And Now This Day Is Over

[ase]

Today I went to work happy hour and downed two margaritas, then bought one hardcover (The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Michael Swanwick; $4, used) and two flashlights, and finally hit Best Buy to try out cameras. Conclusions:

1.) The Canon Powershot user interface has a learning curve I have zero desire to climb. Just give me a physical dial for the exposure and shutter, please. Now.
2.) I'm disgusted and not yet resigned to $200 cameras with 10 mpix and no viewfinder. That would be, you know, pretty much every $200 digital camera on the market.
3.) If I have to have a camera that I'm resigned to but not thrilled about, why not get on ebay and spend $100 on my old camera?
4.) The third-hand Powershot S40 I thought had died isn't dead. Camera shopping postponed until its next death. (Note to self: you can't name the camera after fictional characters prone to dramatic fake deaths. Even you don't think it's all that funny. And you are never allowed to name anything after John Crichton. Ever.) I am relived I have a working camera, because limping along beats impulse shopping. It's kind of painful to be using a camera that was top of the line when it hit the streets the year I graduated high school, but obviously, if I cared that much I'd buy a new one.

Work today was incredibly mixed; the "yay we moved a department" party was awesome, but the 8 1/2 hours before that were me limping along on ibuprofen and wishing for midol. Am seriously considering taking a mental health half-day. But 8 hours of sleep would probably help a lot with that.

Comments

[wizardoffoo.livejournal.com]

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/kodak-easyshare-z712-is/4505-6501_7-32412495.html?tag=txt

Kodak (no UI learning curve), appears to have an eyepiece level viewfinder (electronic but still better than looking at an LCD screen), and a dial! 12x zoom isn't shabby either and $138.96 at Circuit City. Downside - it ain't 10mp (only 7.1) but if I can make 20x30in enlargements from a 6mp photo...

I think you're going to seriously kill me now. *dashes off to check life insurance*

[ase.livejournal.com]

I think you're going to seriously kill me now.

Why would I kill you now? Unlike your last suggestion, which indicated you hadn't bothered to read the parts in big bold letters, this fits in my specs.

[wizardoffoo.livejournal.com]

Death would be incoming for the very strong temptation to spend money.

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

That camera will never die. You will think it has died, replace it, and it will come after you and stalk you in your sleep. Why do you think I was so eager to get rid of it?

[ase.livejournal.com]

I'm snickering over here. But it may be dead this time - it's having issues with the sliding shutter cover now. Like, I slide the cover and the camera doesn't turn on. If it does resurrect itself, I will totally name it Jackson and start a tag for its arthritic misadventures.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

The Canon Powershot user interface has a learning curve I have zero desire to climb. Just give me a physical dial for the exposure and shutter, please. Now.

Word. With all my rantings about cameras I totally forgot that that's why I had to go with the G7. Which is about as expensive as you can get for non-dSLR. GAH.

It's kind of painful to be using a camera that was top of the line when it hit the streets the year I graduated high school, but obviously, if I cared that much I'd buy a new one.

It's only for a year! And really, PS cameras haven't gotten that much better (except for image stabilizaiton, which does rock); just (as you have pointed out) lower common denominator.

[ase.livejournal.com]

I'm about three seconds from doing a PRO/CON spreadsheet and "why I (do/not) need a pre-dSLR camera" essay. Also, my thirdhand 2001 Powershot seems to have died again, so it may be replacement time after all.

[rwl.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest that you could name the camera "Singleton" but you'd need some background in fan history to understand the reference.

http://jophan.org/mimosa/m29/warner.htm

[ase.livejournal.com]

Aha. It needs context to be funny, so I think a nickname more familiar to the target audience might be in order. Possibly Enoch, for Enoch Root, my least favorite Neal Stephenson character ever. Pontificating - anyway.