Best point and shoot camera for climbing?

I am looking for a new camera to take South this winter, any suggestions?

light, small, high mega pixels/optical zoom, quality video and weather/shockproof are all important

Leica D Lux 4.

I like (but don't love) my Olympus Tough. Its waterproof, shockproof and so far sand-proof. It has a pretty hardcore casing around it. The pictures are pretty good too.

Olympus Tough

Not Olympus Tough, or any camera that advertises itself as "waterproof". With use, the colors on the camera get messed up and they all produce same low-light pictures. My Olympus only produces half-decent photos in a really bright light...

My older Panasonic Lumix with Leica lens still takes great photos. And it's at least a year older than the Olympus Camera.

Canon S95 if you have the money to spend. It isn't as tough as some cameras but is easy to protect. The image quality/size/video/ features balance is pretty amazing.

I agree with the Canon Powershot line. I've had an SD400 (a mere 5.0MP) for 6 years now, it still takes great pictures and the rechargeable battery pack lasts a really long time.

More importantly, it's been beat to crap and Canon has fixed 2 broken screens and a broken lens (all from me dropping it/banging it against something). They have an awesome warranty program and all I paid was shipping.

I just got a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1. It fits your qualifications, and IMO takes good photos, and great HD video. Decent battery life, despite what the reviews say. Fits easily in pants pocket for long approaches and multipitch. I paid $258 on Amazon. There is a newer TS2 out now too, but I couldn't see that paying the higher price was worth it. It's a lot less than the Leica mentioned above, though the images on the Leica will be better for sure. On the other hand, it's smaller from what I can tell, and the Leica appears to have a moving lens, which I did not want. (No exterior moving parts to break or freeze). I looked at Olympus Tough as well, but in direct comparison, it seemed to me that on paper the Lumix was the better camera. Of course I have no way to know that for sure since I don't own both.

I just wanted a "cheapie" to put in my pocket. My "real camera" is a Lumix GF1, which kicks ass but is not a multipitch camera.

Matt coming up the amazing 3rd pitch of Armatron, October 2010.

Councilman Costello on top of the small summit of Armatron pitch 6. Las Vegas in the background. October 2010.

Bighorn stopping at the base of Armatron to check us out, October 2010.

The bighorn is at full zoom. All these photos were shrunken and modified with Irfanview before uploading. The video below was shrunk with Handbrake before uploading, and was better on the original, but a big file, and in a format I couldn't upload. You can choose MTS or MPEG if I remember right.

vimeo.com/15210669

Pentax W90. Pretty rugged little camera waterproof, dust proof, mud proof, shock proof. There are some great shooting features as well!

pentaximaging.com/digital-c…