New Camera! :)
My parents got me a digital camera for Christmas :-D. A Panasonic DMC-FZ50. I’ve been thinking about buying an SLR for ages, as I’ve started to feel the limitations of my little Canon compact camera. I decided I wanted to get my hands on a DSLR before I go to China in April, but I’ve never really had the money to spend on one. But now I have one :).
Well, kind of. It’s not really an SLR, as you can’t change the lens, but It has a couple of advantages over a traditional DSLR. I can use the screen as well as the viewfinder to compose shots. The screen also swivels out at various angles, making it possible to take photographs at waist height or above a crowd. As the lens is fixed to the camera I will never have problems with getting dust on the sensor. The Leica 35-400 lens is quite compact. It’s only roughly the same size as a standard 18-55 kit lens, yet offers a far greater zoom.
It still feels pretty much like using a traditional DSLR too. It has manual focus and zoom rings on the lens barrel, and dials for controlling the aperture and shutter speed on the hand grip. Yet it also has a handy set of built in presets if you just want to point and shoot or are in a hurry. It’s a fair bit cheaper than an entry-level DSLR too, at about £200 less than the Canon EOS 400D with kit lens.
I haven’t had much of a chance to play with it yet, but keep your eyes on my flickr photostream ;)