My Digital Cameras

One of my interests right now are taking pictures. This has started from one of my teammate before in the office who is very involved in photography. He is very creative in his concepts and in editing his shots. My uncle also got involved in photography when he got to the US. He has his own blog dealing with his passion to photography (www.theshyphotograher.com). You may want to check his blog and learn some new stuffs.

Cameras have evolved thru the years bringing great experience to the consumers. In the past, we used to purchase films for the camera. I never learned how to insert that film. I was too afraid to try it since if you do it incorrectly, the film gets exposed and that's money wasted. Then the digital revolution came that introduced the use of memory cards. I was able to use one of those cameras too thru my uncle.

When I started working, I thought of purchasing one too. I have too many choices and I don't have any idea what to select. I tried reading some articles first but it's too technical for me. Personally, if I don't understand something, I try not to purchase on impulse. But my dad insisted that we purchase a digital camera because we were building our own house back then. I asked my colleague in the office to help me out and told my uncle about it for second opinion. I have a Sony walkman phone then which made me choose a Sony cybershot camera, so I purchased a Sony Cybershot DSC-W90.

We have used this camera a lot in the span of almost five years. It has served our family a lot from taking pictures of our house, activities like graduation and Christmas celebration and finally, it is my travel companion, as well as my sister, to the places we visit. Here are some of the pictures I've taken using this camera:

Razorback gig at The Music Museum

Summer outing at Pangasinan

My Starcraft II

My 13-in Macbook Pro

Thru the years, cameras have improved a lot. I get disappointed when my low-light shots become grainy and noisy. The LCD in the W90 is also small and not that clear so I don't get to fully appreciate the shots I make. Then, I don't get to control my settings manually like the aperture and shutter speed. Well, at least I can change my ISO, but I really would want to control of my camera. I'm just given automatic settings for this camera. With these limitations, I thought of upgrading.

Now, at least, I have ideas already on what to look for a camera. I can purchase a DSLR but I don't want a big camera to carry around. It's also a big investment from the camera frame, to the lens and the rest of it's accessories. So I eliminated the DSLRs in my list. Next is the thought of getting another point and shoot. It's a good choice for me because I want it with me most of the time ready to take shots. A camera for me becomes good when you can bring it all the time. But, I don't want just another automatic point and shoot. I want to manually change my settings and play with it. Then came the Canon Powershot S95.

The Canon Powershot S95 just came last year together with the Canon G12. These two are prosumer cameras that a professional photographer will bring when they want to leave their DSLRs. I spent some time thinking what to purchase between the two. I held both of these cameras at a store to appreciate the look and feel. I just thought of how I will choose the camera without sacrificing the quality of the shots that I'll be taking.

I chose the S95 simply because its small. Now don't get me wrong about it being small. I tell you, it really takes great shots. Here's a review on the Canon S95. I just got it a few weeks back from a friend in the US and I'm having a great time taking shots with it. Some of the low points probably with this camera are the position of the flash and its battery life. I can still manage with these stuffs. Even though the flash is placed in an awkward position, I still manage to handle the camera properly. It's battery, according to reviews, can take only about 200 shots at full charge. I haven't reached to that point yet so I'm still good.

Here are some shots taken from my S95. The shot of the DSC-W90 above was taken from the S95 too.