The blogging business requires three important elements: a laptop, wifi and a good camera. It should also feature good writing... but let's just focus on the cameras today, shall we?
I never leave the house without a camera. Though I have a nice (7 year-old) DSLR and a mid-sized "transitional" model, it is easier to simply pop a pocket-sized digital camera in my purse for every day shots.
For several years, I have been favoring the Sony Cybershot (DSC-WX300). At 6-ounces, this beauty is my first choice. But the pocket camera lacked one teeny little thing - something most people would not care about, but one thing I could no longer do without - an eye piece. I'm sure y'all are tired of hearing about my poor vision, but it has come to the point that I just can no longer use the LCD display screen on the back of a camera to take a shot. I need to peer through a view finder.
Again, Sony to the rescue.
I would like to introduce the newest piece of "office equipment" - the Sony DSCHX90V
. The camera was released just last month and I had been on a waiting list for weeks and weeks pending delivery. It looks similar to the teeny purse model I have owned for years, but there are many differences.
The DSC-HX90V (black, right) is just a teeny bit thicker and weighs only 2.4 ounces more than my old (white) pocket camera. While the old camera has a super-impressive 20x optical zoom, the new camera has a Ziess 30x optical zoom. ZOOM! Both cameras have 18.2 megapixels and use the same battery.
But what the new camera has over my old purse-model is a cute little pop-up view finder/eye piece!
Yeah! If needed, it pops-up for use. The flat panel on the top of the camera (to the right of the view finder in the above photo) is a pop-up flash. It's like a Transformer, this camera!Besides the pop-up view finder, the most important feature is the 30x optical zoom, turning a pocket-sized camera used for convenience into a pocket-sized camera used because it is a REAL camera.
The Cybershots (like most cameras these days) have the ability to connect wirelessly to a smartphone, so you can take a great shot on the camera, send it over to your phone to post immediately on Instagram or Facebook - or email it to your pals. And even though it comes in a small package and has automatic settings for nearly any scenario, it is still possible to manually adjust any setting.
But how are the photos?
I will show you! We had a visitor in the forest behind our house - a Great Horned Owl. Honestly, she isn't a visitor. She lives here.
Taken with the old pocket camera
Taken with the new pocket cameraThe differences are subtle, but dramatic. The detail on the feathers, tree bark and fir needles is sharper - and it was certainly easier for me to find the dang bird using the eye piece, over squinting and trying to hide the glare from the old white camera's display screen.
This is the view from our back deck. Can YOU find the owl?
Clever little critter - except this little bird is about 20-inches tall.
Yes, that was me leaving all that mess on your maple tree the other day. My bad.
Now, go away. I wish to nap.Until my next update, I remain, your wise old correspondent.