G’day; It is now over 8 weeks and goodness knows how many pictures
later since I got my Canon S20 (3.2 mega pixels) and so I thought I
would share some of my observations not just on that one, but digital
cameras in general. It took a little studying and practising to learn
how to use the thing. but I’m improving.
Well, after the first splurge of money I didn’t think I’d have to buy
anything else - but then I just HAD to get a spare battery. (NZ $80)
Digicams EAT power! It is that screen on the back (or wherever) So
it takes only just over an hour to charge using the charger you get
with the camera. But Murphy is alive and well and living in batteries;
you get the ‘battery low’ signal just before it packs up when you need
to take those special shots. So you need a spare. Only takes seconds
to install. If you have one.
That screen isn’t much good as a viewfinder when you are in bright
sunlight so you have to use the optical finder a lot, especially for
zooming. And that digital zoom they go on about at length, well, it
doesn’t show in the optical finder. And you can’t see the picture on
the screen; the screen is swamped with sunlight. Hold your finger on
the zoom button - and the optical picture zooms in and out; not really
what you want - yet the digi zoom is there. Where? Guess?
What about the high resolution - which eats room on the recording
medium? Well why not use it HI or Medium? it doesn’t cost anything
more, and when you get to the computer you can pull the picture into
a graphics program, select just that tiny bit in the huge shot you
needed to zoom on - copy and paste - and there is an excellent hi-zoom
picture.
But the camera comes into it’s own in shady or even dim places - it
took an excellent pic of a sea horse in a local dark public aquarium.
Often it does it’s thing producing an excellent picture indoors
without a flash. I did one in an exhibit of jewellery. (naughty bad!)
at 2 feet, no flash (didn’t want to attract attention!)_ - and it is
good. It did well too in my workshop using time delay. Mine does well
in macro mode down to 7 inches. Others do better - but I cheated and
used a magnifying glass to photograph unset gems. Good shot at 2 x
original - and six inches diameter when printed! But the thing that
stands out in my opinion is the fact it slips into one’s shirt pocket
- there when needed - and one can be really profligate with picture
taking - at no cost. Bore all your rellies and mates with hundreds of
email attachments! An 8" x 6" print on decent photo glossy paper
printed at 1450 dots/inch comes out really well - as good as a similar
shot with a good SLR film camera enlargement and impossible to tell
which. (costs about $NZ 1) And you can take out that rotten power pole
(or old girlfriend) too. Come home, download into your computer - and
they are still in the camera if needs be. Almost instant pictures. Put
in clouds, darken, lighten, change contrast, colours and subtle hues -
have fun! but don’t believe any photos you see ever again! Finally,
mine really needs a UV filter. You see, sunlight in NZ can be pretty
fierce and very high in UV (11 minutes to sunburn at 12 noon) All
sunlit pictures - especially the beach and seascapes - have a purple
cast over them with my digicamera. But I’ve never seen a digicam UV
filter.
I enjoy my new (damned expensive) toy which the Chief Accountant,
Head Cook and Senior Geriatric Nurse bought me just before Christmas.
Cheers,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ