new toy

i got myself my christmas present today. for a long time i’ve been wanting a digital snappy-happy camera. i love doc’s prosumer model sony f828 but it is rather bulky and not so convenient for just carrying around day-to-day. so i decided that once we got paid for the brochure project from hell that i helped doc with in august and september, i would take a little of that money and get myself a camera as a christmas present.

so i did, just a bit early.

i got a canon powershot sd400. my decision was based on a number of factors, the most important being size and image quality. i wanted one that was sub-$500 (sub-$400 if i could) and at least 5 megapixels. it may be a snappyhappy, but i wanted decent resolution. my research pointed at this particular canon model. it is quite tiny (about 3.5″x2″x1″) but has a large LCD screen and will fit nicely into my purse. plus, i love the way it looks — it feels solid and heavy and has a somewhat retro/james bond-ish look to the body. the camera plus a 1GB memory card only came to $400, so it was definitely in my price range.

the other one i was particularly interested in was the new sony t7. it’s only about 1/2″ thick, and about 4″x3″. amazingly thin, beautifully designed. i was initially leaning towards the sony because i’m familiar with the interface and controls on sony models, but this was $450 (although for that price you get 7 megapixels) and it takes memory stick pro duo (not memory stick pro, so i couldn’t use our existing memory cards in it) — and the duo memory is prohibitively expensive.

so i went with the canon. so far, i’ve only found 2 things that annoy me, and these are common to all small-footprint digital cameras, so i really can’t complain much: the fact that you have to remove the battery and put it in a charger to charge it up; and the SD memory card doesn’t just mount on the desktop (or maybe i’m just doing something wrong). i had to install the software that came with it on the CD (gag). i hate using proprietary software that comes with electronics. it always sucks. i just want to directly drag the photos to my computer and use photoshop to do any editing.

or maybe if i stick the SD card into a card reader, i can avoid having to use that vile software. hmm. i’ll have to try that.

anyway, here is one of the first photos i’ve taken: my atrocious looking fingernail on my right hand (from when i smashed it and went unconscious several weeks ago).

my god, my hands look old. i’m only 33! i need some lotion or something.

and here is a picture of the snuffler. she looks awfully cute here.