months ago)

Nikon Coolpix AW110 Review: 77 comments
Ricoh GR Review: 214 comments
Panasonic GX7 First Impressions Review: 702 comments (and counting)

Want to try again?

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 29 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

By Barney Britton (2 months ago)

Mikhail - please stop it.

0 upvotes

By Mikhail Tal (2 months ago)

Can you be more specific? What I've done here is to refute people's factually inaccurate statements, is that not allowed? Or if I have myself said anything inaccurate in this chain of replies, please explain that as well. Thank you.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Total comments: 119 1 2