A camera that looks like the offspring of an ill-advised one night stand between a Transformer and a compact camera is almost certainly going to be packing some muscle. You’re staring at the Optio WG2 and WG2-GPS – a couple of seriously tough compact cookies that laugh in the face of nature.

Both the Optio WG2 andf WG2-GPS have been designed to brave the elements, so are therefore waterproof, dustproof and shock-resistant.

Being so well-trained for the great outdoors means they can be submerged in up to 12 metres of water, they can shake off a 1.5 metre drop, withstand temperatures as cold as -10 degrees and weight of up to 100kgf.

Pentax tells us its back-illuminated CMOS image sensor makes the 16MP snappers ideal for shooting in poor light conditions, promising much lower noise – even when the camera is set to higher sensitivities for clear and sharp images.

Besides the obvious navigational difference between them both, the Optio WG2 and WG2-GPS go head to head on all-weather skills and specs – like 5x optical zoom, the ability to shoot full HD video at 30fps and their high-res 3in LCD displays.

By forking out a tlittle extra cash on the Optio WG2-GPS, you can look forward to geotagging your photos and making full use of GPS-compatible apps and services like Google Maps. It automatically changes the built-in clock to match local time of your location, too, saving you the bother.

Pentax’s hard-as-nails WG2 and WG2-GPS will be available from March, for US$470 and US$525 respectively.