Travel

About a week and a half ago, I blogged about a new camera I ordered. Yesterday, the post office delivered my new Canon SX40 HS. I unpacked the box last night and followed the getting started instructions this morning.

Image: composite of four photos I took today – click to enlarge.

As soon as I finalized the order last week, I downloaded the users manuals from the Canon website. I browsed through the manual to get familiar with the camera’s controls and specifications which gave me a head start on operations.

So, several times today, I took the camera outside and shot some sample photos. The top left image above is a bird perched in a mesquite tree about fifty feet away. At top right is a neighbors flagpole taken at a range of about 400 feet. Bottom left is a view of the home taken this morning. Finally, bottom right is a Cleveland sage flower I took in the courtyard this afternoon.

I am reasonably pleased with the performance, notably the telephoto images. The image stabilizer works much better on this camera than the old one. Close up photos aren’t usually my thing, but I think the camera performed well on those as well.

Speaking of the bird in the photo above, you may be able to help me identify the species. It is black with white stripes on the bottom of its wings, has a topknot like a jay or cardinal, jumps into the sir like a mocking bird dancing and has a whistle-like call ascending in pitch like a human whistling for a dog to come. You can click here for a large view of this bird. We can’t find it in any of our bird reference books.

In 2011, I had to “guess” at the rate for Federal and State withholding. It’s a long story, but in 2010, we had some unusual situations due to building a house and the finances associated therewith. So in the 2011 tax return, we got quite a large refund. We’re happy to have the money, but sad to have loaned the government interest-free cash.

Image: Canon SX40 HS – Click on the image to enlarge.

I have a couple of old Canon PowerShot cameras, both of which have their shortcomings. One is beat up from several drops and the other has a malfunction in the download software. So, having looked at that, I decided to get a middle-of-the-line Canon SX40 HS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 35x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-inch Vari-Angle Wide LCD. Damsel already has the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR camera which, as regular readers know, does an excellent job.

So the new camera is on the way and should be here in a few day’s time. I’m looking forward to some of the advanced features that improve on the older cameras capabilities. With some travel dates in the not-too-distant-future, I think it will work out well.