Wednesday 1 July 2009

Heavy Metal!

Last night I went to see AC/DC at Hampden - it rocked!

I thought about taking my SLR with me, with my biggest zoom and image stabalization (IS) but it was simply to big, heavy and bulky, I was worried it could get broken and I'd probably lose it in the pub before the gig! So time to fall back to my S3 IS hybrid with the 18x mega zoom... Nope, just that little bit too big and lets face it I'd have bashed it jumping around saluting Angus and the boys and headbanging (yes really - I guess I got caught up in the moment). I needed a little pocket sized point and shoot or a great camera phone, neither of which I own.

Instead I snapped away with my old 1mp camera phone. Everything came out blurred and badly exposed, exactly as I had feared. Luckily one of my "metal mates" had a more modern phone and grabbed a few snaps.

This has brought it home to me that a) any image is better than no image and b) there is a definate use for point and shoot cameras, particularly now that the price is coming down and the quality is going up. Let's face it a standard new lens cost between £300-£500, an L lens can be 10 x as much. A good point and shoot can be bought for under £150... There are many pros that use point and shoots nowadays to get candid shots, to photograph celebs and across police lines, where perhaps a pro shooter have have trouble getting access.

I'd been wondering which bit of kit to buy next, a remote flash, a flash trigger, a 70-200mm L lens, a lighter tripod, the list goes on. I think I know now, it's going to have to be a quality compact point and shoot. And it will go EVERYWHERE with me!