Testing

My older little point and shoot digital camera has been flagging, becoming balky about such things as focusing. Then I dropped my DSLR on the floor (!) on its zoom lens today and heard it crunch. Sure enough, the lens is bent and will never work again. Fortunately, the camera body seems ok. Because I've wanted a macro lens for it for some time, I went off to Richmond Camera to see what I could get. Wow, are macro/zoom lenses expensive! Since it falls into the category of "the same year I buy the Porsche/win the lottery," I poked around and found a new point and shoot camera instead (one-third of the price of that lens) and have taken a few pictures to see what I think. It has more zoom, more megapixels and more adjustments than my other point and shoot.

You have seen these projects before, although I haven't had Americana out since last Fourth of July, when I realized I wasn't going to finish in time to have it framed for the holiday. Maybe this year? Otherwise, it's Tulips and Janet Gibson--I want to see if they look better/worse than the others I shot. I learned an incredible amount from the sales woman at the camera store, and I found some nifty gadgets that I'd like in the future--like a light ring that fits around your lens. It gives a soft white light that eliminates the shadow on your close-up stuff. And they have something that fits over your lens that you can place a slide in. Hold it up to the window, take the "picture," and you've converted your old slide to digital, without the expensive processing fee. Scanners do the same thing, but they're more expensive (this little gadget is $99) and the clarity isn't as good. My parents have box after box of Kodachrome slides. What a great gift it would be for me to turn those slides into photos and put them in an album.

Note to self: the camera's only as good as the dummy pressing the button....
New camera:

Old camera. Of course, the light is different, and probably the degree of my handshake is different too--depends on how many diet cokes I've had.