I always have a sort of general list of things such as: Twizzlers licorice (red, of course), Werthers original candies and some art supplies. Where I was staying in small town Saskatchewan and Alberta there wasn't much in the way of art stores; but I did manage to get to one in Edmonton the day before I left and found a few things that I wanted. The sweet tooth items of course were easy to find. I never realized that I didn't even eat one chocolate bar or bag of Ketchup chips while in Canada, until I was home and talking about the trip with Roy. I guess some things have really gone off of my radar.
One day while wandering around a store with my daughter in law I did, (casually), stroll by the camera counter and saw a camera that interested me. I don't like to spend a lot of money on cameras as I am always afraid of either: losing them, breaking them, having the humidity kill them or just plain wanting a new one, so it was initially, the price on this one that drew me in. I wrote down the name and model number and when we got back to the house I did some checking online. It seemed to have fairly good reviews for what I wanted it for.
The camera I have now I bought in Albuquerque, New Mexico when we were there doing a house sit in September of 2006 and it was around $200.00. It is a Nikon Coolpix and only has 6.2 megapixels and a 5X optical zoom. This camera was bought just before the anti shake feature came out on the cheaper models and it also takes really poor low light shots. My hands tend to shake and also a lot of the events we go to are in the evening, so I was getting very frustrated by the poor quality of pictures that I could take and had almost totally quit taking my camera with me to events. I know, not a good practice for a blogger.
I did go back to the store the next day and buy the camera. It is a FujiFilm FinePix S2900 and has 14 megapixels and a 18 X Optical zoom. It also has the anti shake feature and takes pretty good low light pictures. I looked at the pictures on my sisters and also on my sons, 52 " screen TV's and they were very clear at that size, nice.
I haven't had much time to play with it yet and discover all the features; but so far I am happy with it. It is bigger than my other one which is not the greatest thing, it is not something that you just shove into your pocket or purse; but the bag I bought has enough pockets for me to put stuff in that it will eliminate the need for taking a purse. I need to figure out the settings as some of the pictures I took were on the wrong setting until I realized it and changed that. Lots to learn; but so far so good.
Some examples:
Taken in my sisters back yard in total darkness, with flash.
Without the zoom.
With 18 X Optical zoom.
No zoom.
Again 18 X Optical zoom.
