Equipment Blog

There's no real point to this other than I was thinking about going fly fishing this morning but didn't because the tide sucked. But as I was gathering my fly gear together, I was looking at my camera. It's a mess; dinged, scratched, dirty and just generally worn.

I bought this camera in 2004 (seems older than that), it's an Olympus Stylus 410, 4MP weather-proof digital. Nothing special. But for the beating it's taken over the years, the drops, dunks, dings and general neglect it still takes pretty nice pictures.

I bought it as a fishing camera. Something I could keep in my pocket, or backpack, or tackle box, to capture the big fish, great scenery, and just weird stuff on a fishing trip. The 410 had decent reviews but what kinda drew me to it was it was advertised as "weather-proof." Splash-proof is another term they use, meaning you can't submerge it, but taking pictures in the rain or or other wet situations shouldn't damage it. Well, I've had this thing in a chest pack while surf fishing and pulled it out of a puddle of water and taken nice pictures with it.

Here is its self-portrait. Taken in my bathroom with the remote.



The abuse is clear to see. Most of the painted-on icons and lettering have worn off long ago, it makes a noise when the lens comes out like it's got sand in it, which I'm sure it does, and the back looks twice as bad as the front.

The view screen is tiny compared to the huge screen today's digitals have on them. The battery is a big lithium that lasts forever, I take the charger on trips, but have never had to use it. It's not as compact, or light as Olympus's current Stylus line - which are now all weather-proof (the 410 was the only weather-proof Stylus when I bought it), but it's all metal, which I don't think the current Stylus line is.

Here's few pictures I've snapped over the last few years... (click them and they'll get bigger)


That's my buddy James at Torrey Pines State Beach.



This is a knoll in Cuyamaca State Park I thought looked interesting.



This is an early morning at a marina in Bradenton, Florida.

That's it... just real happy with my camera and this is my tribute to my 2004 Olympus Stylus 410. Have a great Memorial Day weekend! Maybe I'll have something better to share by Monday.