I’m after a very cheap compact digital camera to throw in my pack and have with me on the bike. Looking on Ebay cameras a couple of years old seem to go for buttons, so what is a good choice? I guess build quality is top of the list for reliability of second hand. AA batteries would be a bonus but not essential.

Ricoh R8s look cheap – I’d happily go smaller though? Any suggestions?

I’d get something waterproof and rugged – try and find something with little ‘lag’ i.e time elapse between pressing the shutter button and the image capture. You might miss a lot of moving targets otherwise!

how cheap is very cheap?

after dropping mine, I waited for the next model of Ixus to come out (ca. €130), then went straight to the local store and bought the one that had just been made “obsolete” for €80. Funnily enough, it had basically the same specs, same megapixels, same lens range, different case styling, but same battery+charger (handy to have a spare 🙂 )

will do the same again.

cost to send the original ixus to some chinese place to get it repaired was more than a brand new “last years” model.

Used kodak easyshare sport, prob as good as average phone cam but it is very cheap and rugged, waterproof and takes AAs

Same goes for Nikon Coolpix s31. You’re losing out on IQ for cheapness and AA compatibility, how important is the AA battery option?

Ooops.yu did say AAs not essential, please ignore ^^

Ricoh are well built cameras, I wouldn’t sniff at an R8 or a GX100 even.

For shock/wproof there are a few getting longer in tooth and cheap used nowadays. ie Panasonix TS3 or FT2

Better half has an Ixus, has been very reliable and is dinky but more of a handbag lurker than a bikeproof camera.

I used to have a lumix TZ3 which felt very solid and took nice shots straight out of the camera, just had to be careful (as with all external mechanical zooms) to keep grit out of zoom mech. They are a steal nowadays. Been through a few lumix upgrades since (last being T20) and tbh the TZ3 compared very favourably with all. Bit big for pocket though, as is the S70, another solid used bargain if well kept. Hmmm.

Thanks for the tips – those FT2/TS3 ones look good if I can find one.

Easyshare sport perhaps a bit lower image quality than I’d like to go. Lots of coolpix cheapos out there, but I know nothing of the range!