The Replacement

Olympus TOUGH TG-3

I finally killed my Fuji point and shoot back in April at the Renegade Gents Race. I lost the battery in a freakish drop on pavement somehow, and while I could have tracked down another one, I just decided that it was time to move on. That drop was a sign, I think, that I had finally milked that old, dented, scratched, and beaten camera for all it was worth.

I got some good recommendations for cameras that fit my needs and parameters from my friend, Wally, who does photography now for a living, and one of them really stuck out as fitting my needs more than the others.

My criteria for a replacement camera were as follows:

• Must be pocketable and retrievable easily while riding a bicycle. No funky lens protrusions and obviously, it had to be smaller than an interchangeable lens camera, so all of those were out. 
• I wanted it to have durability. I ride gravel, I sweat, I ride off road, I ride in snow. The old Fuji, while not designed to be weather-proof, was pretty adaptable to my needs. The new camera had to be this as well. 
• Controls that could be operated with a gloved hand, and definitely operated with one hand. 
• Features: I don't care about movies, I don't care about a lot of gee-gaws, so I didn't really look at the HD movie this, or the WiFi that. Really- I could care less about those things. I just want a camera that takes a good image while I ride. 

Riding and shooting images. Ya know- that's something I've missed lately. I have an iPhone 5, but the camera experience sucks. Sorry to those of you that think an iPhone, or any camera-phone, is all you need because none of them really are that great. None.

I have a Panasonic LX-3, which is a fun little camera, but it is a clunky shape, and it cannot really function as an "on the bike" camera. Heck, if I dropped that thing, I bet it would die the death the first time. And grit and weather? No way. I've packed it along on rides, but it is definitely a "stop and shoot" camera, not a "ride and shoot" camera.

So I ordered a red Olympus TOUGH TG-3 and soon it will be on the way, (once they come into stock), and I'll be happily popping the shutter button from the bike again. While it is "overly-featured" for my needs, it has salient features that I do need in a camera- namely the "tough" ones! Plus it has some stuff available that I may grow into. So, hopefully soon I'll be shooting and sharing more stuff here using this new tool.