My sister was kind enough to pass on her old Sony Cybershot to me when I touched American soil about 2 years ago. It was a decent camera to be fair. I didnt have much expectations given that it was my first time ever owning a digital camera. But taking it with me to Fes for a week the past summer demonstrated its glaring shortcomings and how much I could do with a more up-to-date camera.
The Sony took some cool shots and has been a worthwhile companion all my two years in America. I loved it’s video recording capabilities, and it’s all that really mattered. I even recorded the whole Native Deen performance at MSACZ last year with it. Apart from it’s bulkiness and lack of optical zoom, it was a perfect gadget for my crafty exploits, which includes taking a
It was all about the Sony’s fast-startup time, silent operation, video compression capabilities and non-protruding lense that allowed me to make those maneuvres. But above all, it was due to the fact it was an old camera that I got for free and therefore I couldn’t care much less if it got damaged.
But I believe I’m missing out on too much if I continue with that old workhorse. It’s poor low-light pictures, high noise level and bulky size was enough for me to trash it. Well, more accurately, I plan to use it as a secondary camera now that I’ve purchased a more up-to-date camera, the Casio Exilim EX-V8.
It was an extremely difficult and time-consuming ordeal to choose between the gazillion excellent cameras in this increasingly competitive market, and in the end I went for the EX-V8 exclusively for reasons similar to what I had been using the old Sony for – the espionage factor (high optical zoom, small size, fast startup) and its video features (ex, 1.5 times file compression smaller than normal MPEG-4, with even a Youtube-optimized setting). I didn’t mind its sub-par picture quality though I really wished it could take better indoor pictures to complement all my other needs. Low-noise and accurate colors are only a priority if you need to print out large size pictures, and I’m definitely not that type.
The next best in the market is the Panasonic Lumix TZ3, which is about $30 cheaper with a whopping 10X Optical Zoom (15X Optical at 3MP) which is twice as much optical zoom as the Casio with far better picture quality. But I ruled it out immediately due to its unacceptable bulkiness. There were also various other much cheaper options, such as the top-selling Canon SD1000, and Casio’s own EX-Z1080 but I think it’s lack of features will prove costly as money can never buy back precious moments gone by. The financial fear was further allayed by the fact that I do have plenty to spend as of now thanks to JPA’s generous allowance increase.
So here I am, awaiting the arrival of my new digital camera from Amazon. Expect frequent Youtube and Flickr updates from me soon…
Did you get the camera? If so, how do you like it? i’m thinking of getting EX-v8 myself.
Yup i got it. Just as I expected, it’s great for videos but poor indoor image quality (too grainy after ISO 100). The video is way better than my old Sony’s. It’s relatively heavy compared to other compact cameras. Maybe it’s because the body case is solid. The 7x optical zoom is better than most digicams, but the image is too shaky at maximum zoom unless you use a tripod. So there’s not that much use for the zoom. My friend accidently dropped this camera while it was turned on from shoulder height onto hardwood floor and it’s still working fine, so its pretty good build quality. Excellent battery life but charging it is a pain because either you splurge about $40 for a casio charger or charge through its cradle. Unless you plan to seriously utilize its great video features, better get a Canon 870 IS or Panasonic TZ3.