I Love My Camera
I know this sounds like a funny name for a title to a photo essay with photos of water but as you will see, I absolutely love my camera.
I'm not a professional photographer by any means. I remember taking a short photography class in middle school but that's about it. I don't know all the fancy functions of my camera and I'm too lazy, for the most part, to learn about them. I am, very slowly, forcing myself to explore all the different functions but it will take a very long time, I'm sure. I don't remember a thing about shutter exposure, perfect lighting, or anything like that. I don't use it. I would much rather let the camera do it for me.
Anyway, my point is that I am really impressed with this camera that I bought not too long ago. The price was a bit high for my taste at the time but my old one broke and I was having withdrawals. The old one broke that same day and I was already having withdrawals! Pathetic!
I bought myself a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 with 12X Optical Zoom. At the store, I thought, okay this sounds pretty cool. When I got the camera home I found out that this thing actually has 18X optical zoom. Then past the 18X optical zoom I can use digital zoom to get 72X zoom. Awesome! I now have a spy-cam! Just kidding!
I have figured out that the digital zoom doesn't work real well when taking pictures of wildlife but it's pretty cool for landscape pictures, such as the ones I'm going to show you below.
I love to take pictures and I love to look at things, not only as a whole, but every little thing that makes up that whole. I love to zoom in on things. I'm like a kid that has to know how everything functions and what little parts make something big work. I'm talking about nature, not electronics! Just thought I should specify.
My first set of pictures was taken at a creek where we happened to stop for lunch on one of our quad rides. I am a lover of water so off I went taking pictures. To heck with lunch!
This first picture was taken with no zoom.
The second picture was zoomed in a bit. Not to the 18X but somewhere in the middle. Oh yeah, I also love bubbles. I happened to catch this one and others floating by.
This third picture was taken in digital zoom and is the base of the small waterfall in the first picture. More bubbles!
Now onto an even better example of what my camera can do.
On another quad ride, we found a waterfall off in the distance and down in a canyon. Water! Of course, I had to get pictures.
This first picture I actually published on Gather before I decided that I would do a photo essay, so some of you have already seen it. This is a waterfall that was created from the swollen river due to snowmelt runoff. This is taken with no zoom and you can see just how far away and how far below me the waterfall is.
This next picture is taken at 18X optical zoom. Pretty cool!
The third picture was taken with full 72X zoom. This is in the digital area of the zoom. It's almost like you are right there, on top of those rocks, looking at the waterfall! Now that's awesome!
I hope you liked the photo essay and the pictures. I've read recently that many people on Gather were considering buying new cameras or had old ones that were on the verge of breaking down. If you buy a new one or replace an old one, this camera is really one to consider. I'm so impressed with what it can do and it can do a heck of a lot more than I will ever need.
Toni V
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Comments: 67
Great photo essay.
Cool article, and I'm glad you got the camera. You do such neat articles with it... ;-)
Sophie, I think this camera or one like it would be great for you. I hope you get one.
Lynn: They do take clear video. I was very surprised. I don't use mine too often but from what I can tell it will take about 22 minutes of video on the card that I have.
Thank you Stephanie, J Wright, and Marilyn.
Marianne: Yes, it is great that I can justify this purchase. I would be so lost without my camera.
John: I hope that someday you can get a digital camera too. They are so cool. It's so easy to take lots of pictures and just delete what you don't want later. I'm so glad you still enjoy the articles. Thank you.
To Patrick: My daughter enjoys this particular "habit" about calling them quads and quad rides. (Actually, out here the term is pretty well known.)
You can buy this exact camera at the online Home Depot. I wouldn't normally encourage anyone to buy this type of electronic at a home improvement store, but I know the camera and it has a good manufacturer's warrantee, plus Home Depot has good customer service relations and has always been good about returns. --- Besides, think about it, cameras are often used as necessary tools at construction sites, as are their accessories, such as tripods. So being able to buy a camera here actually can make sense. You just wouldn't expect their personnel to be as knowledgeable about them as they should be about other materials sold.
I read somewhere that Gather's Home Depot gift cards are not good for online shopping, but that this is soon to change. You'll want to be sure and check that out. Add'ly, you'll pay more for the camera when buying it through this type of store. But when you don't have ready cash for such a purpose, and you do have to potential of saving points here on Gather toward it, it might make a pretty good temptation.
With all that said, here is a link to Home Depot's page where they advertise this specific camera:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 with 12X Optical Zoom
They've made an error on their description, stating it as 10X optical zoom, but if you look down in the description & specifications, you'll see it listed correctly.
Also, be aware that digital cameras are typically sold without the memory cards. This camera comes with a built-in 27MB Memory expandable, so you could feasibly use the camera w/out one until you can afford the card. They're not all that expansive, especially if you buy them from Amazon.com.
Whew! I think I should get paid for promoting this; at least a commission from Home Depot! LOL
Very nice photos!!! It's always so much fun getting a new toy! I've done photography for a very long time, and I find that I don't use all that many of the bells & whistles that are on there, because I want to control as much as possible!!! However, with family stuff, I don't want to think that much, so the program mode is great!!!
Keep shooting! I love the photos!
Thanks for posting to Nature Photos
Thanks for posting to "ALL PHOTO ESSAYS HERE".
And Gather is a wonderful place to share your photos.
WwW.SparkleTags.Com
Thank you Edward. I don't know much about all that stuff but I do have Picasa 2 and I might just play around a bit.
This was a fabulous photo essay and you chose a wonderful subject - nature - rocks - they always are a delight for me. Thanks very much and I enjoyed this scenic tour! Salud.
I am behind in comments, but I wanted to let you know I stopped by to view your content and thank you for posting to I was bored :)
I hope you see this at this late date.
I just bought the same camera. I like it okay but am having some quality issues with it when shooting nature scenes with the zoom. My photos look more like paintings than photos.
Do you ever have this problem?
I keep mine at the large file setting so I never used past the 12x but I am going to have to play around with that super zoom ability.