I'm considering buying this camera:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SP550/SP550A.HTM
The Olympus SP-550.
The camera I have now is a Pentax Optio 33WR. I use it while kayaking, and it does fine outdoors, but in low light it, ah, sucks. So, I was wondering how the Olympus SP-550 would do in low light and who better to ask than y'all...
I am interested in the Olympus SP-550 because of the zoom lens. There is a certain waterfall on the Cheoah river that I took a great shot of with the Pentax but the low rez setting I was using (since then I've gotten a bigger memory card) made the shot unprintable.
<img src ="http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/photos/72558027-M.jpg">
The whole time I was there I was craving a zoom lens. I considered a Nikon D50 like some friends of mine have, but the cost of lenses for DSLRs is prohibitive.
So, yes I am seduced by the Olympus' 18x digital zoom. But if it did better in caves than what I've got that would be great, too. I had the Pentax in Mammoth cave this past weekend and my shots were pretty disappointing.
Example:
<img src ="http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/photos/132250238-M.jpg">
with flash (useless in cave):
<img src ="http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/photos/132249997-M.jpg">
So, thoughts welcome... Olympus will be making a waterproof housing for this camera and I'll get it.