New Digital Camera

I finally broke down and bought Suzanne a new digital camera. I have been frustrated with hers ever Âsince she damaged a couple of parts on it a while back.

After some research and trading off features versus cost, I decide on the Canon Powershot A630. Its an 8 mexapixel camera with decent ISO and shutter speed settings. I had toyed with getting her an SLR since she was a photography enthusiast in the past. However, after consulting with her, she pretty much has gotten used to the point and shoot types. She occasionally fiddles with the settings for more complete control. The additional cost for the SLR just didnt make sense anymore.

After much research, I got the camera from the same internet store as recent digital camera and video camera purchases, Beach Camera. They have proven themselves to be very reputable and reliable. Shipping was included in the price of the camera. It arrived 5 days after ordering the camera. The price paid for the camera was $248.

The biggest drawback to the new camera was that it uses a different memory card type than the previous digital camera we own. This means we have to buy all new memory cards as the old ones wont work in this camera. A 2GB card was found for $49. Toss that in with the 1GB card that came in a bundled package bought with the camera and we should be able to hold about 600 pictures. We will have to play around with settings and compression to find the right combination. That may change the picture quantity. I think that will be enough capacity for now.

The camera is actually my Christmas present to Suzanne this year. I gave it to her this early for a couple of reasons. We are going on cruise to Mexico aboard the Celebrity Mercury in November and I thought it best for her to have the camera for that cruise. Also, I got it a month early from the cruise so that she could get comfortable with it before the cruise.

Someday in the future, maybe before the Alaska cruise next summer, we will look at replacing the aging video camera. I would like to get an HD capable one, but those are still quite expensive.