There are many cats living in our neighborhood, some of which like to prowl around and keep the peace. There are probably three or four that we see regularly in our diminutive front yard or out back. Tonight as I was fetching a ladder from the basement, one of our regular visitors came over for some kitty lovin’.
Note 1: If you squint, it looks like I’m looking the opposite direction than I really am (down over my right shoulder). Fun!
Note 2: That hashing is something caused by the scaling algorithm in GraphicConverter, which is the best image converter on any platform, and a pretty good editor to boot. Were it not for this little strange problem, it would be among the few applications I consider perfect.
This photo was taken with a new camera I picked up a month ago. I spent a long time doing research, and this Olympus really seemed like what I wanted: great quality optics, full manual control, usb, everything I needed for less than $500.
In terms of overall photographic control and quality, you still can’t get the same from digital as you can from film for the same money. However, for around $1000 you can start wondering if you’ll ever use a film camera again. I’m certainly enjoying shooting photos whenever I like of whatever I like, not having to worry about film costs and processing. MacOS X has a very nice digital camera application that recognizes the camera as soon as I plug it in and turn it on, so the whole experience is very nice.
The other thing I’m beginning to discover about digital photography is the online communities surrounding it. Here are a few sites I’ve found that look very good if you’re interested in buying a digital camera, or learning how to use it.
http://www.dpreview.com/ - amazingly comprehensive reviews of cameras. Mine has not been reviewed by Mr. Askey, but many of the cameras I considered were, and this site has been tremendously helpful. The reviews are long and exhaustive, and usually have extensive galleries of sample photos to complement the quick comparison shots many sites offer. The forums are good too. http://www.dcresource.com/ - one of the other top review sites for digital cameras. http://www.imaging-resource.com/ - this site recommended the Oly2040 as the camera for an enthusiast on a budget. That’s me, and I have to agree. http://www.steves-digicams.com/ - more good reviews of digital cameras http://www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/ - a wonderful, if kind of poorly designed, site that has lots of information on digital photography. You’ll want to look at this site after you’ve purchased your camera. http://rpdfaq.50megs.com/ - the faq of the rec.photo.digital. Not the most up-to-date site, but still useful. http://groups.google.com/group/olympus_digicam/ - egroup for Olympus digicam users. This is where I discovered a trick to let my camera beat the specified limit for macro mode, cutting the distance to the subject from 8 inches to 2 or 3 inches!
One more thing: more book recommendations are up from both me and Lisa. I know you’re reading, share your finds.
Joe,
Posted by Wilson at December 20, 2001 4:22 AMPurchased the exact camera for myself this summer and have been totally happy.I particularly like the ability of being able to use the camera manually, and in control of light, shutter speed yadda. The little movie clips are fun too.