Dear Santa:
Considering that I’ve easily spent the equivalent of a top-of-the-line digital camera on cheesy disposable cameras and developing film, I figure it’s time I get with the program, enter the 2000’s and progress to the digital age. But I’m a girl on a budget, so I need some help.
I know you’re a busy guy, what with making your list and checking it twice, so I’ve simplified the process by narrowing my own list down to a few models. In a perfect world, I would become the happy owner of a fancy digital camera with a long zoom lens. Here are my favorites:
The Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS has 8 megapixels and a 12x optical zoom.
It offers all the bells and whistles—face detection, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual mode, as well as video capabilities and a stereo microphone. If the elves are all out of this new model, I will be equally delighted with its predecessor, the Z712, with 7.1 megapixels and a 12x optical zoom. I’m easy to please.
Also calling my name is the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3.
It has 8.1 megapixels, a 10x optical zoom, video, and it goes from 38-380mm—in other words, you can frame anyone from noassatall Paris Hilton to the big-booty-slapper goin’ “Low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low!” (Self-portrait, here I come!) The DCS-H3 also has image stabilization and a sports shooting mode so that I never have to miss a minute of the action again.
Not to break the North Pole bank or anything, but the Canon PowerShot SX-100IS, while pricier than my other choices, is awfully sweet.
At 8.0 megapixels and a 10x zoom, it has all the features of the Sony and Kodak, plus 18 modes and a host of settings. Add in red-eye correction, face select and track, several features to eliminate camera blur and shake, image resizing and a digital tele-converter and safety zoom. Sweet, sweet, sweet!
As the old saying goes, size does matter, and sometimes smaller really is better. So let’s take a look at some options.
Santa, how many times have you thought, “Oh, if I had a camera with me right now, I’d film that and put it on the Internet”? Me too. The slim, portable Casio Exilim EX-S880 has 7.2 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom and you can shoot video and send it straight to YouTube.
With anti-shake DSP, face detection technology and auto-focus tracking, it’s the perfect tool to carry around at all times.
The ATV of cameras, the Olympus Stylus 790SW, has 7.1 megapixels and a 3x optical lens.
It is the ultimate in “trendy and hip”—you can get it in orange, green, blue, silver or black. It’s small, lightweight, and made to survive pretty much anything. This warhorse is shockproof, waterproof, crushproof, dustproof and freezeproof. (If only Olympus could make my apartment dustproof, but I digress …). In fact, Olympus claims the camera can survive 14-degree cold, which sounds perfect for snapping shots all around the North Pole – or New York if you’re there in January.
And finally, you might consider bringing me a Canon PowerShot SD1000.
It has 7.1 megapixels, a 3x zoom, image stabilization, auto and manual functions and 14 scene modes. Best of all, this little powerhouse is light, small and thin enough to fit in the back pocket of my Levi’s without fear of my asking the dreaded question, “Does this camera make my butt look big?” What more could a girl want?
Ok Santa, I’ll let you decide which camera (or cameras—I’ve been really good this year!) you can procure most effortlessly, and I’ll look for a surprise in my stocking on Christmas morning. FYI: Mine is easy to recognize—it’s the fishnet.