Monday, 7 August 2006
Picture this
I'm not doing too well at the whole regular-posting thing. But to explain, since the vomit situation cleared up, I've been busy with work and with being a bit bored with winter to be arsed writing anything. I have to be in a certain mood, conducive to creativity before I can write anything I deem worthy of clicking 'publish' for. And for me, the finale of BB06 just wasn't fodder enough for me be bothered turning on the PC, let alone a dissertation on why the voting demographic favours pretty boys over feisty girls.
I have been meaning to write about my new camera. It's a Canon S80. Niftly little compact thing coming in at 8mpx. I got in on insurance after dropping my S40. I was going to write about how I didn't like it; how I felt a bit cheated when it said the minimum focusing distance was 10 cm or something, only to find out it's only that short at 28mm. As soon as you zoom in even a little bit, it jumps out to like 40 cm.
Then, a few days later, I was going to write about how I did like it, after I discovered one of the preset modes, which is digital macro. It basically puts the camera in macro mode and uses the digital zoom instead of the optical zoom, so I can still do the close up macro stuff I enjoy taking. And I know there's obviously going to be a loss in quality but I figure they've at least gone some way to give us the option of taking extreme close up stuff. Also, becasue it's an 8mpx camera, I can shoot at full-res, zoom into 2x and still get something that is probably better than I could have shot with my 4mpx model.
I'm still kicking myself though, that I didn't think to trade in my SLR and see if I could work up to a 20D (or even a 350D).
Kick. Ouch. Kick. Ouch.
(Note to self: don't kick me in the sore ankle).
But then, I thought maybe I could still manage that (trading up, not kicking myself), as just this weekend it started doing weird shit. When the dial was on Auto, the camera showed auto. But when the dial in P mode, the camera wanted to be in TV mode. Dial in TV = camera in TV. Dial in AV = camera in AV. Dial in M = camera in TV. Dial in C = camera in TV. Dial in Scene mode = camera in scene mode. Dial in stitch mode = camera in stitch mode. Dial in movie mode = camera dies on the spot without even retracting the lens and won't start up again until the battery has been taken out, replaced and dial moved to a position other than movie mode.
But then, bugger me if it didn't start working perfectly again last night. Still, think I might ring the camera shop and see what their policy is on refunding insurance jobs and trading up.
But then I wonder if I could really do a DSLR justice cos they're so big and cumbersome and if C wants to go and take pictures, a compact is easier for her. Indeed, that's why I chose the S80 over the other one I could have had, can't remember the model but it was about the same size as a Canon G-series. I take a camera with me everywhere and something this size is a bit more manageable and means I don't have to lug around a whole kit. But then I'm sure I could get more work on the side if I was digital. I have to admit, though I know what I'm doing with my film SLR, the whole instant feedback thing is very comforting when people are paying you to come up with the goods.
What I need to do is to find a couple of grand lying in the gutter and use that to buy a new DSLR, while keeping the compact.
Righto... off to search the gutters of Adelaide.
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