The old reliable, great-little-camera-in-its-day, 2 megapixel Fujifilm FinePix 2600Z, didn't actually die - it just stopped being reliable. Its output looked almost (but not quite) like the flash and shutter were out of synch - one exposure with a ghost-like second image slightly offset from the first. Our working theory is that it is in the process of slowly succumbing to the moisture absorbed during the Maid of the Mist excursion to the base of Niagara Falls, in which everything on the weather deck was, naturally, soaked to a fair-thee-well. Although I kept it under my poncho when not in use, and carefully dried it out afterward, we think that the FinePix may have finally been infiltrated by slow-growing internal corrosion, well known to all Marines as "The Creeping Crud".
So it was time to get something
(a) reliable
(b) up-to-date
(c) affordable
The solution turned out to be the Lumix DMC-FZ5 (see review at FZ5). Various articles convinced me that 5 megapixels was entirely adequate for my needs, since I can't remember the last time I blew anything up to 16x20 inches (!). I don't even remember the last 8x10 I did! Economic reality convinced me that $350 (Circuit City after rebate) was about the right level of financial involvement.
Look closely at the first image [click on it for a larger view]. See the manufacturer's imprint on the lens? Leica! A Leica lens on a digital point-and-shoot? That's almost a deal-closer, right there.
On the left side of the lens barrel in the image, you can maybe just make out part of the label "12X Optical Zoom 35mm Equiv 36-432" 36-432 zoom? How many interchangeable leses do I need? (Digital zoom extends that 4x, not that I would ever use digital zoom.)
The little red logo beneath that says "Mega O.I.S." That's "Optical Image Stabilization" Image Stabilization on a point-and shoot?
A Leica 36-432 zoom with image stabilization grabbed me and wouldn't let go. This was The Camera (at least for me), perhaps one of the best kept secrets in photography today!
Watch the pictures we post from now on.
So it was time to get something
(a) reliable
(b) up-to-date
(c) affordable
The solution turned out to be the Lumix DMC-FZ5 (see review at FZ5). Various articles convinced me that 5 megapixels was entirely adequate for my needs, since I can't remember the last time I blew anything up to 16x20 inches (!). I don't even remember the last 8x10 I did! Economic reality convinced me that $350 (Circuit City after rebate) was about the right level of financial involvement.
Look closely at the first image [click on it for a larger view]. See the manufacturer's imprint on the lens? Leica! A Leica lens on a digital point-and-shoot? That's almost a deal-closer, right there.
On the left side of the lens barrel in the image, you can maybe just make out part of the label "12X Optical Zoom 35mm Equiv 36-432" 36-432 zoom? How many interchangeable leses do I need? (Digital zoom extends that 4x, not that I would ever use digital zoom.)
The little red logo beneath that says "Mega O.I.S." That's "Optical Image Stabilization" Image Stabilization on a point-and shoot?
A Leica 36-432 zoom with image stabilization grabbed me and wouldn't let go. This was The Camera (at least for me), perhaps one of the best kept secrets in photography today!
Watch the pictures we post from now on.
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