Birthday Present...and future...

OK so last month was my birthday.... before my birthday came I received a box in the mail  from my "twin" Renee. She had asked me a few weeks before if I had a book that she had a duplicate of. So when I got this box I figured that was what it was. I opened it up and found a note, I started reading the note (before digging through the packing peanuts.... yup I did truthfully wait!! 

This is what the note said (a shortened version of course) ... Happy Early Birthday!  I've been wanting to get you this for awhile and finally did.... then she told me about her shopping experience at Costco and the different ones they had and why she decided to buy the one she did. She especially picked the one she did because she knows where I go, my camera goes. So she bought one that is water,dust,and shockproof. She figured the added "ruggedness" would come in handy for me! Plus this particular camera came with a 4gb memory card where the rest come with a 2gb.

She also sent me the receipt so I could exchange it for  different camera if I wanted to. So I opened it up and charged the battery. I needed to try it out and see if I liked it. I used it for about a week or 2 and was "trying it out" right off the bat there were kinda a few blurry pictures. I didn't really like the way some of the indoor pictures looked kinda like all the lights were yellow. They weren't always very natural looking. So I played with it in the parking lot at work at night checking out those pictures. I tried playing with the flash and different flash/camera settings. Some looked nice, others not so much.  I tried different settings etc but wasn't always liking the results. Although I did get a few pictures I really liked, I was deleting quite a lot too.

So then I just left it on "auto" and was taking pictures. I liked that it would tell me what setting it was going to use with teh auto function. It was nice to see how it was determining what setting to use. But I realized that pretty much anytime it was dark it went to "night" mode. Even if I was indoor with low light. Shouldn't that be the "low-light" mode?? Than one day (in the afternoon) I was inside and going to tke a picture of my nephew across the room... I zoomed in to him. As I zoomed all the way it went in the the "micro-flower" mode. That setting is usually for close up pictures of small items. Not zoomed pictures across a room! Oh and the camera has shutter sounds. Kinda cool but not always nice. So I turned off the shutter sounds. Than i was trying out some more stuff and the flash wasn't coming on. So I tried to adjust the flash to be on. It told me to turn the shutter stuff back on! So if I want no sound, i automatically havbe to have no flash? That doesn't make any sense! Maybe I just don't want to hear a click with every picture!

So I started looking around. I went to Costco to play with cameras. Than I went to Target and played some more (Costco didn't really have a lot of in store options) I knew I wanted a camera with a longer zoom (I like being able to zoom) I had a friend whose camera had some cool features I had liked with accenting a certain color in a black and white photo etc. So I wanted to see about those options. I wanted something with a decent megapixel (which the one she got me did have... just a minimal zoom strength) I wasn't finding anything I completely liked. Although it was nice seeing some of the modes available. There was one or two t Costco that were pretty cool and had a lot of neat options where you could "add a twinkle" to someone's eye in the photo etc. But playing with the camera in the store I was really struggling to figure out how to use it. I knew I would get a manual etc but I also knew if I wanted someone else to take a picture with my camera I didn't want it to be challenging for them!

So than I got online! I looked at the Costco website first. Than I found a Canon camera it had the color features I wanted, it had a long zoom and was 14 megapixels. It was a little more expensive than the one she had purchased and I knew I could pay the difference. I really liked it but wasn't 100% sure yet. There were very few reviews on the website for it so I just wasn't sure yet. I looked at some of their other cameras. I also checked Walmart, Target, Best Buy and even Sears online. I really wanted to "do my research" and pick a camera I would really enjoy using. I found the same camera on teh Best Buy site and it had a lot mroe reviews. Most of them positive. There were the few complaints, mostly about the pop-up flash and how its on the top left corner where a lot of people hold their camera with their pointer finger. Otherwise it was a lot of positive feedback.

So than I checked my local Best Buy and they actually had the camera in their store so I was able to go and play with it. I tried it out and realized I would need to read the manual a bit to figure out fully how to use some of the features. But overall I liked it. The only thing I still wasn't sure of was how I'd like it for holding etc. This was of course because in the store its hooked up to the little thing for security reasons so I was really holding that more than the camera because it was attached at the bottom of the camera and wasd in the way of holding the camera normal.

So.. i returned the Fujifilm camera and ordered the Canon one online. I ordered it from Costco because it was on sale there and I know the Costco return policies and stuff are better and if anythign goes wrong they have their electronic concierge program and I could get it fixed without paying an extra warranty fee like at Best Buy. Although Best Buy had the camera in a purple color in addition to just the black or gold like Costco had.

Well I must say.... I LOVE my camera! I am so thankful for Renee and this wonderful birthday present! The pictures are so clear and beautiful and yes there have been some deletes but for the most part I love the pictures it takes! So thanks Twinkl!