Say Cheese!

We're thinking about buying a new camera. This doesn't sound like news for most people, but for me to drop money on a new toy that costs more than $15 is a pretty big deal. We had discussed getting one as a joint Christmas gift for each other, but now we're thinking maybe an early Christmas gift, in time to take it to the beach to play with it there.

You see, Greg had this awesome Canon Powershot that would do everything but dance the polka. He took thousands of pictures at Disney, but at some point while we were using it to take pictures for Ebay (the auction, not gnome) the lens got stuck and the dreaded E18 error code showed up and it's now a fantastic paperweight. I have an older Samsung Digimax that, of course, was a Christmas gift from the parents several years ago. It's a great small camera and takes good pics - 5 megapixels, 4X zoom (better than the average small camera now!) with just enough extra options not to totally confuse me every time I turn it on. It's pretty fantastic. Except it processes really slow between shots and uses up batteries faster than Oliver the monkey can pick a lock. That combination means I get about 30-40 pictures, or less, per set of AA's, depending on how long I dink around between shots. I pack extra batteries at all times.

While my camera is fine for general day to day snapshots, I don't think it'll hold up well when we go to Disney in April. We'd spend more on batteries than we would on the park tickets. So we're looking for something new. The problem is, the camera we want doesn't exist. We want something small, Greg's camera was bulky and was hard to haul around while traveling. I want something I can carry in my purse or bag. However, we want the same type of features his had, a better than average zoom and closer to 7 megapixels. The only compact camera we've found with those features has gotten great reviews (even from somebody we know that owns one), except the picture quality isn't that good. Huh? Isn't that the point of a camera??? Who cares if it can zoom to freckle on a gnat, if the picture is too grainy or fuzzy to see it?

Now I'm in research mode. I bought a basic photography book to figure out what the buttons do so I'll know which ones I care more about when looking at new models. I've checked Consumer Reports and a variety of websites that review point-and-shoot cameras. I've browsed the camera department of every store in town. The only thing I know for sure is this: within ten days of deciding on and buying a new camera, the PERFECT camera will come out for about $10 more.