Cameras!

For nearly a year of my life, I worked at CVS/Pharmacy. CVS originally stood for Convenience, Values, Service and I was expected to uphold that name as a cashier and Photolab Technician. I did have fun developing photos though. There were some funny shots of people at parties and some really awesome shots of an African Safari. But I didn't really develop very much film seeing as most people have moved on to digital cameras. Having seen many come through the store, I decided that I will share some about digital cameras and compare a couple of high end models.

There are a few things that you really need to look for in a digital camera. It needs to be a good size and be sturdy. The later is very important if children are ever going to be around the camera. Next, the camera needs a good sized display so that you can actually see what you are taking pictures of. Another factor is the resolution which is measured in megapixels. Resolution is important because it will decide how clear the picture you take are and what sizes of paper prints can be made. Lastly, look at the software that comes with the camera. The easier and smaller to use, the better.

I looked around and I found two cameras from the well known brands of Canon and Kodak. First, let me talk about the Canon model.

I picked out the Canon Powershot G9. It has 12.1 megapixels of resolution and comes with many extra features like red eye correction, face detector and optical image stabilizer. The camera is about 11 oz and is really fairly small but most of the backside is taken up by the screen, so that won't be too big of an issue. I don't know about the software associated with the camera because the website doesn't say. The reason I picked Canon is because the brand itself has proven to be reliable. I have never seen anyone come in to CVS with problems with their Canon camera. Also, it has a really cool feature which I mentioned before, optical image stabilizer. I am not known for my steady hands and I have taken my share of really blurry pictures because of it. This camera actually helps correct for that so your pictures can be clearer even if your hands are shakier.

The other camera is a Kodak Easyshare Z1275. This is also a 12 megapixel camera. It comes with 5x zoom, digital image stabilization (like optical image stabilizer), and various modes to help the amateur photographer learn the ropes a bit better. It also comes with Kodak's Easyshare Software. This is very easy to use but its a little big for what it does.

So which one would I choose? It depends on how serious I am. If I really want to become a famous photographer, I would drop the $450 (according to Price Grabber) for the Canon. But for the every day photographer, go with the much less expensive ($250 from their website) and much easier to use Kodak.

Thanks to Kodak and Canon for the pictures and the content.