I have been wanting to upgrade the camera I use while kayak fishing. The big issue is that it must be waterproof and take a real quality picture. Recently I was approached by the editor of Sport fishing magazine regarding some photo’s I had taken of a big tarpon I caught from my kayak in the surf. Unfortunately, he later related that they could not use the photo for the magazine as they could not use jpeg format? He related they needed “raw” format. That sounded a little odd to me so I decided to contact Florida Sportsman Magazine and see if they were interested in the pic’s and story. They had no issue with the “jpeg” format and they should be published in the upcoming May or June issue.

This set me on a course to see what other cameras might suite my needs and hopefully give me “raw” capability and better quality. The camera I have been using is an Olympus Stylus 300 digital camera. It takes really good photo’s. In fact, all of the photo’s on this site were taken with this camera. It is only 3.2 mp but does a great job and is waterproof. I have had them submersed in the ocean numerous times and still work great. I is important to clean it after a saltwater trip but that’s about it. The best feature of the camera is tha it has a remote for taking shots by your self. I have the camera mounted on a deployable arm on the front of the yak and use the remote once I am ready for the shot. It works great!

Well, after a lot of investigation, I decided to go with the Canon s90 camera. It is referred to as a “pocket professional” as it is as flexible as any DSLR. It is an awesome little camera and takes great photo’s. It can shoot and save pics in “jpeg” & “raw” at the same time. It has a 10mp sensor and full manual controls as well as full auto.

Then comes the waterproof issue! I decided to go with a polycarbonate housing to protect it from the water. I was able to get this one on Ebay for a little over $100. It does add some bulk though. Another minor issue is, though all the functions can be adjusted even while in the housing, you can’t actually see the button function designation on the back of the camera so you need to memorize what button does what. I guess you can’t have everything.

The S90 also has a great macro function for detailed, up-close photo’s and that has really come in handy while collecting pictures of turkey sign for my hunting blog. If you would like to have a look at some of the pictures this camera takes, here is the link to my hunting blog….. http://www.trophy-hunting.blogspot.com/ .

This year I am also going to have on board video! I have already selected may camera. I went with the Sony Handycam HDR CX-560V. I have to get a waterproof housing for that as well. I am really looking forward to having some exciting tarpon footage this year to post. I will add a new post on the video camera when I figure out how I am going to mount it on the yak.

It’s almost time for the Tarpon to show up on the beach! I can’t waite

Good Luck,

Larry S.

The S90 is still available but there are newer models available, the S95 & S100. Here are some links to amazon where you can get more info.