four years ago, just before jan was born, i got a nikon f55 as a birthday gift. the camera has done a wonderful job of chronicling jan’s milestones, especially during the first two years. we would average about 2 rolls of 36 shot-film a month, and the folks back home regularly got a packet of photos in the mail every week or so. i loved the crisp, clear pictures even a SLR-novice like me has produced. it was easy to use, and the photos were simply great.

and then came the flood of digital cameras. i’ve put off getting one for the longest time, because of two main reasons. i haven’t seen a compact digital camera that has produced print photos that were as nice as those churned by my film SLR. and for me, prints are important. despite the significant time i spent in front of the pc, i’m still partial to prints. second, the cost. when digital cameras first came out, 4MP cameras were about €200-300. i thought that’s a lot of money for something i really am not sure i’d be happy with, anyway. over the last year, though, the prices have been dropping at an amazing rate. so i postponed for as long as i could, and hoped it would drop to a price that would allow me to dip into the trenches guilt-free.

that lasted til last month. i was initially thinking of getting a canon rebel XT (which was also yuga’s and jayvee’s choice, i recently found out) because i thought a digital SLR is my best bet to quality prints. however, i wanted a camera that i wouldn’t think twice of bringing with me, whether it’s to a simple walk in the woods or to a wedding. i loved my analog SLR, but it was simply a pain to carry, not to mention, unglamorous. i often found myself thinking, shall i bring it? is the occasion photo-worthy? and i don’t know how many times i’ve said to myself, damn, i wish i had my camera with me. if i got a digital SLR, i’d be saddled with the same predicament. and what worth is a camera that takes perfect photos, if you don’t have it with you, right?

Canon Ixus 55so after a lot of fickling, and a careful study of the consumer report from stiftung warentest, i finally got myself a compact canon ixus55. definitely not top-of-the-line, and not the newest model by any means, but between this and my analog SLR, i think i’ve got the best of both worlds. a film SLR for those must-photograph moments, and the compact ixus for run of the mill day-to-day snapshots.

and oh yeah, for the record, it’s a camera that blogging bought. come to think of it, blogging also partially paid for my expenses during my philippine trip, our weekend at the rhön, and a few other expenses here and there. perhaps, if i scrape enough, it can also help pay for a late summer getaway… hm.

material things aside, what has blogging brought you?

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at and is filed under blogging, i, me, and myself. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.