Last week we went on a hike up one of the local trails in Lake Tahoe. I left the SLR at home and brought my compact digital camera along. Half way up the mountain we encountered a bear. I got the camera out and captured a couple of photos before he ran off into the woods.
When I got home, I zoomed in and cropped the picture but the image turned out too pixelated. My 2 year old digicam didn’t have enough pixels to go around. The higher your cameras resolution, the more flexibility you have later editing your image. So now I’ve been shopping for a new compact digicam with at least 7 mega pixels. Here are my 5 top picks.
1) Casio Exilim EP-Z750 Digital Camera Review
The 7.2MP EP-Z750 is the smallest, lightest and thinnest camera in the group. It doesn’t look big enough to have 7.2 mega pixels but it does! The back of the camera is almost all LCD screen, 2.5″ worth, it’s extra large, ideal for composing and viewing your shots. It has a 3x zoom with anti-shake and 30 scene modes compared to the usual 8 or 12 on most digicams, plus you can make up your own too. Being this small you would figure that there couldn’t possibly be any manual controls, but you’d be wrong. The EP-Z750 has aperture, shutter priority and full manual settings which are all quick and easy to navigate. You get the hang of it real quickly. The quality of the photos you take with the Casio Exilim are surprisingly excellent with dynamic colors. The Casio Exilim Ep-Z750 view finder is quite small, thank you for the big LCD screen. It’s got a quality 640×480 movie mode at 30 frames per second. Weight 4.5 oz.
2) Nikon Coolpix 7900 Digital Camera Review
The 7.1MP Coolpix 7900 is small, light and easy to use and like the Casio camera reviewed above, can be considered an ultra compact. It’s large, bright 2″ LCD display is perfectly visible outdoors in the sun. Unlike the Casio, it has a bulge where the battery goes forming a grip which makes it easy to hold. But that adds to its overall thickness. The Nikon Coolpix 7900 has a 3x optical zoom, a large battery capacity for taking hundreds of pictures, and a good flash. 640×480 movies at a full 30fps and Nikon’s new Face Priority autofocus will automatically detect a face in the portrait and focus on it. The Coolpix has D-Lighting that lightens the dark areas. Somehow they also found room to squeeze in vibration reduction. The Nikon 7900 uses scene modes and there’s one for almost every occasion, they’re easy to use and work very well. The 7900 doesn’t have manual control. The Nikon Coolpix 7900 is a small easy to use point and shoot camera with high-resolution. Weight 5.3oz
3) Canon PowerShot SD550 Digital Camera Review
The 7.1MP SD550 is an attractive, lightweight, thin, ultra-compact unit with an extra large 2.5″ LCD screen and optical viewfinder. It uses 13 shooting modes including auto and manual. The PowerShot has a 3x zoom, equivalent to 37-111mm. This camera is fast! Shooting 2 photos per second till you use up all your memory. The speed of the auto focus is also significantly improved over earlier ELPH’s. Canon has put the new DIGIC II Processor in and its images are excellent. The movie mode is 640×480 at a nice 30 frames per second. Of course it’s PictBridge compatible and has a good flash. This is a solid performer with point and shoot ease. The Canon SD500, the SC550′s sibling is the same camera for $50 less with a 2″ LCD screen. Weight 6.08oz.
4) Olympus C-7000 Zoom Digital Camera Review
The 7.1MP, C-7000 is a very good looking compact digital camera with solid performance. Zoom is in the name, because this beauty has a 5x optical zoom, and a 6x digital zoom with the 35mm camera equivalency of a 39mm-190mm lens. This makes getting candid people shots easier, you don’t need to get as close to your subject, just use your zoom to get in. The Olympus C-7000 Zoom has a large 2″ LCD that is excellent even outside. You’re not going to make a feature length movie with it however, because it takes 20 second clips at 30fps. The pop-up flash works good and easy to read menus make the C-7000 fairly easy to navigate. It has the new Olympus TruePic Turbo Image Processor for fast cycle times and excellent details. The C-7000 Zoom has 11 shooting modes plus manual operation. It’s PictBridge Compatible for easy printing without a computer. This little Oly is tough to beat with it’s powerful zoom, small size and high resolution. Weight 7.07oz
5) Sony CyberShot DSC-W7 Digital Camera Review
The 7.2 MP DSC-W7 is bigger than the ultra compact Casio Exilim its considered a compact digital camera. In traditional Sony style, this small camera is well thought out and easy to use everyday. Its got a viewfinder and a really big 2.5″ LCD display that’s nice for viewing and composing your shots. The 3x optical zoom lens is a Carl Zeiss equivalent to a 28-114mm lens. No expensive batteries to buy ever, it comes with 2 AA rechargeable batteries. The Sony CyberShot has an extremely quick start up time and fast recycle time. The DSC-W7 uses the memory stick format and has a an internal memory of 32MB. A manual mode with aperture and shutter speed controls with a photo exposure preview. Your also hooked up with an excellent movie mode with good sound just what you’d expect from Sony. The Sony CyberShot DSC-W7 is a very nice camera that takes good hi-resolution pictures and is easy to use. Weight 6.90 0z.
You will notice that I haven’t put any prices here, because they seem to change by the day. Check our site for up-to-date price comparisons. Even pros have circumstances when a compact digicam is appropriate. These digicams are for everybody. Make your choice based on features that fit your shooting style. You will love the photos from all the cameras here. Spend the little bit extra on a 7MP camera and always use the highest resolution setting your camera has, because every picture you take is worth more than money.
Archive
For June, 2011
T-Mobile G2 Touch is one of newest Android handsets that are available in the market. The features of this phone are definite upgraded from the predecessor versions of handsets like G1 and MyTouch. The new interface of this phone allows the users to get their desired information at immaculate ease, almost like HTC touchflo 3d that is available on the Windows Mobile platform. To enhance the features, even further, G2 Touch ha included 5 mega pixel camera and headphone port of 3.5 mm. More on that later, but as of now, it has to be said that G2 Touch is looking stunning attractive and generating quite a lot of buzz in the market.
The T-mobile subscribers in the United Kingdom are calling this handset by the name of G2 Touch. However, in other parts, this handset is more popular as HTC Hero. This is definitely an outstanding handset, available in while/silver color schemes with a characteristic bend in the body, which appears like a chin. This “chin” look of the phone is enhancing its visual appeal towards the customers.
G2 Touch is a touch screen handset and its size is also quite large. The measurement of the phone is 112mm x 56.2mm x 14.35mm. The look of the phone is slim and attractive. It can easily fit on the hands of the user and it is extremely handy to carry. The weight of the phone is just 135 grams, which is not light, but feels quite strong. The screen display measures 3.2 inches and it features a HVGA resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. The earpiece grille on the top of the display features an ambient light sensor on one side while on the other side there is a notification LED.
Among the multimedia features, the most prominent highlight of the phone is 5 mega pixels camera. The camera is definitely a plus compared to the earlier version of the phone such as t-mobile g1 and HTC Magic that featured 3.2 mega pixels camera. This is an auto focus unit, but there is no flash in still photography. The quality of photos taken with the camera of G2 Touch is really good. Apart from that, the multimedia features of the phone offers video player and music player options. The video player can play MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and WMV9 files while the music player is compatible with MP3, AAC+, WAV and WMA9 formats.
Christmas Fiction Review: Snow Day by Billy Coffey – Appreciating Simple Pleasures Year-Round
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Debut author, Billy Coffey, writes fictional narrative based on his Christianity. Regardless of your religious denomination, you’ll enjoy reading Coffey’s account of Peter Boyd’s snow day in Mattingly, Virginia.
Thirty-four-year-old Peter is happily married to his wife, Abby, a private school teacher who earns a modest salary. Five-year-old Sara, and three-year-old Josh, are his pride and joy.
Days before Christmas, the local weatherman predicts mild temperatures. The Boyd’s however, awake to a snowstorm; guaranteed to warrant a snow day for most townspeople. Peter works at the factory where tough times foreshadow layoffs. Being the company’s third newest hire, Peter contemplates his fate. Viewing early morning snow-covered Blue Ridge Mountains from his window; he decides he needs a mental health day too. He phones absent from work to spend time with his family.
Abby tells Peter they’ll need bread and milk, and a few other items to survive the day. At list’s end, they realize nothing less than Peter’s trip to Super Mart will suffice.
Peter arrives at the crowded store, where it’s obvious that many locals had the same idea. Following is a cross-sectional, chronological chapter account of Peter’s Super Mart journey; and the lessons he learned that day. Each section of Snow Day is a self-sufficient story, sure to heighten your appreciation of daily living.
Beautiful Scars
While shopping, Peter discovers a dilapidated Santa Claus figurine on the closeout shelf. He is, as Peter describes, “like a gargoyle, ugly, keeping worse ugliness away.” He wonders who would purchase such an item, and at three dollars no less? An elderly couple (Helen and Charlie) arrives; and places the Santa in their shopping cart. Peter notices a scar on the woman’s face from a long-ago burn. Curious, he asks them why they’d buy such an ugly item.
They reply that the Santa is pretty and has character. Peter counters that the Santa’s condition is broken, busted and worthless. “And do you think that because he is scarred he is not useful?” says Helen.
The couple recounts their meeting forty years ago. Helen, a recent college entrant, was involved in a burn accident. Loathing public appearances, she finally ventured to the park to feed the ducks. There, she met nineteen-year-old Charlie. His leg was injured in World War Two; and his limp is a daily reminder of his accident. Helen and Charlie found love when they both felt neither was lovable.
Peter pauses, thinking about his own life, and harmful, hurtful things he’d done that he wasn’t proud. He realizes that Helen carried her scars on the outside and his were inside. “But there was a God who still loved me, who sent His very Son to die for me. Little rotten, scarred me.”
Eugene Turner’s Luck
En route home, Peter stops for gas at the local mini mart. He remembers working there five years ago before being hired at the factory. He enjoyed the job’s informality and closeness. There, he sees Eugene Turner’s Hummer with a For Sale sign in its window.
He recalls the days when Eugene would purchase lottery tickets bi-weekly at the 7-Eleven. A simple man, Eugene eventually matched five of the six winning lottery numbers. He was awarded nearly a half million dollars.
Short-term, good times followed. Eugene and his wife, Missy, and their two “runts” upgraded housing, vehicles and other possessions. Eugene’s gloating and other turn of events; found Eugene bankrupt within three years.
“The thing about money is that you work harder to keep it than you ever do earning it,” reflects Peter.
The Great Backyard Exposition
Peter returns home to Sara and Josh’s plea to play outside. He dislikes the cold and snow; but remembers his earlier promise to join his kids outdoors, once home.
Sara makes a snow angel, while Josh is too bogged down with outerwear to try. Peter helps his children explore their yard, front and back, by pulling them on a plastic sled. Icicles on the tool shed, birdfeeder and creek are among the children’s wonderment.
Peter realizes the gift he’s been given to see the world through the eyes of children. He also acknowledges there were hectic days when he wasn’t attuned to his children. “But rarely did those moments come when I was able to peer into their hearts and know who they truly were.”
Eleanor’s Story
With Abby baking bread and the kids napping after outside playtime, Peter ventures on a neighborhood walk to reflect on the day’s events.
A UPS truck speeds by and stops at a house ahead of Peter. He watches as the driver strolls up the walkway with a package; and converses with the elegant elderly lady who opens the door. Peter notes his uncharacteristically relaxed behavior, vs. the normally fast-paced UPS driver.
The UPS driver and Peter meet up. Brent tells Peter the woman’s name is Eleanor; and that he makes deliveries to her several times a week, every week. She orders merchandise to engage in conversation with the telephone operators and assuage her loneliness. She returns what she buys.
Peter is struck how he passes the house almost daily, yet has no idea who resides there. He makes a mental note to pray for the lonely lady.
It’s then that he’s confident he hears God’s voice telling him to befriend the woman; and refrain from thinking about his own problems.
” I strolled up the driveway and rang the bell. There was silence. The curtains moved again. And the door opened.”
Coffey has cleverly crafted life lessons around a mundane shopping trip on a bleak day. Penultimate, The Plan and concluding chapter, The Detour, solidify his timely, feel-good holiday message, which will resonate year-round.