I had to go to Harrisburg, PA to obtain some paperwork. Harrisburg isn’t far, but it’s not exactly right next door either at today’s gas prices, especially in the less-than-economical vehicle I drive. Taking the camera kit along seemed the thing to do. It helped make the trip worthwhile.
Here’s another sunrise from a few days ago. I seem to be on a get-up-way-too-early-to-be-sane kick lately! :D
And it’s a doozy! Well, not really. But there are pics!
When I’m scouting locations for my brides & grooms or just casually snapshooting around, I really hate carrying my professional “rig.” It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s expensive, and it’s overkill.
Now, I use Canon equipment because of its top shelf image quality and superior handling and crazy durability - my camera, lens, and flash all on a bracket tumbled out of my vehicle and onto a curb in the middle of a wedding in downtown Philadelphia. The only casualty was a generic battery. I replaced that and was able to continue on as if nothing had happened!
Because of my Canon familiarity and overall good experiences with the brand, I looked at their point and shoots. A few models appealed to me but ultimately they were too bulky for my needs. I wanted something that would fit in my front jeans pocket. The only models that interested me were too fat and would have to go in a jacket or back jeans pocket. I’m not planning on wearing a jacket in the summer heat, so that wouldn’t do. I don’t like putting relatively expensive electronics in my back pockets either because there’s a 90% chance that at some point in time I’d sit on it and crunch it into useless bits.
Enter Fuji. Fuji has always made great products. In fact, my first “serious” digital camera was a Fuji. I really liked that camera. Fuji makes some really really nice small, pocketable digitals. They also make some really really crappy small, pocketable digitals. I chose a not-so-crappy one. The FinePix F40fd. It doesn’t have much in the way of manual controls, but that’s a good thing. These cameras are so small, I don’t want to be fiddling around much just to take a photo. Fortunately Fuji’s F40fd is well-programmed in that the automation that it does, it does well. You can still override a few things when necessary and that’s enough control for me, for my uses.
Check it out, compared to one of my working cameras and lenses:
Quite a difference, ain’t it? :) And the screen is excellent too! It better be though, since there’s no optical viewfinder.
Battery life, while not awesome, is respectable. I got about 250 images on a charge so far, and that included a lot of fiddling around to learn the camera. Lots of reviewing of pics on the sweeeeeeeet screen too, which sucks up go-juice like mad. Image quality is quite respectable as well, considering it’s a little digital and not that big honkin’ expensive thing I normally use when you pay me the big bucks. ;)
Up close and personal with a Ricola cough drop. This is as close as you can get to anything with the F40fd.
Two more macro samples just for kicks.
