After almost seven years of
faithful service, my inexpensive Casio Exilim digital camera finally gave up
and expired. Though with its demise, I felt somewhat rushed to acquire another
camera, I impressed back into service my old Sony Mavica until a good and
proper choice could be made. I spent a fair amount of time researching what
would be a good replacement camera and after trying to use the Mavica and
realizing it was no longer suitable, I needed to make a choice. I ended up
ordering a Canon, 16 megapixel SX520HS. I have been using it and putting it
through its paces and the photos and videos are light years ahead of my old
Casio. I am still trying to get used to all of the setting and am still
struggling with over lighting images, but overall the shots are pretty good and
the videos, even from a real distance have proved to be quite satisfying. It
will take some time to get used to a camera with more than just a few settings,
but as time moves on, so doesn't technology and a necessity to keep up.
Illustrated is a close-up of
a Kimura Morikazu yuteki guinomi. I was quite impressed with the macro features
of the camera and rather pleased with the ability to capture crisp detail
shots. The individual cells of the oil-spots are clear with the myriad of other
effects rendered far easier to study than in a simple 1:1 photo. The detail
shot shows the complexity of the glaze and the miniature universe captured in
the surface that is hard to understand without the guinomi in hand. When you
think about the size of the guinomi and the potential of the detail shot, it is
rather amazing how easy it is to capture detail with the simple click of a
button; whether the pot stays here or goes on to a new home, the photos act as
permanent reference to what the appearance of the pot had to say in crystal
clear pixels.
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