If you said, "From the song Peg by Steely Dan, 1977," you get 20 bonus points. If you added, "Michael McDonald sang backing vocals on that song," you get an additional 30 bonus points.
I have been researching cameras. The need isn't immediate. I'm looking for a good hybrid camera that can handle stills and video. I have it narrowed down to a couple different cameras, but I'd like to get my hands on them... without the security attachment on the cameras at Best Buy that changes the weight and feel of the camera. It is possible for a camera to be too small to fit your hands. Or not have a comfortable feel for your grip.
The technology on cameras has changed a lot in the past decade; most new cameras are decent - it becomes a matter of what combination of features fits your usage. In spite of what you might think after looking for online reviews, most people don't have much need for an actual camera these days, preferring to use their phone.
All that said, Joan found a camera on Vine. For Vine members, there is no out of pocket (out of credit card?) cost to you for the item, but there is a tax consideration: you don't want to order a bunch of crap just because "it's free." I think she was considering that it might be a "stop gap" while I'm considering my choice.
It was delivered yesterday. It is a bit "kiddish" looking to me...
Not uncomfortable, but it feels plastic-y. It looks like very dated technology. No viewfinder and the display screen doesn't articulate - that means the only way to view what you are going to shoot is to hold the camera out in front of you. That is going to make it slow and difficult to get a steady shot.
I put the battery in and charged it up. It was after 9:00 last night before it was charged, so I didn't do much with it beyond setting it up. The specs say it has "4K video and 64 megapixel still photos." We'll see.
I took the camera outside early this morning when I took Murphy out. The sun was still behind the mountain, but there seemed to be adequate light. With the camera on Auto ISO, this was the result...
So much for the Auto ISO making for a decent shutter speed and apature. I set the ISO for 800 manually, resulting in this...
No, Murph did not smile for the camera. Well, he may have, but the shutter delay was so long that the moment had passed by the time the exposure was actually made. Some of you may remember this situation from our early days of trying to get dolphin photos while we were sailing: most of what we got was water where a dolphin had been a second or two earlier. This is painful. And the fact that you are holding the camera out in front of you makes it even tougher to get a crisp image. On, and that "64mp still image" - here's an enlarged portion of the image above...
The sensor in this camera is very dated technology. There would be far more frustration than satisfaction in trying to use this camera. You can't send stuff back from Vine. Too bad.
The brand is Vivitar (no mention of the model on Amazon). Amazon has this camera listed at $249.99. On Vine, it was showing as a $170.95 value. The closest thing I could find to it anywhere online was at $90. I would put the value of this camera as less than that. Might be something for a kid to use as a first camera. Or maybe not, if it would frustrate them. Vivitar used to be a good brand for flash equipment back in the 80s. I'm guessing some Chinese entity bought the name and this is the result.
I had to laugh when looking at the listing on Amazon: this was one of the images they used...
The woman is using it as though it has a viewfinder. She would have her eyeball up against the screen... it would be damn hard to compose a shot like that. On the bright side: it comes with a battery, a data card, and a carrying bag...
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