So I've been looking into the purchase of a digital camera. Nothing new to me really, since this will be my fourth "investment" in one, but this time, I'm really doing my research this time around and am actually sinking some bucks into one. Not sure why though, because it will be outdated in 6 months, so really, what's the point?
Well, the "point" or the reason behind this all is something new I stumbled across the other day that really grabbed my attention. It's called HDR Photos — or more specifically, "High dynamic range imaging" (click here for more info) Basically, it's a cool feature in digital imaging that really boosts up the dynamic range, or what I like to call the "pop" of a digital image.
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| HDR processing (left) vs unprocessed image (right) |
A good website with a lot of HDR photos can also be found at interfacelift.com which has TONS of pictures to browse through (and a lot of great desktop wallpapers!)
Anyways, I digress…. This whole concept of HDR imaging was brought to my attention by a salesperson at a computer store here in my town that actually made mention of it when I stopped in on Monday to look at a camera I was thinking of purchasing. Well, I actually *did* purchase it. The 10MP Fujifilm s8100fd , to be more specific. But after getting home later that evening and playing around with it for a bit, and also due to my girlfriend's dislike of the camera's physical size, I decided that I made a hasty decision and returned it the very next day.
But instead of returning home with my hard earned cash and doing a little more research, I decided to simply exchange it then and there for a 12MP Fujifilm f100fd — which, in comparison, is a much smaller camera with some missing features of the s8100fd but a larger sensor to make up for it.
So I took that sucker home, and knowing that it cost a little less and seemed to be more suited to what I was looking for, I felt somewhat happy with my decision. But that was until I remembered about the "image bracketing" feature that I came across on the s8100fd that basically "automates" the difference in exposure settings required to compile these HDR photos that I mentioned above.
And then I remembered about another camera that I had been playing around with at Best Buy the day before when I purchased the first camera. It was the Panasonic TZ5 and it had the majority of the features that I was interested in, and MORE.
First off, it still had the longer optical zoom in it (which first attracted me to that Fujifilm s8100fd) which is a whopping 10x! (the s8100fd has 18x optical and the f100fd has 5x) but also has image bracketing AND shoots video in 720p HD resolution! However, what detracted me from buying it was the price: It was a little more that the 12MP Fujifilm f100fd but it only had a 9.1MP sensor, and I figured that more mexapixels meant a better image. But then I did more research online and realized that this isn't always the case, especially when dealing with compact cameras (click here for more info)
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So, to make a long story short, I took back the Fuji today and got me the Panasonic – and it feels like the right decision – especially since I tried to get them to price match to an online retailer and saved myself some cake. I even attempted to make my first-ever HDR photo as soon as I got it out of the box (see above) So I'm hoping that I've made the right decision. The only thing that's kind of bugging me now is the fact that I waived the extended warranty, but I still have 14 days to decided if it is truly worth the extra $90….
