More than two years have passed and I’m still enjoying my photography, albeit struggling a little to find time. I joined 365Project early last year but only managed about four months before it slipped and I didn’t get back on track.
I bought a Sony HX5V compact for our trip to Iceland in October/November 2010 and it produced some reasonably good photographs but the cold made this photographer’s fingers turn blue. Iceland, however, is a truly beautiful country and I would recommend anyone to visit. Bear in mind though, that it is one of the most expensive places to visit on Earth!
I’ve also acquired a Nikon D40 off Ebay which has kept me amused this year. It came without a lens (body only) but I managed to pick up an 18 – 55mm autofocus VR Nikkor which has proved excellent. However, with lenses as expensive as they are, I can’t see me buying any new Nikon lenses to add to it, which is a shame. I’d love a Nikon macro lens but they are astronomically pricey.
With my birthday at the end of next week. I’ve asked for a Pentax X5 bridge camera to replace the Fujifilm S5800 that I bought in 2007. I decided to sell it last year and it went to a young lad who was keen to improve his photography skills from a basic point-and-shoot. He was very happy to spend his precious savings on such a versatile little bridge camera. I was quite sorry to see it go and, looking back, I can see that I took some excellent photos with it.
So I’m really looking forward to getting the x5 – my first Pentax camera – and trying it out. For a start, it has a tilting LED screen which will be useful when photographing low down on the beach (seashells, seaglass etc). Then it also has a VIEWFINDER! Why is it so difficult to find a camera with a viewfinder these days?
A viewfinder is the one thing I really miss when I’m using the Sony compact and I often find myself falling back on my trusty little Fujifilm Finepix F700 which I had repaired a year or so back. It developed the purple fringing aberration on the display which is know issue with the camera but I sent it back to Fuji’s repair department and it came back as good as new – even though it was about seven years old at the time. I was seriously impressed! But it has a viewfinder which makes it so much easier to take photographs in bright sunshine when the LED screen of the Sony is a total failure.
Another thing the x5 has that I’m looking forward to trying out is a mind-blowing macro capability – apparently you can go in as close as 1cm from your subject! Astonishing! I’ve always enjoyed photographing nature up close – flowers, lichens, pebbles, sand etc – so it will be great to explore that again without having to spend an arm and a leg on a macro lens.
Oh, and the x5 also takes standard AA batteries which some may view as a disadvantage from a weight point of view. However, I took both the Sony and the Fujifilm S5800 on a trip once and the battery died on the Sony, closely followed by the batteries in the Fuji. So I just bought a pack of batteries from a local shop, loaded up and carried on shooting with the S5800. Oh, and I don’t have to lug the charger around with me either…..
My inherited Canon T50 ha been joined by a Canon T90 as well – The Grand Old Lady – fully serviced and now equipped with several lenses and a flashgun. I just wish there were people I could go to for advice and help in using a top notch film camera like the T90. Of course, the biggest disadvantage is the cost of developing film – not cheap by any means – so I haven’t been using the film cameras much.
So I have a few cameras to play with at the moment and not enough time ….
Photography Student 