Some garden blogs provide great information. Cindy at
enclos*ure has written informative posts about cannas and
tea plantations in Rwanda. But my posts are not literary, didactic or informative. It took me a while to appreciate blog posts that have substantively more text than photos. I'm mostly about the photos and often have difficulty cobbling words together between photos. I would have no problem with the meme "Wordless Wednesdays" becoming "Wordless Weekdays and Weekends."
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| Tent Rocks - 2010 |
With this said, I’ve been thinking it might be time to start looking for a new camera. I've noticed that the left edge of my photos is saturated with more color than the other three corners. I’ve dropped the camera a few times and the zoom has become sluggish. The first digital camera I used was a Kodak. It was so simple to use that I bought one for my Mom.
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| Garden 2010 - Aspen Leaves |
The first camera I bought for myself was a Canon. It proved to be too complicated for me and was prior to image stabilization. So I ended up with a Kodak z712 that has 7.1 megapixels and 12x optical zoom. I'm a huge fan of optical zoom.
I’ve been eyeing two cameras, the Panasonic Panasonic DMC-ZS9 and the Kodak EasyShare z990. Below is a comparison of the two cameras.
Feature
|
Panasonic
|
Kodak
|
Megapixels
|
14
|
12
|
Zoom
|
16x
optical 21x intelligent
|
30x
Optical
|
Lens
|
Leica
|
Schneider-Kreuznach
|
View Finder
|
No
|
Yes
|
Batteries
|
Proprietary
battery
|
2 AA
|
Weight
|
<
16 oz
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21 oz
|
Shutter Speed
|
Not sure
|
Can
be slow
|
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| Garden 2010 - kniphofia |
I don’t think I’m in the market for DSLR. It’s beyond what I need. When I had an SLR, I had a Nikon that I loved, but I’ve never tried a Nikon digital camera. About a third of my blog photos tend to be from my phone. It’s great to have on the go. Aside from gardening, vacation photos and snapshots, I sometimes volunteer as a photographer onsite for Habitat for Humanity. Thus, my camera needs are limited.
What kind of cameras are my fellow garden bloggers using? Does anyone have any camera recommendations?
Shopping for a camera is exciting but also overwhelming. I am partial to Nikon and have a D80 which I love. I think a camera is such a personal thing and photographers all have their opinions about which is best! :) Good luck with your camera shopping!
ReplyDeleteKarin, I'm was very fond of old Nikon SLR. I think if I ever get a DSLR, it will be a Nikon.
DeleteOstatnie zdjęcie jest piękne. Ja mam od lipca zeszłego roku aparat kompaktowy NIKON ( COOLPIX S9100) i jestem zadowolona. Pozdrawiam. *** The last picture is beautiful. I have since July last year, Nikon compact camera (Coolpix S9100) and I'm happy. Yours.
ReplyDeleteGiga, I love your photos. I didn't know that you took them with a point and shoot camera. I will have to put the Coolpix on my list of cameras to research.
DeleteCanon A570IS. Looking for more than a point and shoot when I retire in a couple of years. My point and shoot is limited to a 16x zoom. Good luck with finding that camera
ReplyDeleteI ended up giving my Canon to some friends. They took much better photos with it than I did. Congrats on you upcoming retirement! Two years is not that far off!
DeleteSorry I've no suggestions for you! With all the new technology, I feel I'm old-fashioned being a fan of the bigger camera that's steadier in my hand and allows me to look thru a viewfinder. Mine is a Nikon D70 DSLR... The photo of the Yellow Swallowtail is fantastic! And Tent Rocks - awesome place! Hope you find a great camera that fits your needs!
ReplyDeletecharlie - Stacy wrote a post about Tent Rocks that you might be interested in checking out!
DeleteYour photos today all say such wonderful, different things about New Mexico--I love them.
ReplyDeleteI use a Canon SX130IS. I do like the Canons because they allow more control than most other non-DSLR's and because I think the image quality is sharper than other cameras for the price. But I used to have a Canon film SLR, and so all the settings and buttons were familiar to begin with. Well--I give those other high-fallutin reasons, but really the comfort factor played into it a lot.
The Kodak looks like fun, though. Speed seems to be the only downside (it is on my Canon, too), but flowers don't move all that fast, really. Happy hunting--I'm sure you'll find just the right one.
I think you're right about the comfort factor. As I get older my brain isn't as fast as it used to be. So I tend to gravitate towards simpler things that are less complex than when I was younger.
DeleteI can highly recommend the Panasonic. The lenses are really sweet - really, Leica is the best, IMHO. I have a little 7 MP Panasonic point and shoot that I used when we accidentally ended up living in England for three months. Some of the photos I took with it I judge to be among the best I've ever shot.
ReplyDeletePatricia - When I had a darkroom, a Leica was my dream camera! I think the closest I'll get to having one is to buy a Panasonic. :) I smile a little when I read that it has a Leica lens and think ooh la la Leica!
DeleteHi GirlSpout! I have three cameras (well, one just died) and should say that they all took good and bad pictures. Or, saying correctly, I take good and bad pictures with them. One of my cameras - Kodak Easy Share. Many of my best pictures were taken with it. It's small, light, very convenient, fits in a pocket. Good luck! And I need to go and study my cameras manuals...
ReplyDeleteThe Easy Share was the first digital camera I used and it has an intuitive interface. Manuals, I don't like so much and I hope that yours doesn't put you to sleep!
DeleteThe pictures you take are beautiful. I don't think I would be much help here. I have a point-and-shoot camera and it's starting to show it's age (also, there might be some operator error in my photos). Let us know what you end up choosing.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of user error on my part, too - especially when I'm inpatient and only feel like taking a few photos.
DeleteYour photo of the butterfly above is gorgeous! I think you have a great eye for photography so you should spoil yourself and buy the best camera you can.
ReplyDeleteI use a Canon EOS 550D. I love it, but confess to not having progressed beyond using it on Auto, for which I feel very guilty.
I think we've all become spoiled with the auto mode. Ironically, when I had a film camera I refused to use the auto mode.
DeleteI agree with Christine, your butterfly is beautiful and there was no improving on it. But I also agree, you will find so much more opportunity in using a DSLR. So many out there, I only use Nikons, but Canons are superb as well.
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to love her Nikon! Four Nikon enthusiasts have commented and three have DSLRs. I might have to check one out.
DeleteI agree your photos are perfect! I spent some time admiring your butterfly photo...stunning! I got a DSLR for my birthday last year and I love it. I am able to do more with it, and I really appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm trying to evaluate whether a DSLR might be too much camera for me, but should give it some more consideration and decide what I'll be using my camera for in the next few years.
ReplyDeleteYou've taken some beautiful photos with what you have!
ReplyDeleteCamera shopping is definitely overwhelming! Thankfully my husband loves shopping for that kind of stuff and picked our Canon T2i. We actually got it because it was a lot better at low-light, indoor shots than our previous camera (this was before I started garden blogging). I love it, as it's really easy to use, though I'm quite sure I'm not taking advantage of all of its features. (I need a class!)
I'm impressed that you can take great pictures with your phone, though! My phone's camera hates me!
Sometimes, my phone takes better picture than "real" camera.
DeleteWow, I guess I just assumed you used a very fancy DSLR for your photos! They are fantastic! I've had SLRs in the past, but my camera skills really took off when I bought my first digital camera. It was an Olympus, and I don't remember the model, but the shots were amazing and the color and detail were superb. My daughter dropped it so I had to buy a new one. I went with a Kodak EasyShare, which I still use for flash and people photos because it's so easy. But it's very limited for distance shots and low-light situations. My most recent camera is another Olympus with a 14 megapixel resolution and a 22X optical zoom. I just got it this fall, so I'm still playing around with it. Buying a camera is fun! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteNo DSLR yet, but I'll add it to my wish list. Thanks for sharing your camera info. It sounds like you found a great camera to use. I agree; I think my camera skills have improved with a digital camera because I don't have to worry about wasting film.
DeleteI have a Nikon, and a Fuji that works equally well. I'm not a photographer I just record the garden.
ReplyDeleteI am not fond of wordless; please tell me what I'm seeing. You don't have to be wordy, though. My eyes glaze over when the paragraphs get long.
I tend to glaze over, too if the post is too long. Sometimes, I look at the photos and come back and read the text later for longer post, too.
Delete