Digital-camera sales have tripled in the past two years, but in the outdoors and on the road a 35mm camera is still your best bet.

Weather- and shock-resistant designs—almost unheard of in digital—have been perfected in 35mm. And film point-and-shoots produce better images than more expensive digital models, whose reaction times can be too slow for sports photos.

Shown here are the best adventure cameras on the market. They're all 35mm, they're all priced at $500 or under—and you can find them in stores for significantly less.

—Jonathan Hanson

All prices in U.S. dollars.

The fixed-lens Yashica T4 Super Weatherproof is the favorite backup camera for many professional shooters.

Eliminating the zoom in favor of a moderately wide angle 35mm lens reduces weight and improves lens speed, an advantage in dim light. It also makes it easy to shoot with one hand while hanging on to your bicycle or camel with the other.

The lens—from Carl Zeiss, the best manufacturer in the world—produces razor-sharp images, and the T4's 6.7-ounce [200-gram] body is water- and dust-resistant.
 

Planning a once-in-a-lifetime expedition and want to bring back perfect slides? Maybe it's time you moved from a camera to an SLR camera system.

The Nikon N65 uses the same interchangeable lenses as its stablemate, the $2,800 Nikon F5, carried by many pros, but at 13.9 ounces [0.4 kilogram] the N65 weighs a third as much.

The camera has automatic shooting modes for sports, landscapes, and portraits, and its autofocus is blisteringly quick; you can also set the camera to take three shots at successive f-stops, virtually ensuring at least one flawless exposure.
 

The do-everything, withstand-anything Pentax IQZoom 95WR is the star of the weatherproof point-and-shoots, able to survive even a severe splashing without sizzling noises coming from its innards.

Its 12.7-ounce [0.4-kilogram] polycarbonate body holds up to moderate whacks, so it's ready for raft trips and ski runs, and the 38 to 95mm zoom lens covers everything from a tight head shot of your river guide to a sweeping view of the Grand Canyon.

Use fast film, though—the lens is a bit slow (f/10.5) at its longest setting.

Photographs by Jim Huibregtse