Which sturdy compact?

[The Green Bean]

My 2 year old ixus died. The lens won't retract back. So I've decided to buy a new camera.
What I'm looking for:

- Has to be sturdy. I travel quite often and I don't plan to use a case for the camera. It should be able to withstand dust and dampness. It should also be able to take a small drop or two.
- It should not be too large. I think the S90 looks a good size.
- Should have at least some manual options. Most of my shots will be shots of people and I don't plan of editing them. However, I could have used better focus options with my ixus.
- Good quality shots.
- I'm looking to spend under $400. Thats quite a lot of money but I want good shots and want the camera to last atleast 5 years. It's more expensive buying cheap cameras every two years.

I'm considering the S90/95. Any thoughts? Is it sturdy? I'm going to be buying from Pakistan. The S90 is about $375 at one of our online retailers and should be slightly cheaper in the market. The S95 has not appeared online yet and will be significantly more expensive. I might also have limited choice with smaller brands.

 

[ravana]

Have you considered bringing the camera back here (US) and seeing what Canon will let you trade it in for?

 

[slashbinslashbash]

The S90 should be sturdy, but then, I consider the metal-bodied SD (Ixus) line to be pretty sturdy as well. Any small camera is going to have its problems, especially if it has a retracting lens. Those mechanisms are just so small and sensitive to dust, etc. IMO a step up in durability would be an internal-zooming/focusing lens like the Nikon Coolpix S80:

http://dpreview.com/news/1009/10090817s80.asp

Other similar cameras:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/sony/dsc-tx7/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-tx7-review.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/came...x-dmc-ts1/panasonic-lumix-dmc-ts1-review.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/came...gh-8000/olympus-stylus-tough-8000-review.html

The Olympus and Panasonic cameras listed above should be especially sturdy, as they're rated waterproof to shallow depths, shockproof from short falls, and dustproof.

The original digicam with this style of lens was the Minolta Dimage X:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DX/DXA.HTM

The latest version of which seems to be the Dimage X60:

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/minolta/dimage_x60-review/

 

[ElFenix]

i'd probably go with a dustproof/waterproof model if i were in dusty conditions. you should be able to find panasonic in pakistan. they make a couple models and are fairly well regarded.

 

[Throckmorton]

Panasonic ruggedized

 

[hackmole]

I believe there is some camera I think by Olympus that is supposed to be drop proof. However, after going over no less than 50 different cameras, I chose a little known camera that has been far under the radar, the Casio FH100. I had a score card I used to compare and it outscored every other camera. Here is why.

1. 24mm wide angle. Few cameras have that wide a shot.

2. 10 x optical zoom to 240mm and higher at lower megapixels (which is fine for computer/web). Other cameras have more zoom but super high zoom becomes too unstable to hold. The Casio has more than enough zoom.

3. This is the most compact and lightest of the cameras for what it has to offer, lighter and smaller than the Panasonic ZS7. There are smaller cameras and if weight is an issue then get a camera that is 4 ounces or less that you won't even notice in your pocket but those cameras won't give you any more than the basics and very little zoom.

4. High Speed Video 112 to 1000 frames per second for shooting fast moving sporting events, baseball, football, tennis, your own golf swing or fast moving nature shots - humming birds, butterflys or explosions... whatever. By the way, no other compact camera that I know of offers this feature.

5. High Definition video of course.

6. Fast burst shooting up to 40 frames per second. You won't miss the shot you are looking for.

7. Backlit CMOS, I think they call it, for better shots in low light which is a big complaint for about 98% of all compact/subcompact digital cams. This is one of the few that's decent in low light.

8. The FH100 supports the RAW format and very few of the compacts do. Another big complaint. Canon only has one compact model that does and even the Panasonic ZS7 doesn't support RAW. With the RAW uncompressed format you should be able to get higher quality photos though it does take about 10 seconds to write it to the disk because the files are so large.

9. Finally, it has had some sterling reviews and awards.