Looking for a camera/camcorder

[godmodd5 0]

Im looking for the the best digital camera under $500 for me and a friend.
Has to be digital and have sound.
Must be rugged and withstand heat, cold, humidity and dust.

Perferably have a customizible exposure time.
SLR would be handy.

I'm also getting a personal camera for myself so i'm also looking for the best $200 camera.

[Bach2Baroque 168]

Goto dpreview.com if you wanna see in-depth reviews, and whats best for you.

[Skink000 0]

@godmodd5: 

Must be rugged and withstand heat, cold, humidity and dust.quote>

will realy cramp your style.

I have a Canon S1 IS that has been replaced by the Canon S2 IS.

My S1 IS is a great camera and I wish I had the S2 IS (Canon's page here). IMHO this camera will do everything and do it extremely well. Canon optics are first rate and this is the first lens that I have seen that will focus down to 0", (got to be careful not to scratch lens so put a UV filter on it).

It has a fantastic move mode with stereo sound so plan on as large a memory card as you can afford. If you can find one in a store where you live get them to let you see the manual for it. In the back it will give every detail you can imagine and then some, such as how much movie on what size memory card and how many pictures at what resolution on what size card. The manual that came with my S1 IS is very detailed.

IS stands for Image Stabilization, it will not totally do away with a tri pod but your daylight shots at full optical zoom (digital zoom degrades photo's by enlarging pixels), 12X, will not need one.

The lens is equivalent to a 36mm - 432mm zoom on a 35mm camera and does macro to boot.

You can set camera on auto and let it handle settings or control it any way you want.

The S2 IS is 5 megapixals where my S1 IS is 3.2 and I can print 8.5 X 11 edge to edge crystal clear photo quality prints. (I have a Canon i9900 photo printer that will print 13" X 19" edge to edge photo quality that looks as good as hi res film)

Search on line for price, I found one here $305.00, what I payed for my S1 IS two years ago.

To work around the rugged thing I use a harness strap put out by the National Audubon. It is adjustable straps that stretch and hold the camera up to your chest so it can not swing or flop around. You can get one here for a good price, $20. I have seen others but they had narrow straps and were not built as well.

As for heat, cold, humidity and dust, well a good case will help with the dust thing, you would want one any way. The heat, cold and humidity will be determined by how extreme you get, for cold you could wear the camera under you coat (maybe, some conditions might cause lens to fog). You will have to check the camera specs on the others.

If you can get an extended warranty it is a smart move, I cant remember what mine cost but I extended it by 4 years.

Got money left over get another memory card, the biggest you can afford, movies suck up memory and they will hold 100's of snap shots. I have a 512 meg card that will hold over 300 hi res images. The S2 IS at 5 megapixels would be less but still plenty (thats at max resolution).

I would just get one for myself if at all possible, the heck with buying myself anything less.

Good Luck and have a great day.

[godmodd5 0]

The camera must survive quading and will sometimes be used on oil and gas pipline sites. 

My friend works in the oil industry and he wil likley use it at work .

Some lens cleaners would be nice. where can i get them