What sucks about digicams when it comes to climbing photography:
Lack of wide angle lenses. 35mm is just too narrow of a focal length to make dramatic shots with awesome exposure and jaw dropping perspective. Apparently the sensor in digicams is too small (yet) to give us a good 28mm or even my preferred 24mm lens. This issue is really only a concern with fastpaced climbing shots where carefully composed and stitched together panorama pictures are impractical. As a matter of fact I really enjoy the PhotoStitch option of my Canon G3 for creating wide angle landscapes.
But a more suitable climbing camera was needed.

The solution:
In the winter of 2005/06 I did more research on the subject and found that a few point and shoot models featuring 28mm lenses had appeared. Most (the other 2) were far beyond my budgetary restraints and after all not really as compact as I would like for climbing. But there was one manufacturer offering all their small P/S cameras with wide angle lenses: Ricoh. And surprisingly they were not too expensive, but for us Americans only available in Canada. No problem, Henrys.com in Toronto is most accomodating, fast and honest. Definitely not a

camera house of the sleazy New York style.
Anyway, a little 4 megapixel Ricoh of about $300.00 was ordered. The iPod sized thing which promptly arrived (without extra custom tariffs) has now been on a number of trips and is perfect for multi pitch routes, alpine climbs, cragging, whatever. It hangs unnoticed on the harness, in a tiny LowePro

pouch, until needed. The controls are simple generic style digicam, with well marked buttons and intuitive workflow. A decent LCD screen completes the setup.
The colors are true, with a hint of warmness. It starts up and is ready to shoot under a second, and shutterlag is minimal. In fact many reviews call it the fastest operating camera in its class. And best of all I know have an extremely portable package with a 28mm lens. It is not the 24mm I used to have on my SLR, but it still produces far more dramatic images than the boring 35mm on my old G3. So this diminutive zoom lens is of remarkably good quality, yet such tiny optics has their limits. For web publishing it is fine, but not for serious printed matter. Alas, can't have it all.
I have the resolution set to Large/Superfine. It is loaded with a one gig SD card, which gives me more than 500 shots, plenty for anything short of 3 months in Patagonia. Even when using the LCD display I can pretty much shoot with abandon without running out of juice or storage. The Ricoh takes a proprietary Li-Ion or 2 AA's of your choice. The Li-Ion does well for extended use. I have yet to run out of juice in the field, even on 2 weeks of climbing in Red Rocks. But if it dies, I always have a couple of Lithium AA's with me as back up, or, in the front country, a quick stop at the nearest gasstation will get me going again.

3 features that works well for me:
* I often use the 'motordrive' when climbing, taking bursts of 5-8 shots. A good climbing image depends on the right angle of perspective, which is sometimes hard to predict. Especially while belaying or otherwise engaged in important chores. To make sure I get several choices I typically swivel or rotate the camera while holding the shutter release. Invariable one image is far better than the rest. Go here to see examples. The camera needs a few seconds to process before it's ready for another set.

*On static, non moving motives, such as landscapes and scenery with challenging light conditions, I always use the Auto Bracketing feature set to exposure control and spaced about two thirds of a F-stop. Since there's zero cost per frame with digital photography, it would be foolish not to take multiple shots each time you press the shutter.

*The macro setting on these modern digicams is the third special feature we use a lot, mostly for botanical shots. It produces reliably sharp images, like this one.