Cameras

Recently I have been playing with two of them cameras, one of them a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1 and another one a Lomography Action Sampler. The former was brought because the old digital camera was playing up. Among the numerous problems that it has accumulated over the past few years is the half shutter for auto focus is not working and neither is the flash, as well as the camera drinking up batteries and dying after every 30 shots, which was eventually unacceptable for any kind of work.

So far, I had several hits and misses with the Lumix. It works fine and dandy well in bright outdoor conditions, starts up faster than the last camera and I finally got my auto focus and flash back, which is great. And what is even greater that I can take hundreds of photos without the camera dying. Sometimes the normal auto makes blues more bluer or reds more redder depending on the scene, but that's not too bad.

However it sucks on some conditions:
1. low light environments
2. moving environments

Although the Lumix does well in low light by making the image brighter I guess what it does is up the ISO, and as well as getting a lighter image, you get a very grainy noisy image.

Occasionally you get your good moments.

I'm still wondering whether to keep the Lumix or return it. I don't know if I will be able to find a camera good as well and good in low-light, or if I need a camera that can do well in low light.

But the other camera, the Action Sampler is here to stay. Aha, from Lomography, land of gimmicks in cameras. It is a toy camera using 35mm film, which I got for my birthday. It has four lenses, so it takes 4 photos in one photo if you know what I mean. I wish I could show some pictures off this thing, but I can't until I finish off all the film and develop it. Which, is half a pain-in-the-bum, and half exciting-can't-wait to see what junk I took.

From looking at the guide I have concluded that the Action Sampler is good if you are going outdoors, running around in the beach with friends and want to try something different with your memoirs of the day. It also works best if you are moving (in a car, a bicycle, running around), or if you have a subject is moving at the right speed (a car going around 50 km/h, a bicycle, your dog, people whipping their hair back and forth or jumping up and down).

It does not work:
1. In poorly lit places unless you stuff some higher ISO film into the camera
2. if you don't have a subject/object aka you are just taking scenery
3. if you don't do some crazy motion within 1 second

-and wait a minute, what movement do you think can be contained within 1 second?

So it's hit and miss, and it's only good in plenty of sun, like the Lumix. And plus 4 frames gets confusing after a while, I mean you post your photos on Facebook for example, everyone's expecting one single photo, but then they see 4 different photos in the same picture and they're going, what the heck? (Try explaining to them it isn't Photoshopped for starters) And then when they see the whole film roll of 36 exposures they will get sick and tired of looking at 4 photos squeezed into one picture. The camera is good for taking one or two photos for fun, and that's it really. I'm really tired of this now.