olympus?

[LSchrow]

i decided to be a nice DW, & give DH ideas of what to get me for christmas
i have a very nice (as in pricey & a bit weighty) canon, but i would like something small & lightweight that i can just carry around in a purse or pocket (or baggallini ). a decent battery life would be nice, prefer at least 4x opt zoom, that still takes nice pix (i have a gazillion SD cards, but if i need to change media, i will ). it'll be used mostly for stills.
i looked at sooooooooooooo many that fit the bill in terms of size, but the olymus stylus is holding the edge b/c it is "weatherproof" (as in, will survive the daily WDW thunderstorm).
the 830 looks pretty good (5x opt zoom, but only 14.8mb internal mem), Dual digital image stabilization, & of course (hey, i'm female) comes in pretty colors .
820 has 5x opt, but has regular (not dual) DIS, higher internal at 47MB & a about $15 bucks cheaper than the 830.

sooooo, suggestions or recommendations?

TIA for any & all help!!

 

[Renysmom]

We have the 830 as our pocket camera. We used it a ton this past week.. Very happy with the pics, especially the Osborne Lights photos. Will post some soon.

 

[Groucho]

Olympus and Pentax seem to be the main players in weatherproof point-n-shoot cameras, and I'm not sure that there's a clear winner, but a few people here have the Pentax waterproofs and seem fairly happy.

I think that with any of them, you give up a little bit of quality compared to a non-weatherproof one, so I probably wouldn't get one unless that feature is fairly important to you.

 

[Gdad]

Pentax W20/W30 is a great little waterproof camera. I have had both for 'work' and they always find their way to Disney also.

 

[pyrxtc]

How about going with just the 3x zoom and checking out the Olympus 790 SW. It is not only weatherproof but also waterproof. I nought one when it first came out and I am loving it. Of course I am an Olympus camera lover anyways but I have taken this one in the ocean and pool and it had been dropped and it fits anywhere. best Buy had a great price on them recently and so does B & H Photo.

 

[LSchrow]

How about going with just the 3x zoom and checking out the Olympus 790 SW.

very nice camera pyrxtc i just have a hard time giving up that 5x zoom (& of course the dual DIS so i can use it to its full potential ).

so i caved & bought the 830 (along with an xD card & case).
this will be my first olympus (can't think of any other brand i haven't owned ) so i'm VERY happy to hear there are many happy O owners!!

would love to see the photos renysmom!
& great pic, gdad!

ty for all your help!