A voice cried out from heaven, saying: “It is done…….again.”

So yes, I got a new camera. I had the Nikon S3000 and while it was a good camera it was very frustrating to me. It made me greatly appreciate my DSLR every time I used it. It had it’s drawbacks and they were just too big to ignore. Here are some examples:

• It had a very hard time focusing even from distances of 4 ft or so. This was very frustrating and caused me to have to try and refocus several times. In the case of my wife, it resulted in many blurry photos.
• I could not do closeups. No matter how hard I tried that little camera just would not take a good closeup shot.
• Cumbersome to use. To me a camera should be able to switch easily between manual and automatic modes. The Nikon S3000 took 3 clicks to get from manual to automatic. What made that frustrating was that if I was using it and my wife wanted to take it to get a photo of the kids real fast, my settings weren’t set up for what she wanted to do which resulted in me having to quickly change it back to auto and that resulted in a less than desirable photo experience.

There were other reasons too but those 3 were the most frustrating about the camera. I decided to return the Nikon after I took it to a wedding I was attending as a guest and I was severely disappointed in nearly every photo that my wife and I took. I decided then and there to return it the next day. I exchanged it for a camera that I absolutely love. I love this camera so much I am thinking of doing and entire photoshoot with just this camera just to see how it will work. The camera is the Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS Digital ELPH.

One of my friends has this camera and I really wanted it for this blog from the beginning. The problem was that it was on the high end of my price range and I didnt want to spend that much. The good news was that when I went to purchase this one it was on sale so essentially I only spent $20.00 more than I did on the Nikon. That’s $20 very, very well spent. Many times if you wait a little while you can find very good deals on a wide range of digital cameras from many retailers. This same camera had been on sale the week before I got the Nikon. Retailers put their products on sale pretty regularly so just check your ads. Many times too their online store has great deals that they don’t have in the brick and mortar stores. Keep that in mind.

Now, the SD1300 does not have as many manual functions as the Nikon or as many as I would like but what it lacks it makes up for in everything else. Big plus is that it uses the standard mini-USB for charging and computer hookup. The Nikon, I don’t know why, had a dedicated port which meant I could only use the cord it came with to connect. Everyone is moving to the standard mini-USB so I have no idea why Nikon did that. Yet another frustrating point about the Nikon. Another excellent feature is that this camera can do closeups like nobody’s business. This thing can get so close and shoot such a clear shot it is amazing! I really didn’t think I could do the things I have been doing with a little point and shoot camera. The Image Stabilizer on this camera is light years ahead of the one on the Nikon. You don’t have to have the most stabil of arms to get crystal clear photos. It’s amazing.

I’ve already been shooting like crazy with this thing so I will have some great photos to post very soon.

I do want to mention though that when I started this blog I actually contacted Canon U.S.A. to see if they would sponsor a PowerShot SD1300 for me but they respectfully declined. I really do hope that in the future I can get some other companies to sponsor or let me borrow their equipment so that I can truly get you a broad analysis of different camera types and functions. The more information I can spell out for you the easier it will be.

The fact that they didn’t sponsor a camera is quite alright though because I bought one anyways and I am very happy with it. I look forward to doing some really exciting posts in the near future. For now I am posting some pics of the camera.

I really want to keep this blog interesting for everyone so if there are any questions you have specific to you or you just want some extra assistance with something you are working on feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email at moylphotography@live.com. I’ll be happy to assist any way I can.

Until next time, happy shooting!

-Robert Hillis