mindless ramblings

I thought my Canon Powershot A70 finally gave up the ghost when I brought it to Go Fish last week. After taking 2 pictures, it refused to retract (or extend) the lens mechanism. I had a sneaking suspicion that it might be due to the cold but I was prepared for the worst. My camera doesn’t do too well in the cold, the battery life goes down amazingly fast (the amount of power stored in batteries goes down in cold temperatures) and it often has trouble trying to auto-focus a shot.

Thankfully, it works great now once it is back to room temperature. It still has issues trying to focus, but my trusty sidekick has taken over 6000 pictures for me over three and a half years… too bad most of the pictures come out crappy! I wish I had the ability to compose better pictures, but somehow I end up with something wrong most of the time. I think one of the biggest drawbacks to a point-and-shoot camera is the inability to create substantial depth of field. Everything is always in focus, and it’s tough to focus attention on your subject when everything is razor sharp. I would love to pick up a used Digital Rebel DSLR but that is quite low on the list of priorities at the moment!

BTW if anyone is looking for an awesome way to organise your photos, Picasa rocks! I moved from ACDSee (which has more features) to Picasa and I have no regrets. It’s just much more intuitive and user friendly, especially with their Googlesque I’m Feeling Lucky button, which auto corrects brightness, contrast and colour temperatures with 1 click. Try it out!