WooHoo! Another New Toy

I've been complaining for quite a while about the little digital camera I've been using for the blog. We do have a nice digital SLR, but it's too much trouble to remember to haul it up to the studio, so I only use it for photo shoots for juried show applications, a couple of times a year, max.

I've been wanting a replacement small camera for casual, daily use. Okay, birthdays can come sooner than the calendar date, when required...

Last week, while I was in the Bay Area, I went to a big electronics store (Fry's Electronics, which has a good variety of cameras you can hold and run through menus, etc.) and finally settled on a Panasonic DMC-LS85. It has 8 megapixels (more than I need, really), a 4x digital zoom, and image stabilization. We shopped online to find a good price, and the camera came today!

I also bought a 6-GB memory card (for a whopping US$10!!!!!). Hey, I remember when I was working at a file server manufacturer in Silicon Valley, and their first 1-GB disk drive came out. As employees, we were allowed to purchase a drive for $250, and it came in a case about the size of a shoe box, maybe a hiking boot box :) Nowadays, 6-GB comes in a card about .75-inch by 1-inch by infinitessimal.

And the size and weight comparisons? Old camera, 16 ounces; new camera, 6 ounces. They're both about the same height and width, but the new camera is about half the depth.





The first picture - the old camera - was taken by the new camera. Notice the WHITE tabletop that's the background. Really white. and the red type on the camera body is RED. Really red.

The second picture - the new camera - was taken by the old camera. It's sharp enough, but the color range is off, no matter what I do to the White Balance setting. The WHITE table has a yellow-grey cast, even after tinkering in P'shop.

Modern technology, ain't it wunnerful!