Digital Camera RIP

[skonen_blades]

It had to happen. After six countries, four years, extreme weather, drunk nights, and a whole shwack of bumps, dents, drops, cracks and even a fun couple of flirtations with 'teh ocean', my camera danced out of my pocket last night and landed unceremoniously on the floor, never to work again. The last time my camera dropped, it actually split open like a sandwich. I merely pressed it back closed with a scrunch and it worked again. Like some sort of Lazarus.

Not this time. I am a man. I did not weep.

If this camera was a cat, it would be on its 25th life. It earned this noble death.

It has been fun, Fujifilm Finepix Z1. You were pocket-sized and easy to carry around. Your unpretentious flat-black face, super fast start-up time, sliding-front-face activation panel and lack of extending lens made me feel like a secret-agent spy sometimes. Your steel bracket of a body kept yourself safe in my clumsy hands. Your giant-for-the-time viewscreen let me preview the pictures beautifully. Your simple and easy to understand interface let me take pictures that I wasn't embarrassed to post online.

I will mourn your passing. The iterations that came after you were not my style. They didn't have your class. Your panache. Your style.

So I am opening it up to the floor. Hey out there.

What's a good camera? Something similar to what I just described. I don't want no bulky, expensive SLRs. I want something sturdy and small.

Suggestions?

I also need a exterior portable hard drive if anyone has any suggestions.

tags

Comments

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Cheers.

[zenrender.livejournal.com]

Just saw a thing on TigerDirect (which means the in-town NCIX will have a similar price) for a Western Digital (I think it was) 640GB drive for $85.00

Try to find one that'll turn itself on/off with prolonged idle, so it doesn't spin your drive in a little fanless box the whole time it's on.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

I'm a doofus. I impulse-bought a Black Armour 160Gb drive for $80. Duh. I am not teh smart. It's good for my porpoises at the moment but I should have waited.

[ambilevous.livejournal.com]

This here url lets you look at photos based on the type of camera. Which is, y'know, useful for seeing if any given camera is a bit shit in the hands of real people.

The Leica C-Lux 3 is a very stylish and pretty camera, though (: (I have a D-Lux-something, which is bulkier than you are looking for and takes great pictures. It's worth mentioning that Panasonic makes an equivalent camera called an FX37. It doesn't ooze style in the same way; but one of these is about a $400 camera, and the other is a $700 one.)

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Hey there. That's a completely useful site. I love it. I ended up going with a Stylus 1030 SW. It's all durable and underwater-capable and stuff. The shots from Flickr make it seem like a good deal. We'll see.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Any by the way, you're fucking awesome.

[icecreamemperor.livejournal.com]

I haven't really looked at point-and-shoots but one of the sites I relied on during my SLR-research spree also has a round-up of the Best Digicams of 2008. It's possible some shiny new cameras have come out since then but probably not too many.

If you want to try and split the difference, or go more high-end, there's also a review of the Canon Powershot SX10. Judging from the specs it's pretty damn swank, and there's also a slightly smaller version, but it's not a spy camera.

[icecreamemperor.livejournal.com]

Reading a bit further it looks like the Powershot is primarily for people who need telephoto-level zoom, and so probably a little overkill on all fronts.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Thanks, though. I'll come back to this if I ever decide to step up my game in terms of photography.

[inri33.livejournal.com]

LaCie rugged drives, with the orange rubber on the edges, are awesome.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Cheers. I ended up going with a Black Armour drive. It was cheap.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

And by the way

http://community.livejournal.com/vancouver/4216961.html

Could be cool if you have some lights.

[inri33.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up, but looks like Keith beat me to the punch. I'll leave that one in his capable hands :)

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

They want more than one photographer. But I see what you're saying.

[shannons-words.livejournal.com]

dude. this be a poem in the making.
its mostly already there

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

yeah, I was thinking that when i was writing it. That would be a good Ode.

[shannons-words.livejournal.com]

you and i seem to like odes! I have a new ode myself, ode to cunnilingus, title still needs work, 'oral kiss', 'petal lick', something, i wrote it for the honey love show, its very unlike me

odes are fun! sonnets can be fun spoken too, you could make this a sonnet

so bummed i can't be at cbc faceoff by the way

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

A rose by any other name would taste as sweet. : )

It's okay. It'll be on the radio.

[zenrender.livejournal.com]

Oh, and can I have your old dead camera? I'd like to take a shot and getting it running again, even if it's doing something seriously weird (if circuit bending for music has already been done, maybe we can invent it for photography).

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

Hell yes.