Paddle-Fishing.com

A little help please. All of you folks post some outstanding photos. I'm in the market for a good fishing camera, I've dunked and ruined two in the past 6 months. I'm not really interested in a go pro. The only thing I've seen that has sparked my interest is the Pentax WG3 At this point my only requirements are a camera this water proof and durable.
Any and all feedback to help me pick a camera would be a plus.

The pentax optios are solid, I have a WG1 that has been great. I had a w20 that lasted years before dieing.

Here's a 2013 review of the top ones recommended by dpreview. I suspect you'll find a winner in there. Full article here. That said, I've seen some really good still shots from a gopro. Hard to beat a video and still camera for $300 or so. I'm not a fan of the fish eye lens they have, but they have minimized some of the curvature.

Personally in the kayak I shoot a Canon G12 in an underwater housing. It's quite bulky, but I have full control of the camera. It takes outstanding shots. I like the bracketing feature where I get three shots at different exposures. After a full day on the water, I'll put it in "auto" mode and hand it off to the wife or daughter who then use it around town. I believe you'll spend about $500 for the U/W housing and camera - the camera will be used. I believe the newer model is a G15. The plastic housing is very tough.

If I know I'm in an ecotour kinda day or on the powerboat I take my "big boy" camera - Canon T2i. It does some amazing things, but it's not water proof. Just put it in a Pelican case for dry storage. The newer model is a T5i.

Besides composition the "secret" to good shots is take a bunch and learn photoshop or pixlr. I trashed my old desktop that had an early version of PS and have since switched to pixlr. pixlr is great and has full capabilities for layering while working out of your browser. For tinker toy versions of PS/pixlr use google Picasa or photobucket's editing feature. I use photobucket to store most shots at a height of 600 pixels - exceeding the GB limit at 600 pixels will take forever.

Funny thing is that photobucket used to use pixlr for advanced editing of photos, but has since dropped that feature.

If your a first gen kinda guy here's a reviewof the waterproof Galaxy phone.

So there you go...my version of the soup to nuts on what I do and what I shoot. Course composition...that's something learned.

Back to work, to the internet...

don't bother with olympus waterproofs. I've got a TG810 and, while essentially indestructible, it takes pretty crappy pics and has a sub-par OS. I will be replacing mine once I feel like i've got my $400 out of it.

I have Pentax w60 and have been relativly happy with it... but not saying its the best. Its been splashed, dropped in a couple inches of water in the bildge and rinsed with the hose later, no problems.
The one knock I have is seems slow to focus.

Be aware even if its waterproof they do sink all the way to the bottom if dropped, and 10' @ 45 minutes does not mean they will survivie an hour in 1'.

My wife bought me a Fuji Finepix XP20 a couple of years ago. Love it, takes great underwater photos and I also use it on my yearly ski trip out west. Last year took many pics in Jackson Hole at well below zero and it performed flawlessly. Have never had any issue in the kayak either. The Finepix has evolved to the XP60, XP70 and XP200.

Taking it to Whistler (Canada) on Saturday for a week of skiing.......

I recently bought a refurbished Nikon CoolPix AW100, and have been extremely pleased with the image quality. I've only had it for a few months, so I can't speak to the durability with confidence, but it has held up pretty well so far.

I use the Olympus TG830 and haven't had any issues. I met another kayaker that uses the same camera and likes it as well.