Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 (silver)

Pros: Waterproof/shockproof capabilties. Pictures are better than on the Olympus "tough" options. HD Video recording.

Cons: Not as waterproof/shockproof as the eqaully price olympus "tough" cameras.

Summary: I am not a camera expert and I really don't understand what all the bells and whistles do. I just want my pictures to look decent and I wanted a camera that I could take pretty much anywhere I went. That narrowed it down to the Olympus "Tough" cameras or this one. I didn't like the Canon tough version. While the Olympus' were better for their shockproof/waterproof capabilities, I choose the panasonic for it's picture quality. While not as good as other point and shoots out there for this price, it was way better than the olympus versions. The panasonic also have HD video recording which works really well.

While it would have been nice to have the "tougher" camera, I would really be using it mostly as a regular camera and only ocasionally in the water. Even then, i don't think I would be taking a camera with me any deeper then 10 ft. So bottom line, I thought that this was the best waterproof/shockproof camera for my needs: a regular camera that can withstand occasional abuse/water.

Updated on Sep 1, 2009

Having the camera now for about 5 months I thought I would go back and see what I initially wrote. Everything still applies and I was surprised how dead on the review was. No complaints for me except for what CNET pointed out about some indoor pics coming out yellowish unless you change a setting. The IA mode is really nice for auto switching between "scene" modes.