Cameras Used

While the boys have their fancy-dan Canon SLRs, I don't.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60

2015 I have long pondered getting a proper camera and just when I had the wherewithal to do so - I decided not. Instead I bought a relatively small digital jobbie with an unchangeable lens; extensive research led me to the conclusion that I wasn't really competent enough to get the best out of a big SLR nor was I really interested in acquiring such skills. Instead, if I could get a camera that automated the whole process, had a big optical zoom, could GPS stamp photos and potentially take images that could blowup to A0 - well, why make it hard for myself.

So I got a Lumix TZ60. It is fabulous! Life is complicated enough.

It is very small and extraordinarily effective - with some very clever effects such as making huge panoramas or automatically blending several images to compensate for back-lighting. Its only failing, in my view, is its built-in battery which cannot be replaced rather than off-the-shelf AA batteries. But to be honest, over the past few years, this has never proved a problem. In case it does become a problem on long bike trips, I bought a charger with an extra battery

Fujifilm FinePix S8100fd

2009 Before that I had what was possibly considered, at the time, one of the better intermediate cameras about. It had a decent optical zoom starting from a reasonable wide-angle. Included a macro function I probably over-used and had a higher than average pixel count (for point & shooters). It felt and looked like a real camera. It used 4 AA batteries which I found really useful on long hauls away from USB charging-points.

But it was quite slow and both resolution and optics were soon eclipsed by new bridge cameras on the market. I started hankering after an SLR again

Sony DSC-P73

2005 My first digital camera. It was great. The biggest advantage was the additional wide-angle lens Sony provided for it. This proved so useful that it was generally never off.

One day, clambering through wooded slopes in Glenariff, it must have fallen out of my pocket. I didn't notice till I returned home

Sony Mavica FD7

2000 My first experience of a digital camera was a borrowed Sony Mavica which saved images onto floppy-disks. Resolution was pretty low and it had few features but it was somehow more flexible than regular film cameras. Perhaps it was being able to edit the images afterwards on my computer that appealed. I was sold on digital but it took a few years before I got round to getting one of my own.

For a while I also had a strange Canon beast that captured images onto magnetic tape. It could only store 10 images per tape and the quality was pretty diabolical.

Smart Phone Cameras

Sometimes photo opportunities come out of the blue when the only thing available is a phone camera. Quality has definitely improved over the years though

• 2018 Motorola G7 Power - with a long-life battery
  
• 2016 Wileyfox Swift - UK made, non-Android phone
  
• 2014 Motorola XT1052 - was very good for indoor, low light conditions
• 2012 HTC Desire - I still use this as a backup phone cos the battery lasts for ages
  

I have never used cameras that come with tablets despite the number of tablets we have had; I doubt the quality is as good as phone cameras but I could well be biased and uninformed 😶