Photographic memory

I got a new digital camera! I had an Olympus C-404Z that I loved. I bought it very slightly used from a guy in town who upgraded to a Nikon 5MP camera about two years ago. I had all sorts of extras for the camera - lens adapter with three filters (UV, Polarizing, and fluorescent), AC adapter, remote, 128MB memory card, and memory card reader. I have taken hundreds of photos with it. It suffers from the usual digital camera weaknesses - slow shutter response, somewhat weak low-light focusing, and wimpy zoom - but overall it rocks. Well, I get emails from Costco.com regularly. About a month ago they had the Olympus C-755 UZ on sale for $479 with a $100 off coupon that was applied at checkout. What is so cool about the C-755? It has a 10x optical zoom! The only thing I really was disappointed about with my C-4040Z was the 3x optical zoom. I saw this camera and decided I had to have it. But how could I justify spending $400 on a new camera when my kid just went off to an insanely expensive college? I had a plan.

I am the library's resident photographer. Whenever there is some event that we want to memorialize photographically, they come to me. Sometimes, they don't come to me until moments before the event. Several times I have not had my camera with me at work, meaning we had to resort to disposable cameras as a means of capturing the event on film. Well, when I saw the C-755UZ I decided it was high time the library bought its own digital camera - MINE! So I planted the seed in my boss's ear. I mentioned all the extras, worth over $150, that would accompany the purchase, the fact that the camera was easy to use so anyone could take photos, not just me, and the fact that I had convinced him to buy the exact same camera a year ago, so he was quite well versed in its workings. He agreed it would be a wise purchase, but didn't give me the go-ahead. A month passed. I decided to order the camera anyway. I then sent out an email to the staff telling them my camera was for sale with all the extras for $425. I had a few inquiries but no takers. Then, Monday, my boss asked me if I still had my camera for sale. I did and I had it at the library. He inspected it and its accessories and then gave the finance department the okay to buy it from me! So, I have my new camera at a net cost of -$3.00!!

Now, how does it compare? I LOVE it! The zoom is awesome and the macro capabilities are even better than the C-4040Z. It has an electronic viewfinder so you get an accurate portrayal of what you're shooting. The shutter is still digital camera slow and low light focusing is still an issue, but I can live with those problems for the majority of my photographic endeavors. It takes the new xD memory cards. It comes with a 16MB card - much too small - so I wll be buying a 128MB or 256MB card, depending on price. Here's a very informative review of the camera from Steve's Digicams. I checked this out before I bought the camera and saw nothing to be concerned about. Now that I have the camera in hand, I find I love it even more than the C-4040z. I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet, but when I do I'll post some pics here.

Time to take the cat to the vet. This is an ordeal I am not looking forward to. Getting her into her cat carrier is a real test of wills. If she even sees it before I drop her into it, I'll have scratches all over my arms. I have to be sneaky, very sneaky. Wish me luck!