Lately, I’ve been very disappointed in my camera. In fact, if I really delve into our relationship, it’s been a little longer than just lately…that camera has been sucking up batteries like a fat man at a pie eating contest. It’s pathetic. And then it doesn’t even have the good sense to use all that energy to produce anything of quality…all the images seem weak and thin.
I’ve tried to be environmentally aware and used rechargeable batteries but it spits those back with even worse attitude. This partnership is clearly about to end.
So, I was already feeling the battery blues, and then, lo and behold, on our bike trip I noticed that my friend Irene’s camera took gorgeous photos that seemed to have really deep colour saturation.
Hmmmm… It turned out to be the exact same camera that had been recommended to me by another one of those random email people I’ve been writing about.
This random publicist had written to me in late June to tell me about this fab photographer who takes people on great photography trips to Nepal and other cool destinations. He thought I should talk about this great photographer on my blog.
However, his email was among the same emails that promised me seven zillion dollars if I just transferred all my bank account details to a nice missionary man in Nigeria and the one about the New Age tarot/crystal book writer who would love to be featured and the email about the great new false eyelashes I should review. Hello?!?!
There were other bizarre-o emails in the same vein, so I’m sure you can see I was feeling a little gun shy about the whole thing.
But I went to his website, read his philosophy, looked at his trips and photos and felt like Mr. Ewen Bell was a good man and went on some pretty amazing trips and took really good photos to boot.
So, I asked him what camera would he recommend given my following criteria…long battery life, great colour and depth, hi-res quality for magazines, light, portable and less than $500.00.
His answer? The Panasonic Lumix.
A week later? My girlfriend’s great camera? A Panasonic Lumix.
Guess what I’m thinking of purchasing? Though I do have one slight hesitation…
This Lumix has a special type of battery. In spite of all my current battery problems, I do like that I can generally get the two double A’s anywhere in the world. If I buy this, it means carrying around yet another charger with the extra battery. Any suggestions out there?
Whatever I do, I do recommend checking this Ewen Bell guy out at : http://photographyfortravellers.com/
I liked that he was willing to answer my questions and his photography classes look amazing. Just for the record, I have no affiliation with his courses, Panasonic or battery companies…though if Panasonic is reading, please send me a new camera before I go out and buy it.
It’s either that or I’ll start sporting those false eyelashes.
Hey Colleen,
Yes the battery can be a source of frustration. The reason the better cameras use their own battery design is because AA batteries come in wide range of abilities, and manufacturers get frustrated with a great camera failing to operate properly due to cheap batteries. I’ve seen a few people on my photo tours have problems with their compact digitals only to discover it was the battery and not the camera.
Also, the technology in the chargers is excellent these days – they are really light, really small and easy to travel with. Try to think of the Lumix style cameras as a complete system that does away with the need for buying AA batteries or struggling with rechargables that fail when you need them most!
But get a spare battery if you can. They’re so small and give you freedom to shoot without having to conserve your juice.
I like the idea of seeing the Lumix as a complete system. I can wrap my head around that. So now I’m wondering if my camera has just been a victim of it’s batteries all along? I swear I’ve tried every double A on the planet, but perhaps…just perhaps…I might be overstating things.