A new survey out today by JD Power and Associates seeks to figure out what exactly consumers want out of their digital cameras. The answers, at least to me, were a bit surprising.

According to the survey, the most desired feature in a digital camera is weatherproofing, cited by 67 percent of point-and-shoot users and 63 percent of digital SLR shooters. More memory beat out weatherproofing slightly in the survey’s poll of ultra-slim camera users, but it still came in near the top of the list.

Weatherproofing - particularly for those with digital SLRs - can be anexpensive proposition, and many camera manufacturers haven’t done a whole lot to incorporate a whole lot of weatherproofing features into their lines of digital cameras. Consumer-class SLRs like the Canon 40D are listed as “weather resistant”, but I certainly would never put that to the test in a rainstorm. And point-and-shoot digital cameras typically don’t have a whole lot of weather resistance either, although the Olympus stylus line is a notable exception.

Some other interesting facts from the survey:

– DSLR owners take the most photos in one month, averaging 454 images, followed by premium point and shoot owners (159), ultra slim owners (96), and point and shoot owners (83).

– Customers who purchased an extended warranty report significantly higher overall satisfaction scores (768, on average) with their cameras, compared with owners who did not purchase a warranty (732, on average). In 2008, 23 percent of DSLR, 17 percent of premium point and shoot, 16 percent of ultra slim and 13 percent of point and shoot owners purchased an extended warranty for their digital camera.

Full report is available here.

What are your thoughts on the survey? What features do you look for in your purchase? Is weatherproofing the next big thing?

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