digital camera

[cellio]

My ancient and venerable digital camera has been somewhat unreliable in a way that's not worth repairing, given that it's ancient and venerable. (I often tend to hang on to hardware past the point when I really should just upgrade anyway. Exhibit A: my HP LaserJet 5L, which has mostly served me well for more than a decade.) But hey, digital-camera technology has certainly gotten better, and low-end photographers like me don't need all the expensive bells and whistles. So today I set out to improve my photographic situation before Pennsic.

Oh, Cannon PowerShot A530, I think we are going to have a long and pleasant relationship. I don't know what half your advanced functions even mean yet, but I will enjoy finding out. The camera is a good size for my hand, has controls that are tight enough not to be mushy without being difficult, and seems to take good pictures. (The real test of that involves a different operator, I suspect.)

It comes with software that I'm ignoring for now; my computer has a built-in card reader and that works just fine.

Conversation with the sales guy while discussing features I wanted:
Me: I wouldn't object to re-using my current memory cards.
Him: What do you have?
Me: Compact flash.
Him: Almost no one uses that any more.
Me: Bummer.
Him: A gig of SD (what everyone uses now) costs $25; do you care?

I'm pretty sure my current 128MB card cost rather more than that. :-) (And on the other hand, given how cheap memory is, you'd think that as a gesture of goodwill, the camera would come with more than a 16MB card. I didn't bother to peel off its plastic.)

Comments

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

my HP LaserJet 5L

Heh. We're still using a LaserJet 4. Those things are built to last!

[alienor.livejournal.com]

My parents only got rid of the LaserJet 4 this past year! I'm still using the 6L I got in 1998. Good investment!

[goljerp]

Some friends got Joy and me a A530 recently when they found out I was planning on using disposable cameras and my ancient Pentax ME Super to take pictures of JD. So far I've loved it. I installed the software on my mac; I'm not terribly impressed with it, but it hasn't been horrible either.

I think the camera companies sell cameras with the 16 meg cards for the same reason computer companies sell computers without monitors, keyboards, or mice: it makes the prices seem lower, and, well, some people already have good replacements...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Nomi and I have the A530 now. We've been enjoying it immensely.

[cellio]

I've had a couple problems with my printer recently and have wondered whether it's time to replace it, but so far I've been stubborn. :-) (It lost half its on-board memory a few months ago, which meant I couldn't print full pages of Hebrew any more. Instead of spending $150-200 for a new printer I spent $20 for an auxiliary memory card. There's a principle that you don't put money into stuff that old, but I did.)

I'm told that HP eventually decided that the vertical paper tray was a bad idea because it catches dust that can then gum up the works. I hadn't considered that; maybe I should improvise a cover for when the printer isn't in use. Either that or apply compressed air every now and then.

[cellio]

The two main reasons I want a digital camera are being generous with shots (can always prune later) and knowing immediately whether the shot I took is probbably good. (I can't judge focus on the little LCD, but I can at least judge brightness, color balance, and framing.) If I don't like the shot I can try again, rather than getting the pictures back from the lab a week later and then finding out it wasn't a good shot. (There's also the whole "not having to deal with film and the lab" thing. :-) )

I think the camera companies sell cameras with the 16 meg cards for the same reason computer companies sell computers without monitors, keyboards, or mice: it makes the prices seem lower, and, well, some people already have good replacements...

That certainly makes sense for higher-end equipment; I have the impression that the tier from which I bought my camera is considered entry-level, so it surprised me a little. But yeah, so long as it's hard to leave the store without ensuring that you have a real card, the model works.

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

Oh, you will like it. The Canon A500 series are sweet little cameras. Juliana has an A520 and I have an A540 -- one of the reasons I have the A540 is we liked the A520 so much.

S

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I bought an A510 a while ago. It's ok for a starter digital, but it consumes (DC) battery power pretty quickly, and you can't take pictures too rapidly. I've also found when using the zoom feature I lose some light.

About the Canon Software...

[(Anonymous)]

Mostly, the Canon software's unnecessary.

However, the camera has a panorama mode (it might be called something else) where you can take a bunch of pictures and then stitch them together later. Canon's "stitch it together" software works pretty well. The UI is atrocious, but the end product produced by the software is good. I've heard tales from others who've used it to stitch together large scanned images like maps.