Backup camera for jungle

In the near future I expect to be spending 10 days on a humanitarian project in

a very wet tropical country. Part of my responsibility will be documenting the

work we are doing. I must travel very light when I go to the country's interior.

My current kit consists of Olympus 300 and 330 dslr's (with several zoom and

prime lenses), an Oly 5060 and conversion lenses and a small D-560. I am

thinking that my primary kit will be the 330 and two lenses, probably the 45-54

Oly zoom and a very light but pretty good Sigma 55-200.

Current thinking is that I should get a weather resistant camera for backup. My

5060 and D-560 are not, and though I have a nice little umbrella I can attach to

my 300 or 330 (and my Oly lenses are splash-proof)for some protection, I am

willing to spring for a new little camera. Here's what I would prefer:

- weatherproofing

- 28mm capability, with zoom up to about 112mm (35mm equiv)

- AA's, with CRV3-R capability (or extremely long-lasting proprietary battery)

- 5-7 megapix ok

- decent flash

Any ideas? Any practical experience? Thanks much.

Ricoh has a camera that certainly <a href=http://www.dpreview.com/news/0605/06050801ricoh500g.asp>looks the part</a>, Ron. Not sure how widely available it is, however. <p>

There are also a couple very small Pentax p & s digitals, and I believe a couple from Olympus, that are said to be very weather resistant, and one or more of them is submersible, perhaps only to a few feet. All are smaller than the Ricoh.<p>

I'll be curious to hear what you ultimately get. Best of luck on the humanitarian project.

Forgot to add: someone I know has one of the little Pentax cameras. It has been used in connection with kayak instruction for stills and short videos. Seems to work, but I haven't really looked carefully enough to make critical comments about photo quality. I believe the one she has was a predecessor to <a href=http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07022103pentaxw30.asp>this camera</a>. The newer model claims it can be used underwater at 3 meters for 2 hours. <p>

I can't hold my breath quite that long. :-)

Ron, I LIVE in a very wet tropical country and while relentless humidity and/or rain can

take a number on your equipment, most problems only occur with prolonged exposure.

Since you will only be there for a few weeks, I wouldn't worry too much about it. In other

words, unless you use your camera openly in the rain, you are unlikely to experience any

problems.

At any rate, even countries that do experience intense rainy seasons do not necessarily

suffer from incessant rain. More likely, (depending on exact location and time of the year)

you will experience intermittent rain mostly in the afternoon. Some regions do have

months with incessant rain for at least some time of the year - for us that month is

October when it literally rains all day every day. You might want to check what the

situation is in the country that you are going to.

If you are unsure, try to find accomodation that has a/c and you will not have to worry at

all since the a/c will extract humidity from the room and your equipment. If that is not

possible, perhaps you can find a trustworthy location that is equipped accordingly where

you can safely store the equipment overnight or when not in use.

Other than that, dessicant it is - and daily "recharging" of the dessicant if possible.