New Acquisitions

As many of you know, I'm getting ready to go on a cruise in New England in September. I didn't want to take my old Minolta camera since its picture quality has really declined. A small pocket camera would be nice to not weigh me down, but which one?? The bank had a recognition event in which they gave away 100 prizes which included two small Kodaks and two small Samsungs and a Nikon D40 (not a pocket camera at all). Well, I didn't win any of those; I got a great set of luggage which was perfect. One of my tellers won the Nikon and brought it to work to show off. I could see it was way too big and complicated for me, but what should I get. I spent every evening the next week researching cameras. I looked at Sonys, Olympuses. Nikons, Casios, and Canons. I read the reviews and the product specifications and the sizes. I wanted to use the same batteries I already owned (rechargeable AA) and the SD memory cards. Then I read that I should actually hold the cameras in my hand to see how each one felt. Well, I live in a small town, but I drove up to Inkleys and tried out their small selection; and almost bought a Canon A580. A nice small camera which also had a view finder. Sony and Canon were the only ones who have that. I also found I didn't want a really big camera. More research showed the Canon has a really slow shutter speed. That nixed it for me because it is one of the problems I have with my Minolta. Actually, I was pretty tired of doing research so this is what I ended up with.

Panasonic Lumix LZ10

A 10.1 megapixel with a 5x optical zoom. It's small but has a nice little grip on the right side so it won't slide out of my hands like the other pocket cameras felt like they would do. It takes an SD card and AA batteries and has a fast shutter speed. But I didn't stop there, oh no . . .I bought a

Panasonic Lumix FZ18

What can I say? I'm a sucker for zoom and this one has an 18x zoom, plus 8.1 megapixels. And it is the same size as my Minolta which is manageable for me. It does take different batteries, so I bought two plus a recharger only to discover that the camera came with a battery and recharger. I now have three batteries and two rechargers. Rats, it never did tell me what came in the package. I'm a little intimidated by both these cameras because they are more complicated than my trusty Minolta so I will be studying the next couple of weeks. But they both have really good reviews and seemed to fit my needs.

Last month I bought an indoor antenna to see if I could get better reception than my old outdated one. Unfortunately, it did nothing for my TV, great reception for KJAZZ and nothing else. So I hooked the old antenna back up and it no longer works. In a fit of rage, I went to Walmart and picked up a 15-inch flat screen and hooked it to the new antenna. The reception of NBC, ABC and CBS is not great but I can at least watch it. And now I get FOX. So it is sitting on the dining room table and I watch TV while I work on the internet. I'm tired of researching so I'm putting off a decision on whether to get satellite or something else. I hear I can get a digital antenna that will be able to pick up the new signals next February and maybe I won't have to pay for TV. I need expert advice.

Well, I have certainly spent a lot of money this month and it's been fun. Stressful but fun. I hope I can figure out how to use these cameras and what to do about TV.