Going Digital

I’ve had an interest in photography ever since the early 1980s. Back then when film was the medium, I had a Petri viewfinder camera and a Rolleicord twin lens reflex. Sadly, when the cost of film and processing became prohibitive in the early 1990s, I had to turn to other, less costly hobbies.

From a seaside resort in Tabuelan, Cebu

Fortunately, low-cost digital cameras have made photography affordable again. In 2007, I bought my first digital camera, a Sony Cybershot S650. I have also made use of various phone cameras. But I have never owned a single lens reflex (SLR) camera, let alone a digital one. So when I came to buying a digital SLR, I wanted to make sure I got a camera that I could enjoy and actually use.

The good news was that, when it came to capabilities, the big names were generally even in each given skill level. Neither Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony, Pentax, and so on had any huge advantage. That realization pretty much helped me avoid long hours of going over technical comparisons and reviews (although I did read some). What was important now were certain subjective preferences.

With film, I used to experiment with long exposures (10 seconds to a few minutes). The time allowed me to play with flash, ambient light, and various colored lights to get interesting effects. So I naturally wanted to be able to do the same with my new camera. That meant that the camera should be capable of fully manual operation. After all, what’s the point of getting an SLR if you intend to stick to presets and automatic exposure? Part of the creativity — and certainly much of the fun — lies in controlling the important parameters that can affect your photos. Manual exposure lets you play with light and motion, and that’s something I really like to do.

Mixed Emotions: Nokia 7210 Supernova

I’ve been using my Nokia 7210 Supernova for over three months now. Here’s a quick review of how the phone has fared thus far.

I bought it mainly because I wanted a simple and cheap camera-phone that I could use on my solo road trip from Manila back to Cebu (the trip was called “Ride 4 Life“). I was attracted by its 2-megapixel camera and low cost (at around P6000) and its large phone directory (around 1000 contacts, at least). The main screen was large and bright and the case was slim and light. Clinching the sale was its expandable storage via a micro-SD slot. I left the store with an additional 2GB micro-SD card.

I left Manila after a day or two and eagerly put the camera to work. During the first day of my trip (which ended in Gumaca, Quezon), I took photos of several old churches and got acquainjted with the capabilities and limitations of the camera. I found that it took decent and fairly sharp pictures in good light, but under poor lighting conditions the shots were “noisy” and often blurred (I guess it was compensating with a “longer” exposure). The digital zoom was practically worthless too since it resulted in blurred, unfocused pictures. This built-in digital camera is strictly for daytime outdoor use, or for brightly-lit indoor venues. Forget about using it at night. It does not have a flash unit. It does video too, but I haven’t made much use of that feature yet.

You can check out some photos taken with this camera at my Multiply site.

A Quick Look at the Low-end: Sony Ericsson K320i

Now that I’ve been using the Sony Ericsson K320i for around a month, I feel I can write fair pocket review of this product. My verdict: it works well, but could sure stand some useability improvements.

This device comes with the bells and whistles that you would expect from a low-end phone with a camera. At best, the camera takes only VGA-quality (640×480) images so don’t expect much. The video and sound recording features are extra. The phone also boasts an Entertainment suite with sound and image editor, as well as a decent media player. Too bad the speaker isn’t all that great. There’s also an organizer with notes, calendar, calculator, stopwatch, file manager and to-do list. Pretty standard stuff.

One useful touch is the 1000-entry contact list with multiple fields for different information. I also like the fact that it uses a USB cable and is seen by my PC as a simple USB storage device. And, no, I did not have to install any device drivers.