Point-and-Shoot

I have been pestering Eric forever now to get me a little point-and-shoot camera that I can keep in my purse. We have the big SLR camera that is really fantastic and I LOVE it, but I just wanted to have something simpler, more portable, and that wouldn't matter quite so much when I inevitably drop it.

Speaking of dropping cameras, that is exactly what I did at my good friend's baby shower. Well, not exactly. I was taking some pictures with the SLR, and I set it down on the bench beside me. I then proceeded to bump it with my butt (accidentally), and it fell off the bench, and landed on the concrete. It looked fine, turned on and off, etc, etc. But when I went to take another picture, the zoom was stuck. I tried to turn it (perhaps a little over-zealously?), and heard something pop. So we took the lens off and looked inside, and there is definitely something loose in there that shouldn't be.

And so we can't use that lens for the time-being. Eventually we'll get it fixed or replace it. The camera itself works fine, and we do have another lens, but it's a pretty powerful zoom, so you have to be far away from your subject to get a good shot, which is pretty inconvenient for those every-day snap-shots I love to take.

Anyway, I tell that story because it explains why I was fretting yesterday over not having a camera to use at Eric's Pathfinder graduation ceremony tomorrow. And why the idea to get a little point-and-shoot resurfaced in my mind. So I told Eric we should just go get one, because I really wanted to have some pictures of the graduation, and our move into our first house is also coming up, and I really want to have pictures of that, too.

Being unable to resist my charms, Eric loaded the family into the van, and we all went down to the PX to look at cameras. I spent about an hour glaring at the sales people while they did other things, and about 15 minutes actually talking to them about which camera would be good for us. Finally we picked out a Samsung SL 420. It has a 5x optical zoom, and 10 mega pixels, in case anybody cares.

It is my new favorite toy. I can't stop playing with it. And I am pleasantly surprised by the decent quality of the pictures it takes. Check this out:


It has a macro (super-close-up) setting on it, and I decided to try it out on my ring. I CANNOT believe how clear this picture is!!

One of the reasons I went for this particular camera is that it has an internal memory, so I can take a few pictures without a memory card. I was thinking it would be maybe 10 or 12. Turns out to be 3. Which I was actually ok with, because I have 3 adorable little boys, and we were headed to the playground after we left the store!

I. LOVE. THESE:

The pictures and especially the boys.

:)