The Cameras

I’m now on my fifth digital camera …

My first digital camera was the Konica Minolta Dimage G400 – a small but not lightweight compact, which lasted for years. It did duty as my ‘handbag camera’, the one I always have with me just in case. It had 4.0 megapixels and 3x optical zoom. When that failed, I bought a Fujifilm, but was so disappointed with it, I gave it away (to my husband as it happens – once he was used to having a camera on him, it didn’t satisfy him, either!).

So sometime in Spring 2011, I bought the Canon IXUS 130 and I am so pleased with it! It doesn’t have quite the zoom of my husband’s Canon IXUS 220HS, but I prefer the menus and features on the 130, so am content.

Having entered the digital world in 2005, I almost instantly knew what other features I really wanted in a camera, and as I was generally very happy with Konica Minolta, I set my sights on the Dimage Z6. I’d intended to save up for a while before purchasing, however in early 2006 it was announced that KM were ceasing camera production, so I found a price reduction on the precise model I wanted while it was still available.

The Dimage Z6 had 6.0 megapixels and 12x optical zoom with ‘anti-shake’. Conveniently it used standard AA batteries, and a set of four rechargeable batteries has a life of around 2 hours continual shooting. Sadly, this was the camera that our new kittens managed to dislodge from my desk not long after their arrival, which has badly affected its performance, and I am no longer able to use it.

So in July 2009 I purchased a Nikon Coolpix P90 with wide angle, x24 zoom lens and 12.0 megapixels. It is remarkably easy to use (or at least, the transition from the Z6 has been relatively painless, anyway!) with a large, clear screen. It’s fairly lightweight, comfortable to hold and will do the job nicely. It was a choice between the Nikon or the Olympus SP-590UZ which is rated fractionally higher in many reviews, but the Nikon uses the same memory cards as the Z6 and I didn’t need the extra expense of replacing them!

The images I’m currently posting here have all been taken with these four cameras, and edited (if at all) with Picasa.