Canon PowerShot D10

Pros: Great pictures and videos in and out of the water. Worked as advertised. Rugged, great picture quality.

Cons: Fat compared to most point and shoot digital cameras. View screen did not break with abuse, but did scratch. Has trouble in low light situations.

Summary: I bought this camera the day it came out for my trip to St. Thomas. The canon d10 delivered as promised. I took the camera out snorkeling at least 10 times. I was always careful to soak the camera in fresh water when I got back to the hotel room as described in the manual. This is to get any potential salt deposits off the camera.

As a result I have great pictures of Reef Squid & Octopus, Sea Turtles and multiple fish of various colors. Best of all are the shots of my 12 year old experiencing these things for the first time. The camera is fast to power up and ready to take a shot almost instantly. The controls are very easy to use while under water. Everything is done via buttons that are labeled clearly.

The kids took the camera with them to the pool and we now have very creative video of them jumping in and out of the water while having the camera strapped to their wrists. I would toss the camera in the snorkel gear bag and not think twice about it. It has a few battle scars from being tossed around, but this has not affected it at all.

While in the water I found I had to turn the screen brightness all the way up to see clearly. This helped to drain the battery faster. Even with that the battery lasted longer than I could in the water. I had bought a spare battery and the combination of the 2 made the camera last all day.

My only complaint would be the camera's ability in low light situations. It had a very hard time focusing and once it did the shots are not great. They lack the crispness and color that the day time and underwater shots had.

I am glad that I had made this purchase. The camera is everything I expected it to be. Kudos to Canon for making a great product and helping me preserve great memories from my trip.