Camera

I just bought a new camera! Well, I got it for Christmas.... kinda. I had been gently informing my parents for about a year now that my current camera, a Nikon Coolpix 5600, was completely inadequate for anyone who actually wants decent photographs. This year they decided to buy me one (how nice of them!), but didn't know what to get, and figured I knew what I wanted enough that they probably couldn't pick it out without consulting me first. So after Christmas I began to look for cameras, and found this one, with some help (-_^):

Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS 8.0MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

It is, in a nutshell, amazing. It's about a half-step down from a full-blown digital SLR, and thus much more powerful than a regular point-and-shoot. 12x zoom, image stabilization, dozens of scene settings, the option for manual calibration as well, and lots of other great things about it I'm sure I'm forgetting. It's several orders of magnitude better than my old Coolpix, and probably one of the best cameras on the market for its class. The only real drawback is that it is quite large (about 15 oz) and bulky, so it will be more difficult to take places easily. I waffled on my decision a lot because of this, and almost bought the Canon SX100, a similar camera, cheaper and a bit weaker in features, though about twice as light and more streamlined. However, many of the reviews I read said that it had a long flash recovery time, and that is probably the feature I despise the most about my current camera. It also doesn't have a viewfinder, and while I use it seldom, not having the option was somewhat disconcerting. So bye-bye the SX100 went, and all the arguments I had in favor of the S5 got that much stronger. I think I'll be really glad I got it. I guess I'll just have to get used to lugging around a big camera, and deal with the extra weight while backpacking (a valid concern, but it's not like a backpack that often anyway).

When I receive it, I'll probably post some pictures from it. (^_^)