As far as features go, I have 2 primary cameras:

A Canon Rebel DSLR. Love this thing! I can use it as a point and shoot or get more technical using macros, etc, and the pictures always turn out frameable. It's big and heavy though, so gets left at home more often than not. It's great on car camping trips and short hikes,when weight isn't an issue and I want to spend more time smelling the roses on a trip. Sadly, it's about 10 years old and the power plant seems to be dying. We can't afford a new camera right now so I'm hoping that we just need a new battery or charger.

A Canon A800 PowerShot. Closer to the bottom end than the top as far as point and shoots go, but it fit our budget and works OK. It takes stills and video, takes 10.0 mega pixel shots and has 3.3X optical zoom. This one's high speed, low drag. It's small, light and a set of batteries can last entire weekend. It takes decent pictures in daylight but the flash sucks so nighttime shots can be frustrating.

When it's time to upgrade, I'll be looking for something that fits in a jacket pocket and that I can take a good midnight campfire shot with. Not very technical, I know, but I'm a simple girl and like my cameras that way too.

I'm beginning to think of a camera as a bit of EDC carry, like my SAK. Last year I splurged and got a low end "smartphone", which has a simple (no flash) camera. At the time, I thought it would be useless (camera, not phone).

Instead, I found several occasions when I wanted to document something good (e.g. geese on a local pond) or bad (some neighborhood vandalism) that I stumbled on by accident. I used the camera on the phone and got reasonable results.

Carrying a separate camera, even a pocket camera, has no attraction for me--but having a decent camera as a part of my phone (thus part of my EDC) does have value (but I'm not sure I would call it, strictly speaking, a "survival" item). The phone itself I do think of as a high priority survival EDC.

I love when things multi-task.

Good midnight campfire shots? I don't think the Rebel has big enough of a sensor to do that. You'll need a full-frame camera like the Canon 5D or the Nikon 800, plus a fast lens, and maybe a few flashes. That's some big (& deep) pocket you've got!

You might want to try the Canon G15, for a chunky and capable pocketable camera.

the current in-production list of "proof" cameras (somewhat water/dirt/drop/shock-proof) run $200-400 and include:

Sony TF1 $200
Fuji XP60 $200
Pentax WG-3 $300
Nikon AW100 $350
Olympus TG-2 $375
Panasonic TS5 $400

of that group i like the panasonic best but if just for carrying as a back-up in daybag or jockey box for pixs now and then, the TF1 would probably do fine (although it uses a somewhat unique harder-to-find memory card than most other cameras).

me? as a pro-photog for 45 years and having owned hundreds and hundreds of cameras, i now just carry older "used" standard digital P&S (point and shoot) cameras in every vehicle, for "emergencies". once a camera is a few years old, even "better" models are only generally worth $30-50, so even if one gets wet or lost, no big deal.

on the other hand, when i don't want to haul around my heavy pro nikon kit (D800 with 1.4 lenses, like bingley mentioned) but still want something handy that can produce really excellent photos, i pack the very-smallest highest-IQ (image quality) camera i know of, the Sony RX100 (but to get the most out of it, one really needs a solid understanding of photo techniques).

Has anybody here used one of those binoculars with the camera built in? What did you think of it? Just curious.

didn't know they still made those bino-cameras. the older ones were pretty low resolution units, not worth fooling with. they didn't work as good binoculars, nor were they good cameras.


edit: i just googled these combo-units to what's still available. all i saw were junk. i'd call them "cheap junk" but every single one is overpriced so that phrase doesn't work here.

save your money. instead buy a good binox and a good camera, seperately!

Good to know. Thanks.

Where oh where have you found a point-n-shoot that uses film not a media card, and has a lens bigger than a pencil eraser in the last decade and a half?

I have never tried this, but if you had film, wouldn't it make good tinder, especially if you batoned it into itty bitty pieces? Younger members - ask your grandparents to describe "film" - they might even have some around

Why would you need to baton it? It's already a thin sheet.