Friday, December 24, 2010

F300EXR – My Carry All The Time Camera

Well, I’ve made my decision. There was really never any doubt, but I am sure now. I misplaced the F300EXR for about 3 weeks … maybe more. In that time, I shot a wedding with the F70EXR and a concert with the F80EXR. Both did fine in pretty bad light, I was happy with both outings and enjoyed the cameras.

But then I remembered where the F300EXR was probably sitting, and I was right – I had left it in my backpack. I carry it (the pack) rarely now, because my current work laptop is too large to fit. I plan on getting a new laptop in a few months, or a new bag …

And note that Amazon is selling the F300EXR extremely inexpensively right now … I’m simply amazed …

Meanwhile, I carried the F300EXR in my coat pocket all week … shot less than a dozen images, but I enjoyed having it with me. And I’ve decided that it’s image quality is perfectly adequate for what I want in a carry everywhere camera. I’ve also decided that I really like it in the hand … it is more pleasant to carry than the older cams, so that’s a bonus. And yes, the flash stays up and I never notice it any more. It’s just not an issue.

So … my week in a nutshell, brought to you by the Fuji F300EXR …

I bought a new keyboard as an early Christmas present to myself. Somebody has to do it :-) … this is the goofiest looking keyboard, as it is a gamer’s keyboard and so it looks like something out of Star Wars. A real nerd-fest. But it is back-lit, and that is what I was after. It’s very nice and I no longer have to have bright lights while I work, something I hate

I don’t remember how I shot this … it might have been pro low-light, as I used that most of the week.

Click through to see it at 800px. You can see a ton of dust that is literally invisible. What you can also see is that it is perfectly smooth plastic, something I normally would not like. But the action is excellent and the lighting is exactly what I have been pining for for months. And I love blue lighting …

Jonathan and I popped over to the Mandarin Court for dinner one evening several days ago. He loves this restaurant and I wanted to treat him after he finished 5 exams and 4 essays in barely over a week. We sat next to a lovely Christmas Tree and I managed to get one decent image of it, shot in pro low-light mode.

A few days later, I had occasion to pop into the office and took advantage of the opportunity to pop over to one of my favorite restaurants .. the Phnom Phen.

You would be forgiven if this image looked like a throw-away to you. It does to me too. But I enjoyed farting around to make it, so you get to see it :-)

For those familiar with Asian cuisine, you should by now have guessed that this is Cambodian. It is closely related to Thai and Vietnamese cuisines, and I love their dish called Golden Chicken.

Dark chicken, green beans, Jalapeno pepper slices, smokin’ curry and rice. What’s not to love?

And a day or two later, I popped into a store to pick up some groceries and, walking by their flower display, I noticed these flowers … I have never seen this color combination before.

Pro Low Light mode works very well on the F300EXR. You get shutter speeds commensurate with 1600 ISO, yet noise more like 800 or even 400 … you just have to hold the cam reasonably steady while it shoots the 4 images.

Anyway … I’m sold. The F80EXR and F70EXR can now go, as I no longer need to compare them … I am satisfied that I can enjoy this cam in a carry everywhere capacity.

A quick shot of my new Dell monitor, the U2311H eIPS … this is an amazing monitor for the small amount of money, and it calibrates very nicely … a steal at the price I got it ($249cad) … it’s little brother, the U2211H is on sale at http://dell.ca right now for $219cad … that’s dirt cheap for IPS technology.

DSCF2290_touched

And yes … that’s a Flying Spaghetti Monster background. Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?

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