Since I’ve been running a fairly popular website for 8 years, and blogging for about 3 years, and I’m always afraid that I’ll drop my wife’s digital camera as I roll down a hill on a skateboard while shooting pictures of another skateboarder…
…today I got my own digital camera. It’s still too nice to drop, but at least if I do I’m not in trouble. haha — ha —
Anyway, here is what I got — the Canon PowerShot SD750
After researching this for a while, I came to a few conclusions. 1) I wanted something I could have in my pocket. 2) I like the menu system and controls of Canon cameras. 3) Finally, if you read too many camera reviews, it will drive you crazy.
When buying a truely compact digital camera there are some tradeoffs. None of them have a lot of optical zoom. This one has 3x optical zoom. In a camera this size, that’s about as much as you will find. If you read reviews on CNET or similar sites, keep in mind that they can really knit-pick. For example, they harped on the “purple fringe” on some of this camera’s pics. Sure — if you take a shot, and then blow up a tiny section 4x you might see it, but I have to say that so far I think the quality is fine. If you are really that freaked out about having perfect image quality, you need to spend money on a digital SLR, not a compact point and shoot camera. I have to say though that CNET was a really useful site. They gave me just enough good info, without overwhelming me with technical data.
Some other good points: This camera has really big, nice screen. It doesn’t have an optical viewfinder — big deal. Not important to me. The controls and menu system are very easy to use. I like the fact that the text/symbols on the control buttons are actually legible – you can see them. Good stuff.
The burst mode will crank out a series of images pretty fast. Cool. I’ve been playing with the various settings — trying different ISO settings, the Macro setting, etc. The automatic red-eye removal is magic. Very, very cool. The facial recognition actually works.
The Auto mode is great. In manual you can do some interesting stuff. Blah, blah, blah. Obviously I like my new camera. But I’m not a fan-boy. If it sucked, I’d say it sucks. But its a good camera.
Sooooo….if you are looking for a nice compact in the range of $280 – $300, this would be a good choice.
My previous post contains a few of the first images I took.