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Tuesday, April 1, 2008 -
Kit Bag: Nikon S500
After a couple of days on our recent trip I realized that my Olympus Fe-130 was just causing me frustration - it took 6 attempts one day to get it to start up :-(
Time for a replacement then. Annoyingly prior to our trip I had toyed with the idea but dismissed it as unnecessary - I didn't need a replacement secondary camera, the fe-130 would do just fine - and so didn't do much research. Consequently I headed into The Shutterbug in Woodburn Company Stores without a really clear idea of what I wanted. My criteria were:
1) cheap - up to $200
2) small and light - fit into my snowboarding trousers pocket
3) take either xd or SD cards - I have both with me
I explained what I was after and the first camera I was shown was an Olympus tough which is water resistant and shock proof, takes xd cards and small - over budget at $300 though but this wasn't the real killer, after my experience with the Fe-130 I wasn't sure if I was ready to trust another Olympus yet.
We then moved on to the Nikon Coolpix S500 which fitted all the criteria, has easy to use controls and has menus similar enough to the D80 to not send me scrabbling for the manual every other minute. Over the course of the trip, this proved to be reliable, have a good battery life and take a fairly decent snow based picture.
And yes I do remember that one of my tips for photography was to never buy a camera and use it for the first time on an important occasion, like a holiday, but the unreliability of the Fe-130 - at least in cold temperatures - gave me little option.
If you're interested in seeing some of the resulting photos, take a look here
Time for a replacement then. Annoyingly prior to our trip I had toyed with the idea but dismissed it as unnecessary - I didn't need a replacement secondary camera, the fe-130 would do just fine - and so didn't do much research. Consequently I headed into The Shutterbug in Woodburn Company Stores without a really clear idea of what I wanted. My criteria were:
1) cheap - up to $200
2) small and light - fit into my snowboarding trousers pocket
3) take either xd or SD cards - I have both with me
I explained what I was after and the first camera I was shown was an Olympus tough which is water resistant and shock proof, takes xd cards and small - over budget at $300 though but this wasn't the real killer, after my experience with the Fe-130 I wasn't sure if I was ready to trust another Olympus yet.
We then moved on to the Nikon Coolpix S500 which fitted all the criteria, has easy to use controls and has menus similar enough to the D80 to not send me scrabbling for the manual every other minute. Over the course of the trip, this proved to be reliable, have a good battery life and take a fairly decent snow based picture.
And yes I do remember that one of my tips for photography was to never buy a camera and use it for the first time on an important occasion, like a holiday, but the unreliability of the Fe-130 - at least in cold temperatures - gave me little option.
If you're interested in seeing some of the resulting photos, take a look here
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 -
Kit Bag: Everyday camera
The Camera
I'll start with the easy bit, my everyday camera. I carry an Olympus FE-130 with me most of the time for those occasions when carrying my proper camera is too much. I originally bought this camera to take snowboarding with me, as I didn't want the bulk or risk or my other camera, but it now travels around in my work bag, as well as in my handbag at weekend.
The FE-130 doesn't have any manual settings but the scene selection functionality works pretty well and allows me to control some of the settings, I've used the snow scene pretty extensively and it seemed to do a very good job. It takes AA batteries, which is absolutely fine for me for this camera. It uses an XD card which is a slight frustration as my other cameras have been CF, and my next camera is probably going to be SD so I'm getting a great collection of storage media.
All in all a great everyday camera, has its limitations, obviously, but for £65 it has proved to be excellent value for money.
The Case
I carry this camera around in a Hama DF15 Fancy Funny case. It's bright red, and offers a reasonable level of protection. I didn't want too bulky a case as it has to be able to fit into the pocket of my snowboarding jacket. The case wouldn't be sufficient for me for a better camera, but it does just fine for this one, and at £3.99 I have absolutely no complaints to make.
