Saying cheese, or saying sex, both work well when taking someone's snap.
My old camera was looking battered, it was slow to start, slow to focus, at times not focusing at all, the brightness of the photos seem to be often wrong and the zoom control was slow to move especially when the camera was cold, the lens cover did not always fully retract, again worse with the cold and lastly I hated the touch screen from day one. I used the stylus on wrist strap to control it, but even so at times I would accidentally touch the screen. The camera had taken nearly 10,000 photos, the same as the one before and the one before that and had made three overseas trips, I think. I reckoned I was owed a new one.
I went to Michael's Camera Store where I bought the last one and sought advice. The last was a Canon IXUS 510 HS 12x optical zoom. The salesman asked what I liked about the old camera. Not much really and I told him what I disliked about it and told him it was pretty well worn out. He showed me a couple of cameras and I suggested they were too big for my purposes. He then showed me a Nikon Coolpix S7000 20x optical zoom. I liked it immediately although I wasn't keen to change camera brands, especially as my present card was Mini SD and this new one took an SD and he wanted $20 for the new card which I knew I could get cheaper elsewhere. Ok, I had almost decided to buy it but the camera was white. Can I have it in black please? Sorry, out of stock. I can take your name and number and call you when we get stock. Fine, I said, gave my details and left.
Since then Ken in France of
Living the life in Saint-Aignan bought a new camera after trying a couple of others and not liking them. He takes good photos, so let me have a look at what he bought. His is a Canon Powershot SX700 HS. Click
here to read his experiences. While what seemed to be more available here is the Canon SX710 HS. I couldn't really see the difference between the two but the 710 was more expensive.
I took a very hard look at the Canon and it sounded great until I looked at the weight and the size. It was certainly a bulkier camera and I think the weight was around 250g whereas the Nikon one above comes in at 160g. So I crossed that off the list.
My point about size and weight is that it no good me having a very smart and expensive camera if it is sitting at home and not in my pocket. My camera mostly goes everywhere with me. I can't really hold my phone still enough to take reasonable photos with that.
I waited and waited for the call, about four weeks and I heard nothing. Damn them. I will look at online prices. Hmm, can be bought cheaper. I won't buy from overseas unless it is Amazon, where Ken bought his. Amazon was a bit cheaper. Reputable online local sellers, a bit cheaper. I don't know. I looked at Ted's Camera Store online and I think the camera was a bit cheaper there. Ted's is near Michael's in Elizabeth Street, so into town we went, with me really unsure about what I was going to do.
I really prefer to buy from a proper shop and I don't mind paying a bit more to get the service, but without the phone call from Michael's to even tell me they were having trouble obtaining the Nikon in black, I was a bit cross and very tempted to just click on Amazon's buy button.
Ok, we will see what Ted's can do and maybe bargain them off against Michael's. We were walking up Elizabeth Street when we came to a shop I had never seen before, just before reaching Ted's. Michaels is just a bit further along. The shop was called Digi Direct. Ha, if I bought something there and anything went wrong I could blog with the headline Dodgy Digi Direct. Always thinking ahead I am; planning for when things go wrong. Apparently
I am not the only one who does that, hey Pants. Well, they had the camera in stock, in black, for a cheaper price than Michael's or Ted's. The deal was clinched with the 8gb camera card at $17 not $20 ($10 at JB HiFi). I bought it and left and so far I am happy with it although time will tell.
Oh yes, the price for the new Nikon Coolpix x20 zoom was $247. I did not bargain to bring the price lower. I think the price was fair and R was getting a certain look on his face everytime I had mentioned the word 'camera' in the past few weeks. He'd had enough.
I also recall
Diane, who knows enough about photography to teach people some skills, mentioning that she thought photos appeared better on blogs if they were first uploaded to Picasa and then put on your blog, so here is some testing of photos. You can't really do this without the publishing the post as preview won't allow you to click on the photos.
Original size upload to Picasa new camera
Original size upload to Picasa old camera
Resized upload to Picasa new camera
Resized upload to Picasa old camera
Direct blogger original size upload new camera
Direct blogger original size upload old camera
Direct blogger resized upload new camera
Direct blogger resized upload old camera
I have three cameras now, each one taking better photos than the last. This was taken with my phone. The oldest camera, the silver one, still works. I switched it on and the noise of the lens opening was loud.
And lastly the new camera taken by the old camera. I have pulled that ugly blue and white sticker off it now.
No, I am not going to say anything about the way the lens comes out and how big it is. Funnily if the camera is sitting flat when the zoom is put to the full, it tips forward, something to note if it is on a tripod.