A turn towards monogamy

I finally decided on what camera to buy and the choice was Canon PowerShot SX230 HS. Among the reasons why my choice fell on the Canon were especially its video capabilities, and the zoom.

Monday to Saturday I spend on a holiday in Berlin, Germany so I have now had some time to test the camera and I really do like it. However there are a few points that annoy me. First is the flash – I have no problem when I use it, but when I let other people use the camera then the problem arises. The problem is that the flash pups up when you turn on the camera, but if your finger is on top of the flash when you turn it on then the flash stays down. That means that if you let people borrow your camera in lowlight conditions you might end up with pretty bad pictures.

This photo would have been amazing with flash.

Second problem is the battery, I went to the Zoo in Berlin and I had to refrain from shooting some photos and video I would have shot if the camera had a better battery life. I don’t know if other cameras with the same specs are any better than the Canon but I still find it annoying.

Third problem is the GPS. A lot of the photos I take are not being geo-tagged because the GPS is to slow, this could be solved by letting the GPS be turned on all the time (even when the camera is turned off) but since I already have problems with the battery then that is not really an option.

Fourth is the horrible horrible software that Canon supplies with the camera. When I bought a Canon PhotoShot A530 in 2006 I got more or less the same software and it seems like Canon has not made any updates to the software since then. That is not good enough Canon. The worst is the PhotoStitch software – since the Canon does not have a feature where the camera stitches photos together for panorama shots then a pieces of software like that is essential, but the performance of that program is just horrendous. I found the free software Hugin is way way better.  

 Canon PhotoStitch

Hugin

On the plus side though are some really good photos and videos and an absolutely amazing zoom. 

A romance turned orgy

After my post yesterday I had some people help me out and I am now even more confused. There are quite a few options and all of them have their pros and cons. And on top of that I must say that I still have a lot to learn about cameras to be able to make a proper informed decision. I think I have some studying and thinking to do. So far I have found six cameras that I still find more or less interesting:


Fujifilm FinePix F550EXR – 2538DKK (340.28 Euro)

16-megapixels

15x zoom

1080p video
GPS
Three-inch LCD

I have not been able to find a proper review of this camera.

Sony DSC-HX5 – 1812DKK (242.94 Euro)

            

10.2-megapixels            
10x zoom
1080i video
GPS
Three-inch LCD

Verdict (http://www.trustedreviews.com) 
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5 once again demonstrates that when it comes to technical excellence Sony should never be underestimated. The camera is well made, handles and performs extremely well, and is capable of producing very good results under a wide range of circumstances. It is a technological tour-de-force loaded with more features than anything else on the market.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10 – 1974DKK (264.66 Euro)

12-megapixels
12x zoom
720p video stereo
GPS
Poor battery

Verdict (http://www.trustedreviews.com) 
The Panasonic Lumic DMC-TZ10 is a well-designed, solidly built and extremely versatile camera with a lot of useful features. The 12x zoom, optical image stabilisation, HD video and excellent low light performance are the main benefits, and manual exposure is a nice bonus. The GPS feature is a bit of a gimmick, and drains the battery too fast to be much real use. 

Casio EXILIM Hi-Zoom EX-H20G – 2228DKK (298.72 Euro)

14.1-megapixels
10x zoom
720p no zoom during recording mini-HDMI             
Hybrid GPS
Three-inch LCD
Good battery life

Verdict (http://www.trustedreviews.com) 

The travel zoom market has been in growth of late, with even formerly humble pocket models now boasting a 15x reach to further distance themselves from the latest smartphones. But rather than trying to trump competitors when it comes to zoom power, Casio has here added the extra of GPS to a still versatile 10x optical reach. Though a bit of a gimmick surely for most amateur photographers, it works up to a point, and helps earmark the camera as a possible purchase for those who love their gadgets as much as their photography. 

On the down side, it is disappointing that the full extent of the zoom cannot be used for video as it can for stills, and that Casio insists on cramming information in several different languages on each page of its manuals, making them hard to decipher in a hurry. But, that aside, we actually have very few black marks to place against the EX-H20G, other than the aforementioned high price. Shop around however and less demanding photographers may well find this particular Exilim stacks up well as a possible travel companion. Though, we'd argue, if you don't need the GPS, not quite as well as a sharper compact system camera like an Olympus Pen, Panasonic GF or beginner's DSLR might.

Canon PowerShot SX230 HS – 2178DKK (292.01 Euro)

12-megapixels
14x zoom
1080p video
GPS
Three-inch LCD

Verdict (http://reviews.cnet.com) 
The good: The Canon PowerShot SX230 HS has good low-light photo quality for its class; excellent color; shooting options that encourage experimentation; and great-looking video quality.

The bad: Its shooting performance, though good, lags behind the competition as does its GPS functionality. The battery life is short and the overall design could use some help, too.

The bottom line: If you want a compact megazoom with manual controls, GPS, and excellent photo quality, the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS is a good place to start. 

Samsung WB650 – 1675DKK (224.57 Euro)

12-megapixel
15x zoom
720p video with stereo
GPS
Three-inch AMOLED
Poor Image Quality

Verdict (http://www.trustedreviews.com) 
In many ways the Samsung WB650 is a better camera than the Panasonic TZ10. It has a better zoom range, a more accurate GPS system, a sharper monitor and crucially longer battery life. Build quality, design and handling are all excellent, but it can't quite match its rival on low ISO image quality.

I have fallen in love…

I have fallen in love… But I don’t know if this love is meant to be. I have fallen in love with the Sony DSC-HX5 but I am not sure if there is more pragmatic choice out there.  What I want is a compact camera with a decent zoom, decent megapixel count and most importantly GPS, for not too much more than 2000DKK (268.16 Euro). What I have not found yet is a webpage where I can get a list of all the cameras with GPS so that I compare them and make my decision. Does anyone know of such a page? So far of all the cameras I have found the Sony DSC-HX5 seems to be the best but if I don’t know what else is out there it is impossible to know for sure. If anybody knows of a way to list all cameras with GPS or a better one then than the Sony HX-5 please let me know.

Is the Amazon Appstore driving people to piracy?

Everyday I get news about a new great app being available for free in the Amazon Appstore, this gives me a feeling of being treated unfairly since I'm in a country where I am not allowed to download these apps. Apps like SwiftKey and Wolfram Alpha that I would love to have for free are available to many Android user but not for me. Angry Birds Rio is free without adds before it is released with adds in the Android Market but not for me. This unequal treatment one could speculate would drive some more tech savvy Android user to take matters into their own hands and simply download a pirated version of these apps to counter this. Amazon might have a good reason for not making their Appstore available worldwide from the start but I think it is a shame and might have some unintended consequences.

Follow my adventure

You wanna follow my adventures as an intern at The Danish Embassy in Oslo then have a look at my other blog: http://theosloexperience.blogspot.com/

Trying Blogger for Android.

This is a post written on my HTC Desire HD.

Guitar Rock