Rugged camera for Iraq?

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.

Pentax Optio 43WR http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/O43WR/O43A.HTM

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-U60 http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/sony_u60.html

If you want to be on the safe side, and film is an option, any incarnation of the Canon EOS 1 sure is made to withstand some adverse conditions.

Depending on your photographing skill, you might also consider an older manual focus SLR. They don't have that many electronic parts that could fail.

If you plan to take a lot of pictures with digital, you need some storage method for the digital data. Have you thought of that? Have you got a laptop computer for example that will withstand the heat? Can you burn some CDs with your images?

If I was to choose a consumer digicam, I would look at the Olympus C-8080, which seems quite rugged to me. The specification for max. operating temperature is probably on the safe side. The camera might work OK if you store it in the shade. But you may run into a problem with batteries that don't like the heat, and perhaps the display. You will definitely want to take at least one replacement battery with you. Those rechargable batteries fail sooner at higher temperature (fewer recharge cycles.)

LCD displays can look weird at high temperature.

Personally, I wouldn't carry a C8080WZ into dusty terrain like Iraq without protection. It's all-servo, unsealed lens would likely jam from dust pretty easily.

The Sony Cybershot DSC-U60 is a good contender. It's small, has a good prime lens with a wide field of view, and produces very good, 2Mpixel photos. A single charge on a pair of NiMH AAA batteries lasts a long time (200+ exposures), it powers up virtually instantly, and is water/dust-proof. A single 256M Memory Stick PRO card will store over 600 full resolution exposures ... fit a 512M card and you have a storage capacity for over a thousand pictures that fits nicely on your belt or in your pocket. The AAA NiMH batteries are cheap ... about $7 per pair ... small and light too, so it's easy to carry two/three sets and go a long time between having to charge them.

As to working at high temperatures, that's hard to say. I carry mine all the time, without regard to environment, temperature or weather conditions, and it hasn't failed yet in a year and 4500 photos. Some of those occasions were pretty hot days, and it was sometimes left in a bag in my car with the sun beating on it. I think it would do pretty well in the desert. Manufacturers specs are necessarily somewhat conservative to protect their butts. ;-)

Good luck! My thoughts and best wishes are with you and your colleagues as you head back to Iraq.

Godfrey

Hi,

I hope you find the right camera. Have you thought of a film camera? - I would suggest a Nikon F3 to hold out under the most adverse conditions. Many war correspondents still use them.

More important, thank you for service commitment. God bless, and a safe return home.

jeremy, I would also suggest a manual film camera, they have proved their resilance and duribility in harse conditions, more importantly be safe and we hope we can get you folks home soon and give back to the iraqis what is theres.

another vote for a classic rugged film camera, though processing may be difficult

good luck and godspeed

The dust is a big problem, an old, used manual camera that isn't a sealed, pro grade camera isn't going to do much better than a new, unsealed camera. You've got to keep it out of the dust and the dust out of it. Unless you are planning pro gear, go with the weather resistant unit, keep it clean, (like something else you'll be carrying), get a good, sealed carrying case for storage, and a couple of ziploc bags to go around it except in use, consider a Pelican box, or an ammo can, and avoid operating it under the worst dust conditions. Plenty of pictures coming back from guys and their cameras, just don't leave it out in the sun, etc.

Don't know about people jumping out of perfectly good airplanes....

As wonderful as a mechanical film camera might be, carrying a bunch of delicate film into desert heat has to be at least as vulnerable to damage as a ruggedized/waterproof digital camera. Carrying a bunch of film along as well is yet another load for a soldier to worry about.

At least with a digital camera, if the going gets rough and the camera itself gets broken, you can dump it and just stick the chewing gum sized storage card into a safe spot, which will almost certainly survive and provide you with several hundred useful photographs.

Nowadays, I would certainly prefer to have an appropriately ruggedized digital camera than a mechanical film camera for nasty conditions with the only assumption being that I need to have access to power and batteries occasionally.

Godfrey