She Kept A Parrot
A Journal For Charlie
First Compact Camera
I bought my very first compact camera, and I am test driving it. It is so tiny. I can hardly hold it. I am accustomed to my Nikon D-300 with its heavy Nikkor 18-200mm walk-around lens. I couldn’t believe this little thing could produce a reasonable photograph particularly since I have a familial tremor in both hands. Here is one of my photos from today. It is a leaf on a sword plant. I think it stuck itself.
29 Comments on “First Compact Camera”
Comments
She Kept A Parrot 
You might just grow to love it. 🙂 So far, so good. My p&s is wonderful.
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I’m already attached to it. The thing is fantastic. Do you see Lemony Shot blog? Check out what she does with the Lumix! It’s incredible. Google Lemony Shots.
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How fascinating! A skeleton leaf.
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Ha ha ha “I think it stuck itself.” 😆 What a great shot. I love it! Very nicely composed. I think people might think that your Lumix is just a point and shoot, and well, it’s a LOT more than that… It basically does everything a DSLR does (or rather what most people use their DSLRs for); you can have full manual control with that fabulous camera.
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ouch! It did very well, didn’t it. I have wonderful shots from my point and shoot 🙂
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Well done ! Hope the new camera meets your satisfaction. I am amazed at what some of the small cameras can do. My cell-phone camera does things that I am just discovering. I hope the poor sword plant gets some counseling for the self mutilation issues. 🙂
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They cured him. They amputated all of his lower damaged limbs. I think they saw me snapping him and feared I’d report them for abuse and neglect. This was a nursery.
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That’s the problem with private plant day-care. More concern with their profit margin. A properly public funded plant day-care would not allow such a cut to its bottom line. 🙂
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I can’t say that the subject matter appeals to my taste exactly, but I did want to comment that the camera seems quite good. In my experience I have found that compact cameras are made very well, and can give the photographer more flexibility, and allow for very interesting work. Congratulations on the new camera.
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I noticed that the owners of the nursery removed all of the old bottom leaves on this plant later. I suppose they saw me photographing it! These plants are hardy. The don’t require much water and can sustain almost any kind of damage. I like the way they grow.
The image stabilization in this camera is helpful to me. Also, I can see the display better than I can see through the view-finder on the Nikon. That was becoming a problem for me since I wear glasses. I agree that the compacts are handy. Thanks.
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It captures a good detail George!!
I know the feeling of holding a compact camera after being used to one of the heavy ones! I’ve been through the same a couple of times 🙂
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I never had one so I was shocked at how small it is! It does work, thank goodness. I have a tremor that makes it difficult for me to use a camera, but this one has image stabilization built into the camera. I am having fun with the little thing! Sure beats lugging around the Nikon all the time. Thanks for coming by today! 🙂
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You have a tremor. i got some ADD. I couldn’t find the name/brand/model of the compact point and shoot. I got a Canon G11 [not quite compact] as back up secondary camera. My son had gotten one and it took such good pictures, that I was persuaded to get one. It takes really great sunsets and a few other things that it’s not really a back up at all. It has it’s use and in different situations it has become my primary camera. In the OR it has a macro setting that any of the nurses can be my photographer without even trying hard. So I get better shots and don’t have to lug the big Nikon, which scares everyone to hold. Anyway, use your new compact early and often. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have mine.
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At least, your ADD gets you moving! My tremor isn’t disabling yet. It just got progressively worse the older I got. If I didn’t drink caffeine all day, it would be fine probably. Once upon a time, I couldn’t keep food on my fork or write my name. Primidone helps a lot. I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to stick the probes in my brain. Maybe under your hand, I’d see pretty pictures. 🙂 My camera is a Panasonic Lumix LX5. It’s the tiniest thing you ever saw. Not much bigger than a cell phone … just thicker. I can’t imagine why the nurses would be intimidated by the Nikon. It’s big and sturdy. This little thing intimidated me at first. I had finger prints even on the lens! I can use it for almost everything except for detail of something that’s at a distance. It has a wide-angle 24mm prime lens attached. I’ll walk off in a hole somewhere probably! You have no idea… I’m accustomed to standing still and zooming! Its auto white balance works beautifully. I didn’t realize that Nikon only builds image stabilization and VR into their lenses and not into any of their cameras. I have a D300 with a bunch of lenses. I can’t use the 85mm that I just bought because the area of focus on the ring is so narrow that I cannot keep it in focus long enough to click. I am hopeful that the macro filters for the Lumix will work better. Thanks, Victor, I am running around snapping everything in sight! 🙂
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I use a Canon 700IS for my underwater stuff and it takes awesome pictures….better than some of the divers with the big huge cameras and all the flashes. The Canon actually has a setting for “underwater” which brings out the true colors. When you get so far underwater with a regular camera and flash, the reds disappear and everything looks horribly boring and dull. My Canon fixes that. The image stabilization these days is awesome. When you are diving, with every picture….you are moving, the camera is moving, the subject is moving and the background is moving. My Canon totally fixes that. Your mild hand tremor is a piece of cake compared to taking pictures a hundred feet or so below the ocean surface. I have a Rebel, but honestly find myself grabbing my Canon because it is so small and easy to carry. Bet you find yourself doing the same.
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I think so. I already like it better because of the auto white balance and the ease of looking at the display versus using the eyepiece which was becoming hard for me to see through. It has some limitations because it has no telephoto lens that I’m used to using, but I can take the Nikon if I want detail from a distance. I’ll probably walk off into a hole and kill myself since you have to move yourself instead of the lens! LOL Thanks, Sue.
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It seems to capture the details, George. This is a fine photo, a lovely composition.
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It has a 24mm Leica fixed lens. I guess the image stabilization built-in works. I thrash around like St. Vitus, you know. I haven’t tried the macro filters, but I’d guess shake will become a real factor at closer ranges. Lemony Shots produces some incredible photographs with this little camera. That’s why I bought it. Her macros are phenomenal. http://lemonygregghead.wordpress.com. Thank you for always encouraging me, Naomi. That means so much to me. 🙂
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That’s good to know. I have a simple Canon Power Shot, but it does come with some kind of stabilizer.
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nice quality, well balanced, good!
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Thanks, Gail. I’m very pleased that the little camera’s image stabilization compensates for my tremor. I can hardly believe it. Many young people have the same familial tremor. I didn’t realize how common it is. I’m glad there is a camera that they can use.
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Nice camera! I almost feel like I could touch the plant.
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Thanks. It works really well. I never had a compact before so it’s taking some getting used to.
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What a great pattern, almost as if electricity or pale flames had etched themselves into the leaf.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
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I know. I thought so too. I think the leaf bent or was bent and is so wide that it cracked on it’s own. It certainly left an interesting pattern. When I turned it sideways, it looks like a face with a gaping mouth. I was tempted to post it that way. 😉 These plants are some kind of hardy things. They live a long time and get really big. I don’t know a thing about them otherwise.
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That is a remarkable piece of nature art. In Miami we call them Spanish swords. They left them here to get even with the US for annexing Florida.
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They’re called Spanish Swords here too, I’d guess. I like them in large areas, but one plant would dominate a landscape in a smaller area. This one is on the street side of a nursery here. I rarely see it or the century plant in residential landscaping. I love both plants.
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Beautiful so beautiful, I loved it dear George, Thank you. Have a nice weekend, love, nia
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Thanks, Nia. Have a wonderful weekend. I’m happy that you like my photograph! 🙂
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