bruce_jackson2

<p>For a long time I've been using digital for snapshots and film for "photography." My first digital was a Sony Mavica that shot 640x480 and write directly to 3.5" floppies and I upgraded every few years to better point-and-shoot digital cameras. 2 years ago I decided it was time to go all digital (well, I might use film for something special). I think the future of digital photography is smaller sensors. Sensor technology is constantly improving so I don't think we will need a lot of real estate to get the quality we want. I see full frame and APS size sensors as anachronisms. Due to needing room for the mirror SLR lenses are needless complicated; by necessity wide SLR lenses are projection lenses. The narrow flange distance in mirrorless simplifies lens development. To me the m43 format seemed to be the best compromise between size and quality. I ended up with a Panasonic DMC-G3. I did spend some time scaling its learning curve but now I'm quite happy with my results. I'm even enjoying working on my images on the computer and don't miss chemicals and darkrooms at all. My big concern now is the viability of m43. Now that Sony owns most of Olympus and Olympus is supplying lenses to Sony will Olympus jump ship and leave Panasonic as the standard bearer of m43? I have to admit that every time I look at gear at m43 I wonder if my body and lenses will be orphans one day soon.</p>

I've never been in Iraq. I do live in Texas where temperatures over 100F are not uncommon though so I'll toss in my $.02.

 

First off, are you dead set on digital or is film still an option?

 

My go-everwhere never-let-me-down camera is an old Olympus XA. I know that I have left in in my car on hot days where no doubt the temperature inside was much higher than 100F and it always worked when I whipped it out.

 

I have a Canon Digital Elph that I bought as a replacement for the old XA. While the Elph looks tough it doesn't hold up. After a few drops I had to wind tape around it to hold it together and keep the CF door shut. My old XA has been dropped more times than I could count.

 

The sand is another issue. An underwater camera sounds like a good idea. I never used one but Lomo makes a water resistant camera called the Frogeye. They are cheap enough that you could pick up a few as spairs. I'd test them before taking any important pictures because sometimes the QC of Lomo's are a little dicey.