Of Elphes and Oblivion

No knitting or spinning to talk about today. Today it's all about new toys. You see, I've been jonesing for a new camera for a long time. I know, I know, John got me that Sony T1 not very long ago, but it just wasn't the camera for me. Too many blurry shots in point-and-shoot mode and it really didn't reproduce colors well unless they were in the orange/yellow/brown color range. It was a real disappointment because I liked everything else about the camera. I tried to give it a fair shake, but I just couldn't make it work. So it went back in it's box and I went back to my Nikon CoolPix. My Nikon may be a bit elderly, but it still does pretty well when it comes to capturing color and texture.

Not so well when it comes to weight, taking pictures quickly and being carried in a small purse, however.

So with spring on it's way, a fibery woman's heart turns to thoughts of Maryland. And Maryland means interesting photo opportunities. Which brought me back to thinking about cameras.

So one weekend not too long ago, John and I set out on a mission to search out the best small camera. We were armed with a compact flash card, an SD card, a Sony memory stick, two skeins of brightly colored Socks That Rock (to test color) and two dragon socks (to test color and texture reproduction). We went to Fry's, Circuit City, CompUSA and Best Buy. We tested everything that was in the right size and megapixel range (greater than 5 megapixels) that had functional batteries and that we could put a memory card in: Nikons, Canons, Sonys, Kodaks, Casios and a Minolta (no Olympus cameras because they take a kind of SD card that we didn't happen to have, and I wasn't going to buy a camera if I couldn't closely examine the pictures I took with it). I tested with a flash and without a flash, regular mode and macro mode. Everything was done using the camera's "auto-everything" setting because, let's face it, I am not a professional photographer, I know very little about photography, and sheep won't hold a good pose while I try to figure out how to get the settings on my camera just right.

You might be surprised to know that no one seemed to find it too strange that a woman was taking pictures of brightly colored yarn in a Best Buy. You might also be surprised to know that Best Buy is the worst place to try out a camera. Their security systems block most of the digital media slots (Nikon was one of the few brands we could test there because their digital media slots were on the side of the camera instead of the bottom), meaning you can't put a card in them to take a picture. Probably the best place was Circuit City -- not only were their security systems test card friendly, in most cases the cameras could be turned on and used (Fry's cameras were also media accessible but many were not charged) and the guys behind the counter actually seemed to know what they were talking about.

What did I end up selecting?

Canon PowerShot SD-600 Digital Elph

Why did I pick the Canon SD-600 Digital Elph? First of all, it did a great job with color. It did well with blues, reds and yellows and subtle shading variations. Since color is important in a lot of what I photograph, it was important in my camera selection. Secondly, it took good, consistant pictures even in macro mode without the flash, which means I don't have to worry about missing an important shot or taking 6 closeup pictures hoping to get one good one. Third, it has a great user interface. The controls are easy to use and their positioning makes sense. Fourth, size does matter. This camera is about the size of a standard deck of cards and it packs a real optical zoom lens in addition to a digital zoom. And finally, it has a quick recovery time -- no more long waits between shots. And as an extra added bonus, it can also make little movies. Maybe someday I'll have some live action spinning here on the blog. Oh, and did I mention John got a great deal on it, too?

In addition to small cameras, we also got a new computer game not too long ago. If you like RPGs and you haven't tried an Elder Scroll's game, I can highly recommend Oblivion. If for no other reason than it is a very knitter friendly game. I used the Elph to help me show you why:

A Fat Happy Ram Roams in Oblivion

Pretty cool, eh? And he's animated well. These guys walk like sheep and move their little tails like sheep and generally have an air of real sheepiness. And in addition to the fighters guild, mages guild and thieves guild, there must be a spinner's guild somewhere. My evidence?

Oblivion Has Yarn!

Now, when my dark elf female figher-mage take a break from saving the world from the demons of Oblivion, she can grab some yarn out of her pack and knit up the perfect sweater for her excursion up north or a nice shawl for a visit to the Emperor. Even if she has to use paintbrushes as knitting needles.