A New Camera!

I've always loved taking pictures, mostly just for fun, sometimes bordering on amateur photography, but mostly to document my life.

For awhile, I took pictures every where I went, at every event. Birthday parties, family get togethers, trips, dinners, hikes...it was with me. One year, I even put together a book of all the pictures from the year.

Then, my beloved Sony Cybershot stopped charging. My parents got me a new camera for my birthday that year, a Canon Powershot. I enjoyed it for a couple of weeks before it became apparant what its limitations were. Basically, don't take pictures indoors, at night, when it's cloudy, or if anything is moving. On top of that, add a pretty crappy lens that only focuses on things if it wants to, and the dreaded lens error where the camera would freeze all together. That latter is why I have no pictures of my bridal shower.

Last week, I started looking at some new cameras, Sony's of course. I asked my friend Nino, who works at Sony, if they sold at a discounted price at his work. They did! And, they had a promotion at the time for an additional 10% off of the employee discount. This is when my camera searching went into a full frenzy.

I hopped around a few different cameras before finally settling on the DSC-HX5V and the DSC-WX1. The HX5V had great zoom, used SD Cards, had a GPS to geo-tag your photos and was fairly good in low light (one of my main requirements) and outdoor shots. The WX1 however had FANTASTIC reviews for low light (you could take pictures in complete darkness if you wanted to) - but did not have the GPS, had half the zoom, and only used Memory Sticks. It also had some not so great reviews for daytime/outdoor shots. Apparently the lens let in too much light.

I was conflicted. Do I go with the camera that takes "pretty good" low light photos and all the extra features, or do I go with the one that takes fantastic low light photos, and spend the extra time touching up the day time photos, on top of giving up the fun little extras.

In the end, I decided to go with the HX5V. I figured it would suffice all of my low light needs, and I would enjoy the other features it had. Plus, I could use the same SD Card I use on my DSLR instead of spending money on a new card.



The other good part - the price. It retails for $349. Through Sony, I can get it for $247 after tax. AND, I have a $100 Am Ex Gift Card, so thats only $147 out of my pocket.

I can't wait to play with it this weekend at Calebs race, and up in Big Bear.