I know, many topics already...looking for a nice affordable d-slr to bring to the tetons and the cirque in a few week. Does one exist? If not, can settle for primo p&s. Any suggestions from you gear heads out there?
Thanks!

Literally hundreds of choices. Always been a Canon guy but that's a whole other topic/debate. It has been said by a few top shooters that the greatest recent advancement in cameras is the smartphone. Food for thought.

I have a Canon g12. It is considered a cross over between a point and shoot and dslr. it has the same sensor in it as the lower end dslr, shoots hd vid, and shoots in raw. The size is manageable enough and not too bulky, a concern of mine for choosing a good climbing camera. One feature I really like is the fold out and rotating lcd screen. It really helps in situations with lots of glare and taking shot with the camera pointing down and your arms extended or for self portraits.

Unless you are there to take photos and not climb don't bring a DSLR. The Canon G series is basically a pro P&S and it can easily swing with the low end DSLR's on features and quality without breaking a sweat.

You won't be "settling" for it, it would be the best option.

+1 for the G12. I have a DSLR and love it but man it is a pain to get out to shoot so I don't find myself taking as many photos as when I had a point and shoot.

Thanks for the info guys!

Another great option from Canon is the SX260. Its $100 cheaper than the g12, smaller and lighter, with better photo and video resolution. The g12 is slightly better for manual features, but if you need good manual control a DSLR is always going to be better. I shot with this camera in Mexico over two months and was amazed with how adaptable it was.

The biggest advantage the SX260 has over the G12 is 20x optical zoom, which makes it close to telephoto range. The resolution will suffer and a tripod is needed to eliminate blurring, but it is still great quality compared to the digital zoom.

Here's a comparison from Canon's website
usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cameras>>>

And by the way...using ISO in a post title about cameras is rather confusing for those of us who shoot. Took me a few to figure out you mean In Search Of.

Smart phones definitely offer relatively high-quality pics for their size/weight, and are probably the most practical for climbers because it can fit in a pocket and it's a phone/GPS/guidebook all roled into one.

I recently got the Canon EOS Rebel t3i because it got great reviews. I'm still learning all the ins and outs, but so far, I'm happy with it. I don't know enough about it yet to compare it to other cameras. Some of the greatest benefits of a nice camera over a smart phone: high-quality pics, lossless optical zoom, freedom to take artistic shots (ex. climber in focus/background blurred) and the ability to take shots in low-light settings.