Best WP small digital camera?

I just picked up a Fuji Finepix A900. It does NOT have a viewfinder, but the LCD is easy to see even when bright out. It's 4X optical, 9MP, uses SD or xD (yeah – either!), and the biggest selling point for me it uses 2 AA batteries. Fairly small and around 6 ounces.

Olympus,Pentax and Sanyo all sell weatherproof cameras ( not a coincidence,BTW). None of them have a viewfinder and they all use proprietary batteries. The Olympus also use XD not SD.
The Ricoh 500G does have an optical VF and takes SD and is waterproof but is much larger and heavier than most. Like the others it is powered by Li Ion batt . The Pentax Optio of a few years ago had everything you wanted except that it was a 4 MP camera.
That is it apart from using a bag ( Ewa Marine) or an sport/underwater housing.
Franco

http://canoekayak.com/gear/accessories/waterproofdigitalcameras/

The pentax optio now comes in 6mp and is good to 10 feet for a half hour. I carry the old 5mp. If you get one turn off all sounds and carry an extra battery in order to take all the available photos on a 512k flash card. I like the camera. and you never worry about getting it wet.

I recently got the Olympus Stylus 770wp. Overall the performance is middle of the road or slightly better than most for that size/ 7.1 Megapixel camera- Which is pretty good/OK for non professional trail use.

Large viewfinder brightness is pretty good and I could see it Ok in the sunlight, much better than my old Nikon L4.

The movie mode is pretty good and the audio seems good for a point n shoot. Maybe some MLD product movie clips in the future!

I mainly got it for the 33ft waterproofness (best of any non housed point n' shoot and for the high shock protection- 5ft' drop and you can stand (220lbs) on it specs say.

I don't feel I will have to baby it and if I let my little kids use it I won' t sweat that either.

On a river tube trip with the kids through class 2+ I just wore it on a neck leash. Interestingly, splashed water drops on the lens seem to roll off quick so there is not nearly as much drop spot/blur in the shot as you would get with a 35mm in the rain or when going from underwater to above.

I would suggest everyone try the inexpensive clear LCD covers for thier cameras to prevent scratches.

couple of months ago I conducted a quick test on these type cameras to see which one had the most visible screen outdoor. The Olympus 770 came out on top (according to my eyes…)

Good advice about the screen protector, same have used clear tape but it can damage the screen when you peel it off. Magic tape (3M) comes off without a residue but it is a bit opaque.

As mentioned above, turn off all sounds . I get about 20% (!!!) more shots with the Optio without them.

Ron,
for the Net (particularly for people like me that still have dial-up) the 770 movie clip should be fine.
I could be teaching Grandma to suck eggs here, but just in case…
The 770 uses AVI (Motion JPEG) compression, less aggressive and more edit friendly than MPEG4, however it is better to avoid any movement such as camera movement (use a tripod) and panning or tilting, or do it very slowly. Also avoid grass,water and foliage, they take up a lot of data and reduce the resolution of the rest of the picture. Best to shoot on wide and close to the subject.
Avoid windy days, the sound pick up outdoor is not very good. Best to just get some ambient sound and do a voice over on editing.

Seems Canon's small digital cameras have viewfinders & some can use AA batteries.BUT I can't find the "splashproof" ones on Canon's website.

Eric

None of the Canon's to my knowledge, are splashproof, however, I have used a Digital Elph for years in all weathers. No problems, apart from wiping rain droplet's off the lens while in use. If I were doing a lot of river running or packrafting, a WP or "splashproof" digicam would feel like more of a must-have to me. And i get to use a camera with an optical viewfinder, too.

Full-disclosure—Elph kept in a baggie during storage on backpacks. That way, during an inadvertent slip during a stream crossing, there would be no issues.

I looked on the Olympus site. I like Olympus' quality. (I had an OM-1 in another life).

No viewfinderin the 770 SW but otherwise TOUGH and backpacker proof. It had a good screen according to them and one poster here. Hmmm… Maybe. Hope COSTCO sells 'em. I love their "forever, for any reason" return policy.

Eric

Have been very happy with Olympus Stylus cameras. Compact, weather-resistant if not completely waterproof, and high-quality lenses. Not the absolute lightest but not heavy either.

I have owned the 720sw now for awhile and am completely happy with it. It has gone with me from Splash Lagoon waterpark to the Loyalsock Trail and never missed a beat. Image quality is very good and build quality is excellent.