New Camera! Canon Powershot SX120 IS

My new camera has arrived! After finally making up my mind, my new camera arrived less than a week after ordering it with Air Miles. I was impressed. Gift cards ordered from Aeroplan have taken at least 4 weeks to arrive, so I was expecting to wait the same for the camera.

I read reviews on nearly every camera option Air Miles has, and I finally settled on the Canon Powershot SX120 IS. It has been on the market longer than some of the others, so it had more reviews and most were positive.

Upon recieving it, my initial impression was it was very light for a larger camera. It's certainly not slim enough to slip in my pocket. The flash needs to be manually lifted, which may or may not be frustrating. It has a large telescoping lens, which has given me problems on my last 2 Canons. However, I have also beat both of those cameras up pretty bad and I vow to take better care of this one.

Despite this, the SX120 takes the same SD Flash Cards and rechargeable batteries as my last camera. It also has a big viewing screen and picture quality with the 10x optical zoom and 10 MP so far has been good. I snapped a few this weekend to test it out.

I took this photo of my flowerbed while sitting on my deck, 50 feet away.

Here are 2 photos I took of the living room. The first with the flash off and the second with it on. I discovered the indoor mode on the camera after I took these, so I'm looking forward to trying it. Most of the photos I take for my blog are indoors, and I struggled to find the right lighting balance in the past.

I tried to take a photo of Penny and Fergie on Auto mode, but it didn't capture the movement well. It doesn't seem to have a mode to capture movement, but I don't think I ever used this mode on my old camera anyway.

Since arriving at the farm this weekend, I took several baby pictures on Auto, which turned out lovely with the flash. I didn't even use the face recognition feature, which I'm looking forward to.  I do think a small, compact camera would have been nice also, but I might have sacrificed some quality. Overall, I am very happy with the camera so far. True, I didn't "pay"anything for it, so it's hard not to be happy. I'll let you know!

Going Camera Crazy... It's Time to Make a Decision. Help Required.

After regretting not having my own camera for several major events lately, I am going to make a decision this week about which camera I am getting.

I refuse to spend money on a new camera when I have thousands of Air Miles sitting there, idly by, just waiting to be cashed in. Afterall, I am of a firm belief that with Air Canada's kick*ss Elite benefits (hello, Lounge!!) and WestJet's new reward plan, Air Miles will soon be obsolete. I will then personally drop kick myself if I haven't used my 4000 odd miles. Personal abuse aside, how will ANYONE ever earn enough miles for ANYTHING without WestJet on board? I can't buy enough gas or booze to go to the neighbour's on Air Miles, let alone do something worthwhile!

So, I think a camera is a very responsible purchase. Especially since I don't have enough miles for a big screen TV or a wicked trip.

My wish list is small:

1. Minimum 10 MP resolution.
2. Image stabilizer. Use it then use a camera without.. you'll never go back.
3. I hope this is the last camera I ever buy.

All the other features, I could take them or leave them. My last camera was the top-of-the-line 'point & shoot' before migrating to a professional camera, of its time. I rarely used the features. Therefore, I don't think I need to pay extra for them.

Here are the contenders:

Nikon Coolpix L110 - Recommended by 2 friends now. 12.1 MP and 15x Optical Zoom. Smile recognition, HD video, image stabilizer and a pile of other features. It also rates high on some of the online ratings and reviews I've read. Cost: Not avaialble through Air Miles. OOPS! Scratch this one. I'm not paying cash. The L22 and S3000 are available, however, and rate fairly high.

Olympus Stylus Tough 6000- From the description, this is THE camera for me. Shockproof, waterproof and freezeproof. By shockproof, I read you can drop it 6 feet. I need that. And the waterproof feature. 10MP and 3.6 optical zoom (not great, but okay), image stabilizer. My brother's fiance has this camera and they loved the underwater photos it took on their last vacation. Otherwise, I haven't read many good reviews on it. Cost: 2900 AM



Pentax Optio All Weather W80 - This one also sounds good from the description and has some high ratings by users. Waterproof, dustproof and shockproof up to a meter, it also has the face recognition feature and "Pixel Track Shake Reduction" to reduce blur. Cost: Regular 3,300 AM on sale for 2750. Rank: 510







Canon - To be honest, after researching every Canon available on Air Miles, I have not found one that I absolutely want. Ratings and reviews can be funny for that eh? You get all the bad and good. That being said, I likely would've bought a Canon because my last 2 cameras were Canon and I can share the software and cords. I'm glad I checked the reviews because I don't know if I'd be happy with the picture quality. That being said, I may do some more research on the SD1300 and SD960.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20- At first, I would've passed this one up. Air Miles doesn't list its model, so finding reviews was a little tricky. After reading nearly every other camera's reviews, I came back to this one as Panasonic point and shoots seem to rate high on TestFreaks.com (the website where I did a lot of comparison). Only out since January, it is 14.1 MP, 8x optical zoom and has an image stabilizer, all the key features I want. Price: 3200 AM Rank: 288

Nikon Coolpix L22 - Also only released in February. This camera has a "food mode"- intriguing for a blogger, no? At 10MP and 3.6x optical zoom, it does not have an image stabilizer, which was a major 'want'. It ranks high, but other websites suggest Canon or Panasonic as better options. Price: 1400 AM Rate 127

Okay. Anyone have suggestions??? I'm leaning towards the Panasonic. Unless the Canon is really awesome.

No Award Photo Yet

I promised a photo of my framed 'Best of Show' advertising award, and I am failing to deliver on schedule. Truthfully, my camera has decided its taken enough of my beatings, and I will soon have to abandon it to discarded electronic heaven.

Another one bites the dust. I'm embarrassed to say this is my 2nd camera in 5 years. It's not that I don't look after them... well, maybe that's not entirely true either. I go through periods of time where I take my camera everywhere. Beaches, bars, snowboarding, snowmobiling, gardening, running, cow shows ... you get the idea. The products of these activities have proven to be enemies of, most likely, all electronics, cameras not excluded. Sand, sticky drinks, sloppy reflexes, snow and ice, soil, sweat and milk.

After my first digital camera took its last breath, I vowed to religiously keep my new camera in its case. After 6 months, the case was nowhere to be found, and my camera had already had a run in with a milk bucket and shortly thereafter, a windy day at the beach. It was never the same, but it still lasted until now.

I've been borrowing friends' cameras for the past month as I scope out a new one. In an ideal world, I would cash in my Air Miles for the camera of my dreams. In an ideal world, I would also know what camera that is. I've always been a Canon girl, but I really liked my friend's Luminex we had in Quebec. I also looked at the Olympus Stylus Tough. Logically, this camera was made for me... drop it, spill on it, no problems. The reviews weren't so wonderful. So, I'm looking for suggestions. I don't want a professional camera, but I want a point & shoot of at least 10 MP and an image stabilizer.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm heading to my first Home Depot Do-It-Herself workshop tomorrow night - "Intro to Power Tools". Maybe its the comfort factor that is keeping me from taking action on all the things I have planned. I'll let you know how it goes ( and post that photo)!!