Saturday - December 04, 2004
The flip side of compromise is optimize.
Yesterday we had no work, officially. We had
clients who had work for us, though, so I just worked out of the office. Many
creative people in advertising have this delusion that ideas wander in malls,
and tend to enter these places in the hope that they will bump into a good idea
along the way from the food court to the shoe
shops.
I decided to put that delusion to good use and obtain a new digicam in the process. My old Nikon Coolpix 885 went to gadget heaven months ago and I never got around to replacing it. Fixing it would have meant sinking in more time and money than was reasonable, considering how steep tech depreciation is. I knew I was going to get another Nikon, but I waffled between buying the latest and greatest (i.e. the Nikon D70) and a whole host of other numerically-named Coolpix options - 8400, 8800, 5200, 4800, on and on, with prices ranging from P18,000 to an eyelash-curling P74,000.
The non-mommy Leigh would've forked out the cash for the Nikon D70 kit with zoom lens (that was the P74,000), and gone to sleep soundly. After all, purchasing that would have been Leigh-reasonable: it works with Compact Flash, you can swap Nikon lenses in and out (that for me means borrowing, of course), the D70 has killer pro looks, and its mix of manual and digital smarts means it won't depreciate as fast. White balance (assisted) is the best bar none. And that is so important when taking jewelry pictures. Also it's a freakin' Nikon. ;-)
But mommy Leigh is a different shopping animal. I've never been a counter - when I shop, I just buy what I want and then do totals later, or just live with what's in the ATM. This time I asked for price lists, walked around, used the calculator in my phone (!) and bargained.
And the winner is:
The newest baby of the household, the Nikon Coolpix 5200! The Nikon marketing guys have positioned it as the ultimate in red-eye reduction but that wasn't why I bought it. It's half the size (and weight) of my old 885, the highest resolution is 5 mp (good enough for 13x10 prints of Belly!) and can record short video clips with audio. It has most of the same features I loved with my old Coolpix (various scenes, customizable modes, white balance measurement) and a couple of new ones (auto-focus assist, blur warning); the grip is good; and I aim to buy a cheap tripod (I hear you can get them for less than P200!) for better jewelry shots.
It's easy enough for my sister to use, because at heart the 5200 is a point-and-shoot. If I can make my sister deliver Belly and take pictures at the same time, it would be a miracle of technology.
One of the things I appreciate the most about the 5200 has nothing to do with taking pictures. I felt quite good about buying it, and not cheated at all - as I have tended to feel in the past when buying a "non-ultimate" gadget. I was able to get great gifts for other people, restock beads, buy onesies for Belly - and come in way under what I would have just spent on a single item. (I know that's what's usual with other people but it's never been that way with me.) Even when I shook my head and walked away from 1) the 60Gb iPod Photo, 2) the Wacom Graphire 3 tablet, 3) the Sony Ericsson S700, and 4) all manner of Apple and Belkin accessories, I felt not a twinge or pinch of regret.
I'm learning.
I decided to put that delusion to good use and obtain a new digicam in the process. My old Nikon Coolpix 885 went to gadget heaven months ago and I never got around to replacing it. Fixing it would have meant sinking in more time and money than was reasonable, considering how steep tech depreciation is. I knew I was going to get another Nikon, but I waffled between buying the latest and greatest (i.e. the Nikon D70) and a whole host of other numerically-named Coolpix options - 8400, 8800, 5200, 4800, on and on, with prices ranging from P18,000 to an eyelash-curling P74,000.
The non-mommy Leigh would've forked out the cash for the Nikon D70 kit with zoom lens (that was the P74,000), and gone to sleep soundly. After all, purchasing that would have been Leigh-reasonable: it works with Compact Flash, you can swap Nikon lenses in and out (that for me means borrowing, of course), the D70 has killer pro looks, and its mix of manual and digital smarts means it won't depreciate as fast. White balance (assisted) is the best bar none. And that is so important when taking jewelry pictures. Also it's a freakin' Nikon. ;-)
But mommy Leigh is a different shopping animal. I've never been a counter - when I shop, I just buy what I want and then do totals later, or just live with what's in the ATM. This time I asked for price lists, walked around, used the calculator in my phone (!) and bargained.
And the winner is:
The newest baby of the household, the Nikon Coolpix 5200! The Nikon marketing guys have positioned it as the ultimate in red-eye reduction but that wasn't why I bought it. It's half the size (and weight) of my old 885, the highest resolution is 5 mp (good enough for 13x10 prints of Belly!) and can record short video clips with audio. It has most of the same features I loved with my old Coolpix (various scenes, customizable modes, white balance measurement) and a couple of new ones (auto-focus assist, blur warning); the grip is good; and I aim to buy a cheap tripod (I hear you can get them for less than P200!) for better jewelry shots.
It's easy enough for my sister to use, because at heart the 5200 is a point-and-shoot. If I can make my sister deliver Belly and take pictures at the same time, it would be a miracle of technology.
One of the things I appreciate the most about the 5200 has nothing to do with taking pictures. I felt quite good about buying it, and not cheated at all - as I have tended to feel in the past when buying a "non-ultimate" gadget. I was able to get great gifts for other people, restock beads, buy onesies for Belly - and come in way under what I would have just spent on a single item. (I know that's what's usual with other people but it's never been that way with me.) Even when I shook my head and walked away from 1) the 60Gb iPod Photo, 2) the Wacom Graphire 3 tablet, 3) the Sony Ericsson S700, and 4) all manner of Apple and Belkin accessories, I felt not a twinge or pinch of regret.
I'm learning.