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I first acquired a Digital Camera in 2002 when I purchased a
FinePix 2800 Zoom which I found quite easy to use, one of the trips I took
it on was the West Highland Way which I completed in April 2002 The
weather was not very good at the start of the walk but improved as the
walk went on and I was able to get some good photos as the walk
progressed. In July 2003 I set off to walk part of the Tour du Mont Blanc
and took some good pictures until I had a mishap with the camera about
halfway through the walk. I was walking up to the top of the
Col de la Seigne when I paused to take a self
portrait of myself with and interesting background, I balanced the camera
on my rucksack which was laid on the floor and the camera overbalanced and
rolled about 12 inches onto the grassy bank, I picked it up and found that
the lens would not retract and it would not focus properly. I was
devastated as I really was looking forward to taking more photos as the
walk progressed towards Courmayeur. There was nothing I could do until I
reached Courmayeur except just enjoy the walk. When I reached the town I
bought several disposable cameras to use for the rest of the Holiday
My next camera was a
FinePix S602 Zoom. It was quite a bulky camera but has a nice
professional feel to it, although it has got a vast array of features and
controls it can still be used as a point and shoot camera, but one of the
main advantages as far as I am concerned is it use of 4 AA batteries, I
normally use rechargeable ones for my days in the hills and just carry a
spare set with me but these are rarely used. If I am away from home for a
while such as my trips to the Alps I just use normal disposable batteries
which you can purchase anywhere. During a weeks trip I would expect to use
two sets which I think is very good as I certainly don't want to have to
be carrying a charger around with me. Weight is everything at my age. It
has a Microdrive in so it can hold around 500 pictures at a 3 million
pixels, more than adequate for my use but on long trips in the Alps I have
taken some 64mb cards as backup.
In August 2005 my Fujifilm 2800 Zoom
developed a fault and as I had taken out an extended warranty this
covered the fault but while the camera was away being repaired I purchased
a small compact digital camera a Nikon E5600, again using AA batteries
which I prefer. This proved to be an excellent camera and actually
became one of my favourite cameras.
In October 2008 I purchased a Nikon D60 as
I felt the time was right to try and expand my horizons and start getting
a bit more serious about my photography, for the next few years I used
both the Nikon E5600 and the Nikon D60 until in Feb 2011 my Nikon E5600
developed a problem, I was using it on a walk in the Lake District and the
weather had been very wet for a few days, I was very careful to keep it
dry but somehow it got moisture inside even though I made sure that the
drizzle never actually got on the camera. I think that the air was so
laden with dampness it just got in the camera. It just would not focus so
I kept it warm in my shirt pocket and the moisture in the viewfinder
cleared but from that time on it was just slow to focus and could take
many seconds before you were able to take a picture.
The time had come purchase another
compact but Nikon were not producing this camera with the optical
viewfinder anymore so I looked round for a suitable replacement but
cameras with optical viewfinders are quite rare and my choice was limited.
I chose a Canon Powershot A1200 as this seemed to have all the features I
required, small, optical viewfinder and AA batteries which you can
buy pretty well anywhere. This gave me good service when I went to the
Alps in July 2011 and I usually always have this with me on my walks.
The Nikon D60 has a lot of features
such as aperture, shutter speed and exposure that I do not use or
understand. I am determined to change that so I have just bought the book
"Nikon D60 for Dummies" I have set myself a target of spring 2012 to get
used to all the features of this superb camera.
At the moment in
2011 the two cameras I use all the time are compact Cannon Powershot A1200
and the SLR Nikon D60
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