Is there anything tough that takes good pictures? I have an old Pentax Optio that is waterproof so great for taking anywhere. Seems happy enough to go snorkelling, white water rafting etc. The problem is it doesn’t take particularly good pictures especially in lower light or fast moving subjects making it a bit rubbish for biking. I also have a Lumix LX3 which is much better in lower light but is not that robust and the lens movement is getting a bit dodgy. Can I replace both these cameras with a waterproof camera that takes good pictures in low light and has good user control like the LX3? We’ve got a GoPro copy so I suppose I could live without full on waterproofing but it would be nice. Ideally USB charging and quite compact too. Moon on a stick or is there something out there?

I was trying to find out this last time I bought a camera.

Alas moon on a stick, I reckon. Most (all?) waterproof ones have small lenses – crap in low light.

If you must have something great but waterproof then get a decent compact (canon G series? I got a g7x very nice apart from battery life but certainly needs looking after) and then get the official waterproof housing for it. Which will make it considerably less compact and even more expensive.

Or get a cheaper compact with a big lens, don’t expect it to be waterproof, but take risks and don’t feel too bad about breaking it.

Olympic TG. Pick the one that suits your budget.

Mine, a four year old TG1 has tap controls, really easy user interface, and charges via USB, so I’d imagine the newer ones are better still.

Oooh, happy to be proved wrong on the lens speed

…though those look like they have smaller sensors (the tg1/tg4 being about half the sensor area of your lx3 unlikely to get the same image quality)

Personally I just use my phone as a robust camera these days, seeing as it comes on adventures with me anyway. And the tg things would surely be better than that.