Landscape Designer Needs Help!

[outaplum]

I am now a Landscape Designer. I design, plant, and maintain gardens, take classes and teach a bit. However, I am retired from an unrelated profession and I don't work full time and don't want to. I just enjoy the outdoors, getting my hands dirty and making things pretty!

I need a camera to take before and after pictures of landscapes, pics of landscapes when on fieldtrips, close-ups of plants and flowers to ID, pics to show examples of plants from a garden centers or gardens, pictures to show garden art idea. I am not a professional photographer and don't want to be. I suspect, being in the sunlight at times could be an issue.

THIS IS MY WISH LIST:
1. Small
2. Good color and crisp pictures
3. Good battery life
4. Easy to use
5. Weather resistant, NOT waterproof (if it begins to rain and I haven’t finished taking pics, I don’t want to worry about damaging the camera.)
6. Easy to recharging
7. Easy to download
8. Stabilization feature (when reading about this about sounds like a good new feature).
9. Taking pics in sunlight could be an issue sometimes.
10. Cost is not a key issue.

I have been using a JVC GC-QX3U for years and am tired of the battery problem that cameras used to have. I have 3 batteries and get use for about an hour! It's too big too. But I have been just fine with the pics. By the way, I didn't shop for this, it was marked down at Brookstone's where my niece worked one Christmas and she got a big discount. I couldn't resist at such a great price (less than 1/4 of what digital cameras cost those days), so I bought it.

This week I went into a reputable photo store and they suggested the Olympus stylus 710. However when I read thru the threads, no one ever recommends this. Why? The Cannon S80 was recommended but that is a bit big. A garden friend who is a garden photographer suggested one of the Cannon Elph series (which one?0.

The truth is everyone I ask, has a different camera and they each love what they have. That may be the case here too. Still, there are so many cameras, it's overwhelming and I need to narrow it down some how, decide and buy one, times a wasting! Can you help with suggestions and an explanation of why?

Thank you thank you thank you!

[SmartWombat]

I've used the Konica/Minolta (now Sony) A2 and A1, the stabilisation works well. It survived a few rainy days at the racetrack with occasional wipes of the towel.

My wife's Panasonic FZ25 has 12x zoom (A1&2 is 7x) and optical stabiliser. It works well, but I don't like the images in wide contrast sun/shade situations.

[Reese]

I see that your problem with the camera was solved, but maybe you can help me, I have problems with the garden. I really love gardening, but I had never tried to get rid of pests before. I don't want to use chemicals to get rid of them, because it's bad for my plants and the environment, but I don't see another way out. I tried many natural remedies, but they weren't effective. I recently found this site https://www.redbudsoilcompany.com/co...c-pest-control and there is another way to get rid of pests in the garden in a natural way, but I want to know your opinion about it. Do you think this will help me?