The New Camera

My birthday isn't for another month, but my wife decided to get my present early so we could use it for upcoming events. I've developed an interest in photography and have tried my hand at interesting pictures, but was somewhat limited with the 4 megapixel Kodak camera she got me for my birthday in 2002. It's a great little camera and was state-of-the-art at the time and I've taken some really neat shots with it, but the technology has come a long way in 7 years and it was time to get something a little better. This is what she got me:

This one is 10.1 megapixels with an 18x optical zoom and more features than I'll ever be able to learn. The funny thing is it cost less than the Kodak did in 2002. Technology marches on.

Having more pixels to work with is great since the resolution is much sharper and if I get something I particularly like I can blow it up without losing clarity. The other big seller for me is the zoom. My Kodak had only a 2x optical zoom with a 6x digital, but the digital zoom rarely got decent pictures. The higher zoom will really pay off when the kids are doing concerts or I want to pick up a feature in the distance.

The camera also has image stabilization which should reduce blurry shots, especially when shooting at night. I may have to go back to Vegas and reshoot my nighttime hotel shots with the new camera (that's a good excuse, anyway).

On March 29, 2002 I took the first test shot with the new Kodak camera of our cat:

So of course, last night once I figured out how to turn it on and take a picture, I went looking for the cat again:

She wasn't interested in posing.

Should be lots of fun shooting with the new camera. I'll get to try it out at a band concert tonight and we have some trips coming up that will offer lots of great scenery.