Pros, amateurs and enthusiasts, what is your preferred camera you take when on a trip? I'm looking for a smaller camera than my Old Canon DSLR. It always seems to be in the pack when I need it. Looking for something that I could keep handy while traveling and fishing. What would you recommend under $400, doesn't have to be cutting edge tech, just a soild performer.

I keep the "good" cameras in a Pelican box but I keep a $100 Kodak waterproof in my PFD pocket. It's actually a pretty good little daylight camera.

Just a random sample

Lot of camera talk in the, photo forum.

I picked up a used mirrorless DSLR, Oly OM-D EM5 series1 and 12x50 EZ video lens right at $400 (it is a sealed lens and body). Easily 1/2 the size and weight of even my other 4/3rds cameras. If you are budget minded look at used and re-furbished for some very good deals. Been using EBay some time now, for all my photo stuff.

butthead

i also have a Nikon coolpix 20x wide angle. i don't like it as much because my fingers tend to hit buttons and then i mess up things. it's a good camera, though.

quote Mocha: "i also have a Nikon coolpix 20x wide angle. i don't like it as much because my fingers tend to hit buttons and then i mess up things. it's a good camera, though."

Many of mine are with the Nikon Coolpix too. I also have a Canon EOS REBEL T3i digital SLR that I keep in a Pelican box. Plus, an older Canon that I take when there's a greater chance of getting wet.

I take a Panasonic Lumix waterproof P & S. It fits in my shirt pocket and is attached to a lanyard around my neck. It is very quickly and easily accessible for pictures at any time, although the quality is not as high as a DLSR obviously.

I also use the Nikon Coolpix. Mine is a few years old, but it's been a champ - it takes solid pictures given the limitations of a waterproof point-and-shoot digital camera.

I had an early Sony digicam that took amazing pictures even though it was only a 5MP camera. I made the mistake of putting it in my pocket (in a Ziploc bag, but still...) instead of my small dry bag while on a trip down the upper portion of the Buffalo River during a stormy spring week.... high water and fast current and downed tree resulted in me trapped under the canoe and against the tree fighting for the surface (stupidly, no PFD... but it wouldn't have helped me in this situation) .... now some alligator gar is happily wearing my Oakley Flak Jackets and my Sony digital camera got soaked when my pocket and the Ziploc bag filled with water.

Amazingly, the camera started up after about a week of drying out, but it was never the same. It really had some neat effects that I haven't been able to re-create with other cameras.

Here's another one.

I know it's a cheesy blue filter, but it anchored memories of that campsite for me and I've tried to recreate it with two different cameras on subsequent trips and haven't been able to.

This is on Malberg.

With your budget, you should consider buying used. You would probably prefer a bridge camera that is about one generation behind the latest cameras to get the most bang for your buck.

Some people are reluctant to buy used but camera gear depreciates rapidly because of advances so there is a robust used market. I have purchased many items over the years from KEH.com and they are very reliable and considered one of the best sources for used gear among photographers.

Whatever you get, make sure to get a small tripod, even a little gorilla pod to take with you for sunsets, night shots, group shots, campfire shots etc. That way you do not have to use a super high ISO which results in grainy, mostly awful, images.

Depends on the trip and package you're willing to carry. I'm more interested in photography than fishing, so I'll put a bit more weight/size into the photo kit than most. I've got a few different sony mirrorless cameras and lenses, and they are solid performers. Micro 4/3 options will be more economical. If size is really the main concern, and you don't mind a small camera with smaller buttons, there are some excellent performing, small, point and shoot style cameras out there that have full manual options, RAW image capture and remarkable low-light performance. I like the Sony RX100 option, but its a bit out of your price range (though the first generation has served me quite well and can still be purchased new for right around your $400 mark). Another outside the box suggestion, upgrade to a new smartphone. The phone cameras today are crazy good.

I keep one of the Olympus Tough series handy in the thwart bag. Shock and water proof, and photos are good enough for my purposes.

I do love and appreciate the quality photos some on here capture, but am totally unwilling to make the effort to learn to use an SLR, nor do I want to pack and carry that sort of equipment.

Not sure if there is a perfect answer.

The camera I end up using the most is my Sony RX100. It's small, takes great pictures if you don't need a zoom, and it came with a pretty tough leather case that I can hang around my neck. It's really that tough leather case and neck strap and the small size that make all the difference. It's ALWAYS handy. But not waterproof. I recently got a Canon mirrorless DSLR that is almost as small. But just that little bit of size and weight savings still makes the RX100 the big winner for convenience.

The only thing the RX100 lacks is a big zoom. But the big zoom makes the camera harder to carry. That's the tradeoff.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Size and weight are my main concern and looks like there are some good options out there. We single portage and my T3i with three lens just didn;t get used enough to justify the pack space. I guess I could leave a lens at home but I don't really have an all purpose lens. The kit lens is trash but covers 18-55, I have decent 50mm 1.8 which is super sharp but the fixed focal length makes it not real useful in some situations. My other lens is a Sigma 10-20 which I love for those wide angle campsite shots and sunsets. Argh...
The Sony RX100 looks like a nice small camera with some features I'm looking for in RAW format and good low light.

I've been very happy with the RX-100. Big sensor (for a camera its size) and sharp lens. I also have a DSLR which I carry on trips but leave in the pack while traveling. Very little drop off in quality between the Rx-100 and the big camera (though I tend to frame the shots better with the DSLR). Recently bought an "open box" RX-100iii and it is a brilliant camera, making some of the most difficult shots "casual".

quote RainGearRight: "Thanks for all the replies everyone. Size and weight are my main concern and looks like there are some good options out there. We single portage and my T3i with three lens just didn;t get used enough to justify the pack space. I guess I could leave a lens at home but I don't really have an all purpose lens. The kit lens is trash but covers 18-55, I have decent 50mm 1.8 which is super sharp but the fixed focal length makes it not real useful in some situations. My other lens is a Sigma 10-20 which I love for those wide angle campsite shots and sunsets. Argh...
The Sony RX100 looks like a nice small camera with some features I'm looking for in RAW format and good low light."

You can find the Canon 55-250 lens on the canon refurbished website occaisionally for $125. It is a sharp lens, lightweight, has image stabilization. RX100 + DSLR/55-250mm two camera combination is very convenient and not as bulky as DSLR and multiple lenses. But not waterproof.

I think typical Canon and Nikon bodies, even crop sensors, are out of the running if the goal is small and light. If the OP were asking for the absolute largest and heaviest outfit to take then Canon and Nikon would be the only options.

I love the Olympus TG series for the f2.0 lens. I have the TG-1 but I think they are up to the TG-4 iteration at this time.....

quote unshavenman: "I love the Olympus TG series for the f2.0 lens. I have the TG-1 but I think they are up to the TG-4 iteration at this time....."

TG-4 also shoots raw and has a cool microscope mode. About the same price as that first generation RX100, just under $400. RX100 takes better pictures, but not waterproof. Which to choose? dunno. Or,... at the same physical size, you can also find lots of cameras with 20-30x zooms. But they have a smaller sensor, and often no image stabilization, so the pictures taken at 20x haldheld can sometimes be blurry. To overcome that, you can get a bridge camera, but then you give up the tiny size of the RX100 or TG-4, and the ruggedness of the TG-4. Choices, choices....

I have an Olympus TG4 which I do not care for. It is rugged, waterproof, small, has an f/2.0 lens, and takes RAW images which are the good things.

However, the sensor is tiny and the lens is not sharp wide open. By f8 it is reasonably sharp but still lacking when viewing the images on a good 27 inch monitor for example. If you were just viewing images on a tablet or a phone they would be OK. But for making prints or viewing on a large monitor I would not recommend it. If you just want snapshots of the trip with a rugged camera that fits in your pocket, then it would be a decent choice.

Even a 1 inch sensor on a bridge camera would be a big improvement and an APS-C sized sensor would be an enormous improvement in overall quality and dynamic range.

Doing it again I would buy the fifth/ latest version RX100 (I bought the RX100v1 when it was first released). There were substantial improvements by the third version, including a brighter aperture through the zoom range, electronic viewfinder, and, I think, slightly wider wide angle and better image sharpness through the zoom range. Sensor and other improvements came in version five.

Admittedly, my first version performs best at the widest end of the zoom range.

Also, I added this magnetic circular polarizer, which is pretty slick and does not diminish image quality too much : link

Thanks again for all the opinion and insight. I went with the 1st gen rx100 just today. Should be here in time for my trip next week. It's going to get dropped in the deep end going on a winter trip but precautions will be taken to keep it safe dry and warm. Looki bg forward to getting it in my hands.

Congrats on a new purchase! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine. It is a super capable camera that had gone hundreds of miles with me over land and down river.

That's great. Report back. Don't forget extra batteries, especially if it is cold out.

and the instruction manual!

quote Mocha: "and the instruction manual!"

Step 1: Point
Step 2: Shoot

Haha, I use a waterproof Panasonic. Magicpaddler has one that zooms real good. Often he uses it to see what that dot in the horizon is.