camera acquired

[julesjones]

Had a poke around a couple of websites to get a feel for what I might want, and then had a chat today with a friend who's a pro photographer, who suggested that I go and have a word with our branch of Jacobs. I have come away with their mega kit in-house repack of the Canon Ixus 115 HS, which includes the OEM box, plus an off-brand spare battery, a 4GB SDHC card, and a Crumpler carry pouch, for 120 quid. There are other possible options out there, but this was everything I need for Eastercon inna box. I had a play with the demo one, and although the teeny weeny controls do not suit my middle-aged eyes, it really is sufficiently simple in point and shoot mode that it doesn't matter, and the optical zoom seems to be just about good enough that I can probably take stage shots with it (assuming the online reviews are right about it doing well at 800 ISO).

This isn't a direct replacement for the late lamented, and it certainly isn't a replacement for the film SLRs that have been lying unused for a while, but it will do very nicely as the pocket camera half of a return to my old style of carrying both a pocket camera and an SLR and using both according to the situation. It should also be Good Enough to make do with until I feel that I can handle a mid-range serious enthusiast's camera safely again -- which is probably not going to be for a few months, even if I'm showing rapid improvement on the RSI.

Rather than a digital SLR, I may go for friend's recommendation of a Canon G12 when I've got the money and working muscles. One of the reasons I never got around to buying a digital SLR to replace my old film SLRs was that for various reasons I was doing less photography anyway, and I then found that the A620 I acquired as a hand-me-down actually did pretty much everything I wanted most of the time from either a pocket P&S or an SLR. It didn't fit in a pocket, but it was small enough to keep in a handbag or on a belt loop. Another high end compact may well be the way to go.

Comments

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Well done. Sounds like a good buy. :)

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

I second the recommendation of the Canon G12. Every picture I've posted since last May has been with my Canon G12. Cool thing is, the G12 has all the bells and whistles of my old Minolta X700 SLR (well, except for the lenses) plus video capability, and it's a dang nice camera. Works well for portability, I've taken it skiing with no problems. Travels nicely as well.