Death and Rebirth

[ase]

Dear beloved external hard drive (late April 2007 - about now),

When I named you after Rosalind Franklin, I had no idea what I was intimating for your lifespan. Please cough up my music mixes. Now.

Sadly, A.

---

Now that I have my bonus in hand, and have hit my minimum savings goals, it's hardware time. Since I can get a 1 TB external now for the same price I paid for 350 GB in 2007, the only question is: can my ancient desktop handle modern peripherals?

The other big hardware purchase is the camera. (Camera!) I'm looking at the Canon SX110is with a thoughtful eye. The breakdown:

PROS
- It's in my budget (less than or equal to $400 for camera, batteries and backup, memory storage and backup, and bag - no backup needed)

-Roughly purse-sized. (I tend toward capacious bags.)

-Manual control format.

-Awesome spinny wheel that brings Canon's detailed (cumbersome) interface up to my instant gratification speed.

-10x zoom.

-SD / SDHC card format compatible with the baby laptop's built-in six-card reader. (I am assuming SDHC backwards compatibility: please correct me if I am wrong.)

-takes AA batteries.

CONS

- NO OPTICAL VIEWFINDER. Since my reaction to n storage capacity is to stuff in n+1 items, LCDs tend to have a limited life-span, seperate bag or no.

-Does the lens threading thing mean I can't stick the camera on a microscope? There's a rumor we're getting a dissecting scope approved, and I feel a moral obligation to share the next wacky extraction sample to cross the bench.

-no CHDK for the sx110 (or its megazoom predecessor, the sx100) yet. CHDK is one of the reasons for getting on the Canon bandwagon!

- CNET says "meh". CNET likes the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 more. I don't, mostly because I'm not ready for 15x zoom and (especially) not ready to deal with twice the weight. I think. But the point is, CNET had (minor) reservations. ( A side by side comparison illuminates several pros and cons. The categorically appropriate compare-and-contrast would be the DSC-H50 with a slightly more upmarket Canon, such as the PowerShot S5 IS.)

The other option is to go with two cameras, a small cheap point and shoot and the DSC-H50 or even more upscale, but I mention this mostly so I can mock the stupidity it displays. Jumping back into a hobby by investing in the most expensive option possible is neither smart nor wise.

If anyone has anything to say about the SX110, now would be a really good time to weigh in.

Comments

[ase.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THE SPINNY WHEEL TOO. It's a significant factor.

I've been sidetracked by someone offering to sell me a discounted G10. I know you were getting seduced by Panasonic, but do you have any thoughts on it?

My train of thought is something like:

YES: It has the spinny wheel and clicky buttons.

NO: Even discounted, it's twice the cost of the SX110.

YES: It has the viewfinder!

NO: It is a truth universally acknowledged that the viewfinder sucks.

AND: It has 15 mpix and a 5x zoom; I would be delighted with half the megapixels and twice the zoom.

BUT: I can get a telephoto!

WHICH WOULD MEAN: spending more money!

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND: spinny wheel, and clicky buttons.

ALSO: It's only slightly more plump than the SX110, and feels more camera-like. As the DPReview said, it's a fun camera to use.

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ANGST: As the DPReview also said, it's not best in class: it's meh in class.

WAIT, WHAT: I'm getting it for about $80 off! That means I should be comparing it to the next class down!

BUT FROM THE NAYSAYING SIDE: This is Canon. What if you wait a year or two, and see if the inevitable G11 has the megazoom?

AND ON THE FLIPSIDE: As my roommate pointed out, I should get a camera I'm going to grow into, not grow out of. Why am I treating $200 merchandise as disposable in two years?

WHICH SIDE AM I ON ANYWAY: Speaking of growing? The 350 gb external which is, like, two-thirds full? Is dying. Where are you going to put 15 mpix times how many hundred pictures?

MAYBE I'M ON NOBODY'S SIDE: My, what a pretty 1 TB drive you have, Best Buy!

BUT TO BRING THIS ANGST IN COMMENTS TO A CLOSE: Maybe I should buy both cameras, and kidnap dad's EOS, take a three-day weekend, and see which one I use the most. And return the other(s). (Or, you know, see if dad notices I "borrowed" his camera the way I "borrowed" his Deep Space Nine DVDs. Which I do promise to return, as soon as I finish the last season. I've only been suck in S6 for, um, nine months or so.)

Also, I bought a Seagate FreeAgent 500 gb drive, to backstop the increasingly questionable Western Digital 350.

IN CONCLUSION:

Pros (G10): Eeee, buttons! Viewfinder! Fun camera is fun!
Cons (G10): Ewww, money! Relatively lame 5x zoom!

Less dramatically, the specialized batteries vs. the (rechargeable) AA's the SX110 takes is a big no for the G10. I don't want to spend (eek) $50 for a backup battery.

Pros (SX110): Megazoom! Quasi-reasonable pixel count!
Cons (SX110): Lacking in clicky buttons and "fun" factor.

It's a bells versus whistles problem. I can have bells (more manual-control buttons) or whistles (megazoom), but I don't get both with these picks.

I would trust CHDK to eventually get the sx110 in, though if you're like me you want instant gratification! Now!! :)

This is my problem! Everything, now, and for less than $500 for the package! :-)

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Honestly, if I were you I would buy neither camera and take your dad's for an extended borrowing session... :) (and: whoa, are we linked in TV watching? I'm also on DS9, though only on Season 4. I like it way more than I thought I would!)

You know I'm a super-duper fan of the G series. The G10 is really the only current camera in its class except maybe the Nikon Coolpix 6000 (which is too expensive anyway) -- the Panasonic LX-3, the dpreview-ranked-top of the prosumer-bells-and-whistles-PS cameras, is really in a slightly different class (fast lens, small zoom) than the G10 (slower lens, larger zoom). Dpreview has regularly been dinging the Canon G series because they don't show a lot of creativity ("let's add more megapixels!") but they're still great cameras especially if you don't want a cool fast-ultra-wide lens like the LX-3 has and would rather have the zoom... my observation is that taking pics of people and architecture is easier with the former, and nature photos are in general easier with the latter.

Not having used the SX110, so take this with a grain of salt, my prediction is that a) the G10 is a lot more fun to use (I had so much fun with my G7), and b) you will not need the 10x zoom of the SX110 unless you are taking a lot of pics in good sunlight or with a tripod. Because I had a lot of problems holding my G7 still even with just the 5x zoom (I was usually taking them in non-full-sunlight). But you might (probably do) have a different set of needs than I do :)

There may be a dust issue with the G10 and if you are seriously interested you should read about it (the dpreview canon forums) - based on my G7, which I believe has the worst dust problem of all the Canons, I would say it's probably okay as long as you don't drop it. Especially in the sand. Er, not that I have a history of doing this. (My last film camera died when it was dropped in the ocean...) That's when mine started having problems honestly (though it is built like a tank and had no other issues from the drops).

I would be shocked if the G11 had an ultra-zoom. At the very most it might extend it to 6x or 7x, but my understanding is that there's kind of a tradeoff with lens quality and portability and since Canon has the SX ultrazoom cameras holding down that end, I wouldn't hold my breath that they'd also try for that in the G series.

Also, viewfinders on PS cameras are always lame, right? I wouldn't give the G10 negative points for that.

It really comes down to what the function of this camera is going to be. If you plan to keep it as your main camera for several years, and don't mind spending the money (this of course is a big if), get the G10, you will love it. If you plan to get a DSLR really soon and have this be a secondary cheap backup, OR if you really think you'll need the ultrazoom, you may want to get the SX110 because it's cheaper and you will be able to get the DSLR that much sooner (and in that case you will not have to "grow into" it-- it won't be disposable, it will be secondary!)

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

my observation is that taking pics of people and architecture is easier with the former, and nature photos are in general easier with the latter.

I meant, people/arch is easier with fast/wide lens (bc you frequently want to get lots of people in the frame in low light situations) and nature easier with zoom (because you often want to get a pic of that thing way over there)