Back in the fall of 2011, my Nikon Coolpix 8800 died. Unlike my previous Nikon, which I drowned in the Peace River, this one died of natural causes and just wouldn’t wake up one day. I sent it back to Nikon and was told that there was sand and salt in the body and it showed evidence of water damage, voiding the warranty. I couldn’t really be surprised, since the camera had been used in some “slightly damp” conditions (hey, you know what it’s like on a small boat).

I can’t do my job without a camera, so the hunt was on for a replacement. I knew a DSLR was out — too expensive — so I started looking at the new batch of superzooms (cameras with serious telephoto capability built in). I wanted a camera that would let me shoot under a wide variety of lighting conditions, had plenty of zoom, and had rapid-fire burst shooting so I could get decent action photos. After poring over manufacturer specs and online reviews of a dozen models, I settled on the FujiFilm HS20EXR.