Good Accident Camera
 

I was thinking of keeping a cheap digital camera in my car in case of an accident, and was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a good one. I was thinking an old AA battery based one may make sense as good batteries have a long shelf life and I could keep a few spares in the car as a backup. Since the camera would sit around seldom used battery shelf life is key.

Maybe a disposable film camera would make more sense? Not sure how it'd hold up to the heat and cold of the seasons across years of sitting in the car. It's not like I get into many accidents. Thanks.

I've found that no type of camera does well just rotting in the car. Batteries die, film goes bad, neglected digital cameras bouncing around in a cold/hot car malfunction.

Replace your cell phone with a camera phone whose camera is decent, or get an inexpensive digital camera to keep in your car/bring everywhere and use it often. I do both; my phone has a camera good enough for accident documentation, and I have a quite nice digital camera that I keep with me almost all the time and I shoot pictures of interesting cars on the road.

Lousy cellphone coverage here and I don't really need one. Definitely the best solution for those who do have one though! Maybe I should just get in the habit of bringing along my main digital camera when I go out. Save me buying another one.

On a related note, I found this fantastic accident information exchange kit. I printed out a copy and filled in all my info for future use and keep it in the car.

https://www.encompassinsurance.com/co...cident_kit.pdf

I can give you my personal experience with your question.

I bought one of those cheep throw away plastic cameras and it sat in the jeep for at least 2+ years hardly being used in all seasons. So it froze in the winter and baked in the summer. I put it in a cheap camera case so it wouldn't bang around. Last fall I took some pictures of fall foliage and an off road excursion and finished the roll off purposely since it had been sitting in the vehicle so long. I figured the pictures would be trash but the camera seemed to be working ok. The pictures came out just fine so I guess I was surprised. So I bought another and threw it in there but have not used that one yet.

Anyway, I have a camera on my cell phone also that I never seem to have an occasion to use much.

That's great to know! Film still has its uses.

I used my cell phone camera when I was in an accident a few years ago. For those with this option its the best. My insurance company was pleased because the lady ended up trying to make a fraudulent claim on my insurance, and since I had photos of her car from the scene they were able to determine that I wasn't at fault.

I just upgraded to a Fuji subcompact digital camera. Its smaller size will make keeping it with me a lot easier. Keeping a camera on me all the time seems like a good idea anyway as I always feel like I don't take enough photos.

I have used my cell phone for accident photos. It wasn't great. My new phone is better.

The cameras are a lot better than they were a few years ago. When I was in that accident a few years ago my phone had a VGA camera. My current phone has a 3 megapixel camera, and the new one I'm looking at when my upgrade comes due soon will have even higher resolution. Nice thing about having high end cell phones, they usually come with nice cameras.

-Jay