Waterproof and Dustproof Digital Camera for Metal Detecting Outings
Pentax Optio 33 WR for Extreme Field Conditions
I would not be able to create this web site without a wide variety of pictures of finds, places, and people, that complete my adventurous stories. When I began documenting all my treasure hunting activities five years ago, I used a regular digital camera for a field photography.
Even though I tried to keep my camera clean and away from the moisture and dust while recovering coins and relics, it did not last long. As a matter of fact, it "died" on me right at the moment of discovering a silver coin cache in the field! A tiny speck of dust got inside the optics and disabled autofocus.
Luckily, a friend of mine had a digital camera with him, so I was able to take a few important pictures. His camera was Pentax Optio 33WR, the 3-megapixel Pentax's first waterproof and dust-proof digital camera. Before purchasing it, my friend conducted a thourough research for a camera that could operate in any outdoors conditions, especially when it is exposed to the dust, dirt and mud during target digging. After seing a good quality of images taken by Pentax 33WR, I was convinced that this camera would be a perfect apparatus for my treasure hunting projects and purchased it.
Since 2004 , the camera has never let me down and produced most of the images, including amazing macro-photographs of coins and relics, you have seen on this web site. The camera has withstood dropping in the water, mud, against a concrete (five times!), and it still takes a good pictures! Pentax does not stop putting out on the market new models. At the time this page was created, Pentax introduced new versions of water- and dust-proof digital cameras such as WP, WPi, W10, W20, W30, etc. Too bad that Pentax discontinued manufacturing the Optio 33WR line of outdoor cameras, ending it with a 43WR model.
Pentax Optio 33 WR Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof Digital Camera
Pentax Optio 33WR Specifications:
Effective pixel count: 3.2 million
Lens: 2.8x optical zoom that has a JIS Class 7 water resistance rating, the Optio 33WR remains watertight even when the camera is rinsed, splashed or immersed in water.
Measures: 3.2 x 3.0 x 1.2 inches and weighs 7.3 ounces loaded with battery and memory card
Image sizes: 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480
Viewfinder: Optical
LCD monitor: 1.6" TFT LCD
Connectivity: USB 1.1, A/V out
Storage: SD memory card and MultiMediaCards
Power: 2 x AA batteries (NiMH rechargable recommended)
Shooting modes: Auto, program, landscape, night scene, night scene portrait, surf and snow, portrait, sunset, flower, fireworks, snap (automatic pan), macro
This is an ad by Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Make a Donation
Please help me stay afloat, afford more metal detecting trips with field-tests and experiments to create more informative articles, useful tutorials and helpful guides for detectorists, and maintain this website - the most informative hobby resource on the web! Since I do not have any steady income, any donation matters to me a lot! Thank you kindly!
Clicking on the donate button will take you to a donation page powered by Donorbox and dedicated to my website (MetalDetectingWorld.com). The donation page is PCI-compliant, secured by SSL/TLS, and has a simple form to fill out. Donorbox does not store any card or bank data. Credit card information is encrypted and tokenized by the Stripe payment processor.
This website would not exist without the advertisements we display and your kind donations. If you are unable to support us by viewing our advertisements, please consider making a Donation to ensure the future of this website. By helping me keep this website alive and growing, you will sure help many detectorists around the world as well!
ANNOUNCEMENT:
In January of 2020, I started a one-time fund-raising campaign in attempt to accumulate enough money to buy a simple but reliable 4x4 vehicle. My old 4x4 car (made in 1995) had faithfully served me for 10 years before it eventually went beyond repair last October. Without a 4WD, I will not be able to get to my hunt sites and test-plots hidden in the remote wooded areas inaccessible by a regular car.
Unlucky for me, those sites are the only locations available and suitable for my field-work which results in informative articles you can find on this website. For the past 10 years, my usual field-work has consisted of field-testing the latest metal detectors and accessories, experimenting with some of them, and devising new effective search methods that meet the requirements of the new metal detecting reality.
Before my car died, I managed to finish a couple of interesting detector-testing projects which will be covered in my upcoming articles. But other equally important projects that I was working on were not completed and had to be postponed until the Spring 2020. I hope that this fund-raising campaign will help me get a decent 4x4 by then so that I will be able to resume my work and to write more new articles, tutorials and guides based on data gathered through testing and experimentation.
If you find my website useful and would like it to provide more essential info for you and other detectorists worldwide, please consider chipping in $5, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford to keep MetalDetectingWorld.com growing in 2020. I promise you, it will be money well spent. Thank you.
Donate- Please help me promote this article:
If you would like to follow me on Twitter, please press a button:
I have my profile page on
where you can share your thoughts on this article, ask me a question, or place a friend request.I also have my profile pages on Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit and Delicious
and my "Metal Detecting World" page on Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr
