Why I Can't Have Nice Things

I am notoriously rough on my possessions. Clothes have to be able to survive both the washer and the dryer to live in my house. My shoes generally only last a year or two. I've dropped my phone three times now in the 6 months I've owned it. It's not that I mean to destroy things, I'm just clumsy and unthinking sometimes.

I've owned my beautiful Canon Elph camera for only about a year and a half. I've been careful with it. I've never dropped it. Tried to keep it clean and dry. I've even kept it out of my purse so it won't hit against my wallet. Seriously I've babied this thing. And...it's broken. I took it out to the lake a month and a half ago to take some early morning bird shots. I turned it on to have the lens instantly retract. Lens Error. I started it again...and again...and again. When I finally got the lens to stay out, the zoom won't work at all and all of the images are vignetted. I looked for camera repair places in town with no luck. And Canon will charge me $190 to send it in for them to fix. Sooo...

Meet my new camera. I've been chomping at the bit for over a month now to get a new camera. Going without has been hard. My phone just doesn't cut it. I've been reading reviews to find something in my price range. And I've been focusing on getting something that's a bit more rugged. Meet the blueberry. It's a Fujifilm FinePix XP70. It's waterproof to 33 feet, dustproof, freezeproof to 14 degrees F, and most importantly shockproof at 5 ft. Which means that I might have a chance of keeping it working for a couple of years. I played with it for a couple hours last night right after picking it up and I think I'm going to like it. The photo quality is very good, it's simple to use, I like the feel. The zoom isn't anywhere near as good as my previous. But it's a fine camera that going to be great to get outdoors with. I'll even take it snorkeling and diving with me. It isn't quite as amazing as my Elph was, but it might, just might be Catproof.

Daily Shots

Last November I got a camera for my birthday and wrote about it here. Over the last year the camera has become a regular companion for me. On the weekends I tend to grab it before I leave the house most days. It's light, fits in my pocket, and takes the kind of photos that I always wished I could take. I'm a little in love with it.

And I want to share some of my photos with you. In an attempt to make sure I post a bit more, and to show off some of the beautiful things this camera can do, I'll be posting a picture everyday. We'll see how long this lasts but I love the idea. This will push me to post and push me to get outside to take even more pictures. Win-win, in my book.

So here is my first picture. It was taken with the Super Vivid setting on my camera so the colors are a tad more intense than they would be with other cameras. But this is much closer to what I was seeing that day. It was one of the more glorious days we've had. This was taken right outside the Iowa Arboretum in Boone County. You'll see more pictures from that trip. I took well over 60 in the arboretum alone.

Playing with Pictures

For my birthday this past year I asked for a camera I could carry around in my pocket. As I'm still technologically backwards when it comes to phones, I don't have anything on me that would take pictures that I could then download. My poor ancient cell phone takes pictures but has no way to transfer them. So I wanted a small camera that still took good photos.

My parents bought me the Canon Elph 530HS. I honestly can't remember a birthday present I'm more excited about. I find that I'm taking pictures of things just for the sake of playing with it. This camera has a number of setting that allow me to take tilt-shift photos, fisheye photos, and other gimmicky shots. It also offers video and slow motion video. Just the basic setting takes pictures that are ten time brighter and better than the ones from my old camera. I love my new toy.

Two weeks ago I took the camera out to play with the Snow setting. Since it's Iowa in winter, I didn't have to look far to find snow. Above is the view of the creek right outside our door. Lovely with the snow isn't it? The shots are crisp and bright. But the real advantage of the new camera is the zoom. Note the area across the creek, under the branch on the right. Here is the zoomed in photo. Aren't those cool snow structures? I wouldn't have seen them if it wasn't for the zoom. It's as good as some binoculars I own. And the photos are still crisp.

I took the camera to all of my family events last week. I took video and photos and only had one or two that came out badly, a sharp contrast to my previous camera. With that one, I would be lucky to have one or two that came out. Something like the picture below would never have come out.

I'll leave you with one last picture. It's of the newest guest to visit my bird feeder, a less than welcome guest. Hint: It's not the squirrel. Jeff had to forcibly remove it from our garage this afternoon. It's becoming more and more of a frequent visitor so I might have to end up doing something. We'll have to wait and see.