So I’m cavorting – and yes, at my age that hurts – in the waves on the Riviera Maya, and I get the bright idea to capture the moment by balancing my camera on the edge of a beached boat for a timed picture.
You know what happens next; wave action converts expensive digital camera to waterlogged paperweight. The only upside is I get smart and pick up an Olympus 720sw, a sexy, shiny pint-sized 6oz wonder that is waterproof and shock resistant.
I could go on about features (7 megapixels, 3x optical zoom), picture quality (great), usability (excellent), and cool extras (beach/snow mode, slideshow with music). But other cameras can match those specs. What you won’t find is a competitor that’s waterproof to ten feet for one hour, and shock resistant to a five foot drop. As an added bonus, the waterproof design is highly dust-resistant as well.
And here’s the clincher: the 720sw not only survives underwater, it thrives. You can take pictures while submerged! The quality of these shots is great and opens up an amazing range of possibilities. The only downside is the xD format picture card, which limits capacity to 1GB.