Photographic thoughts

Okay, I took both the digital compact and the good old SLR to Cornwall with me, and I discovered something very important, which is that if you are taking a digital camera with you anywhere for a few days, 16 Mbytes of memory is utterly woeful. I ended up taking far fewer photos than I might have liked, and some of them were taken on too low a resolution. So, I am going to have to buy one of those memory card thingies. The camera takes cards up to 128 Mbytes, and I suspect a smart move is to go the whole hog and buy a 128 Mbyte card. Of course, if I buy a smaller one this may still be useful later, but I think I may just go the whole way. And then I suppose a should get a card reader, although this is optional, as the camera itself can perform this function.

Now let's see. The camera cost £95. I spent £10 on rechargeable batteries, and I could now spend another £40 on a memory card and £20 on a card reader, meaning that the total cost would be up to £165. And the purpose of all this was at least partly to stop spending money (on film and processing). Such is modern life. (£165 is still good value, actually).

And of course, using an SLR and a little digital compact side by side is quite enlightening. The SLR feels like a quality piece of equipment - a real camera. The digital compact still feels like something of a toy. It takes quite good pictures, but it still seems quite insubstantial. I actually do want a digital SLR, but I cannot afford one for now. Sad.



Here's me at Land's End. Obviously, taking a photo with the sun in it is quite tricky, although the person I asked to take the photo wanted to give it a try. It's much easier with an SLR where you have more control over the light levels.

Update: Looking at it some more, the light really does have a certain J M W Turner quality about it. Certainly the Cornish light has been popular with British artists for a very long time, and Turner certainly did visit.

Different Update: A little shopping around on the internet got me a 128Mbyte MMC format memory card and a universal card reader for £42 in total, including delivery and (overpriced but mandatory - this presumably partly makes up for the low prices) insurance. This compares with £70, which was the best price I could find on the high street. The British high street retail cartel is indeed appalling. Anyway, for £147 I have managed to get a four megapixel camera, rechargeable batteries plus spare set and charger, 128Mbyte memory card and card reader, which isn't bad. I am not sure if my readership are interested in my digital photography experience, but I am having fun.