In prepping for Paris, I could (after four years) no longer postpone purchasing a new and perfect digital camera. I had been eyeing the hunky chunky Canon G10′s and G11′s for over a year, but at almost $500, until they shoot HD Video, I figured I should hold out. I also considered the Canon S90 with a ring around the lense the user can assign to adjust either exposure, ISO, or focus – but after finally trying one out this past weekend, the ring seemed clicky, clunky and surprisingly inconvenient.
I ended up opting for a camera that wasn’t really ever on my radar screen – the Canon SD1400, and here is why:
First off, it’s awesomely pocketable. There’s already a D-SLR in my house, so it’s nice to have something on the way other end of the size spectrum.
Initially I thought it was almost too small, but after firing some test shots in the store, I noticed that when the flash fired, it didn’t fry out the image into white, hot, horribleness. The camera automatically dials down the force of the flash, depending on the shooting conditions, to ensure un-ugly images. The camera was tiny, but it was proving to be quite quick and ultra clever.
At 14 megapixels and $279 dollars, while still at the store, I went online quickly to see if there were similar Canon models with less pixels and for less pennies, and of course there were. But those models didn’t have my new favorite shooting mode/effect: Miniature.
Used to replicate the Photoshop tilt/shift effect that transforms ordinary cityscapes into seemingly scaled-down miniature sets from movies, applying this shooting mode isn’t just awesome for wide, outdoor shots of streets and oak trees.
It’s just as enchanting using indoors and close-up, for mega-macro close-ups or almost Holga-like abstractions of ordinary, straight-on set-ups. (You might need to click and enlarge the images to properly witness the full miniature effect.)
So with a D-SLR, my Lomo LC-A, and my new pocket-powerhouse SD1400 from Canon set for departure, I’ll be able to obnoxiously over-photograph every pastry, peony and park bench I come upon in Paris.
