Entering the digital age | August 1, 2005

Despite being into my gadgets I’m actually a bit of a late adopter. I held out for ages before buying my first mobile phone, got my first DVD player last year and only recently bought myself an iPod. Being interested in photography, most people assume I use a digital camera. However I don’t own a functioning digital camera, and do most of my photography using slide film and an SLR.

However I’ve always appreciated the freedom that shooting digital gives. You don’t have to worry about wasting film, so you can shoot as many experimental pictures as you want, deleting the ones you don’t need. You don’t have to wait for a week to get your slides processed, only to spend a day scanning them all in. So while you may lose some of the “craft”, you gain the benefit of immidiacy.

The other issue is bulk factor. Due to the size of my SLR, I tend not to take it with me unless I know I’m going to be taking “proper” pictures. As such, I tend not to take the type of “people pics” most people take. I also miss out on the kind of opportunistic shots you only get if you have a camera handy at all times.

I’ve been meaning to get an ultra-compact digital camera for a while now, but the recent Geekend in the Cotswolds sealed the deal. Drew had his IXUS50 with him, and I was very impressed. It was the perfect size, produced some great pics, and look the business.

Canon IXUS50

So today I decided to join the digital photography revolution and bought myself a Canon Digital IXUS50 . I haven’t had much chance to play with it yet, but I did take a few pics while having Sunday lunch. And the upshot it, I can now start making use of my flickr account. Hopefully the dozen or so people who have been subscribed to my non-exhistant flickr feed for the last 6 months should be happy.

Posted at August 1, 2005 8:58 AM

Comments

Faruk AteÅŸ said on August 1, 2005 8:54 AM

Should be interesting to see what kind of pictures you take / produce. :-) I spotted the sunday lunch pictures last night, they were … artsy. I liked them, mind you. I love taking pics like that :-)

kevinn said on August 1, 2005 9:22 AM

Nice!

Is that the one with the manual controls/features or just a point and shoot camera?

I know theres a 7.2 Ixus snapper - same size and features and manual stuff for those finicky with their photographs.

Rob McMichael said on August 1, 2005 9:35 AM

This is interesting andy, I currently have an old 2MP Sony camera and have been torn between waiting to get a Digital SLR or a better compact one. To be honest I don’t care about having an image that is 50 times larger than my screen, as I would prefer an image that has no artifacting or grain on solid colours. This camera looks like it can handle that whilst being small :)
I am now only 2 months away from my 6 month tour of south america and Canada, and armed with an iPod photos (with camera attachment) this could be my perfect travel companion. What’s the speed of photo taking like (from on to shoot and from shot to shot) and how’s the battery?

Drew said on August 1, 2005 11:23 AM

I’ve certainly been happy with mine. It’s taking a bit of effort getting to grips with how to best operate the AF, but the biggest problem I face is the skill of the photographer, not the prowess of the camera.

Looking forward to seeing some Colour Accent pictures :)

Martin S. said on August 1, 2005 3:12 PM

Oh, I just love the Ixus series and own an Ixus 40. Great camera! You’ll have many nice moments with your new Ixus. ;)

patrick h. lauke said on August 1, 2005 8:09 PM

traitor… ;)

Bryan said on August 2, 2005 4:56 PM

Why do people photograph their lunch?

Peter Holloway said on August 3, 2005 10:00 AM

I still have an old Olympus OM10, but found that family life relegated useage to birthday’s, holidays and Christmas. Since purchasing my first digicam I’ve found that my photography has taken a new lease of life.

On a recent holiday I took over 500 photos, many family shots, but also more scenic shots that I wouldn’t otherwise have taken.

The only bind with digital is managing the huge amount of snaps…

geeky said on August 3, 2005 4:35 PM

I think your camera is the european version of the s500 that I have. I absolutely ADORE my camera - it’s the perfect “take it anywhere” size and it takes fantastic photos. Of course, I also plan to buy a dSLR when I win the lottery :)

Timmargh said on August 3, 2005 6:11 PM

I’ve got an Ixus i and it’s excellent - small enough to be unobtrusive and good enough to allow a complete amateur like me to take some semi-decent pictures.

matches said on August 8, 2005 11:58 PM

I have this camera too! I love the size; it makes it so much easier to decide to bring it with me.

Harry said on August 11, 2005 9:51 AM

WOW! What a camera beautifull.I wish to have this.I do have one cannon camera but it’s old model.
Harry

Davy McDonald said on September 2, 2005 3:24 PM

This was one of the blogsites that influenced me into buying a Canon Ixus 50, thanks for your info on that, but…
I tried two of these cameras out, returned both and finally opted for the Casio Exilim Z750.
I changed from my purist camera snobbery of ‘I wouldn’t buy a camera from Casio’ to being in awe of the thoroughness of the design of this camera from the aluminium casing right down to the operating system and hardware. It has garnered many plaudits from the photographic community and camera review websites, but the proof of the pudding was in the shots I took with it, they are excellent. I did really like the Canon too, but had a few minor issues with it, mainly to do with absence of manual photo controls - but still and excellent (and beautifully designed) camera. The Casio’s 7.2 mp had nothing to do with my choice, 5mp vs 7 - not really a deal-breaker.

The real deal here is actually having a camera compact enough to have with me almost all the time, I am really enjoying that most of all. Seems you are too from your pics of France etc.