One of my 43things when I signed up was to take more pictures. I don’t think I’m alone in enjoying photographs and the memories they can bring back – but I’m terrible at remembering to take them. A really significant part of the problem has been that my camera, as fantastic as it is, is just too big to carry around comfortably. Plus no one likes have a big camera pointed in their face – especially one that looks like it might be dangerous.
This week I invoiced and got paid for a big chunk of work I’d been doing, and whilst the vast majority of it is going towards one of my other 43things (paying off the dreaded credit card), I decided to splash out just a little and get myself a compact camera.
For a long time I’ve been a big fan of the aesthetics of the Canon IXUS range of cameras. They’ve been making them for years, first in traditional 35mm, then APS, and then inevitably digital. The fact that they’ve been around for so long and yet still seem to be innovating, combined with some hands on experience with my father’s IXUS lead me to start my search at Canon’s door. And I wasn’t disappointed.
The model I went for was the 5 megapixel IXUS 50 (which is called the PowerShot SD400 in the States). It’s extremely compact, has a x3 optical zoom (plus x4 digital) and takes photos at 2592×1944 pixels (I think). I opted for the compactness over the extra 2 megapixels of the IXUS 700, which was bulkier. Who really needs that res on a compact camera anyway. Well, I don’t at least.
One really terrific aspect of modern digital cameras seems to be the shutter release delay. My old Sony typically took about 1.5 seconds between pressing the release and taking the picture. Fine for still life, but useless for anything that moves. They seem to have sorted that out, and the delay on my new Canon is negligible.
The other thing I did to help on the photo front was to sign up with a pro account on flickr. Not much in my photostream at the moment, but that’s the point. I simply must take more pictures. And isn’t flickr just fantastic?
Comments
I “upgraded” to the SD400 for a couple of reasons: (1) it’s half the thickness and a little smaller in the other two directions, making it much more pocketable than the (admittedly already quite small) S410 and (2) the lack of shutter lag time you mentioned. I’ve really got no excuse to NOT carry it with me and take a lot of photos.
Also I’ve just started using the FlickrExport plugin for iPhoto which makes things very simple and straightforward.
I’m with Dave- the iPhoto flickr plugin is the only reason I started using Flickr. It just makes it so easy…
I bought the IXUS 400 a couple of months ago and I absolutely love it. I’m still completely and utterly crap at taking pictures, mind, but it’s a start…
The macro features are great. I’ve taken some really cool shots with it and love its size.
Part of the reason I got a digital camera was for the size. I have a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm, but it just takes up so much room, especially in its case. The digital camera I bought, the Canon A70, is not as small as your SD400, so I don’t carry it around in my purse all the time (like I do with my iPod), but it is still small enough that I don’t feel conspicuous hauling it around. Of course, it’s not in the same class as my 35mm, but it does a pretty good job. The A70’s, unfortunately, are having a lot of problems. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before I start getting weird streaks and E18 errors, according to all the reviews coming in.
Also, I felt I needed something with a quick start-up and a quick response on the shutter. The IXUS 50 did it all and I’m well chuffed with it after 2 months.
One thing though. It has compatibility problems with some brands of SD cards.. I got a Bytestor card and found that after about 60 shots it would freeze up and give errors. I wouldn’t be able to view the pictures I’d taken on the camera or download them directly from the camera, only via a card reader. Best stick with a Canon card or a Sandisk. I can’t remember the link to the forum thread that listed all the good/bad cards but if I do I’ll comment again. In lieu of that, have a google around.