Okay, so this blog has been dead as Elvis for a while. Now I'm bringing it back to life. My main excuses are lack of enthusiasm, no time, and lack of a digital camera. Well, I bought my first* digital camera -- the Canon Powershot G7. Here it is in all its glory.


 [The host for this image also has a review.]


So far, I'm quite satisfied with this camera's performance. Some features were lost from the original line of Powershot cameras however. One is the RAW image format, but I rarely used that anyways. I usually shoot high-resolution JPEGs for most of the stuff I want to publish. However, the option would be nice to have. 


The second drawback that I find is the amount of peripheral lense distortion. However, this is hard to avoid with cameras as compact as this. For specimen photography I usually have the camera mounted anyway. Simply by zooming in from a distance will mitigate lense distortion. It also helps mitigate the effects of parallax when the camera is placed to close to the subject and is therefore a method I prefer to use anyway, especially for scientific work.


Nevertheless, I quite like this camera. It's extremely fast shooting and has image stabilization. These two features really improve photographs in low-light conditions. This is very helpful for when you don't want to take overexposed pictures or ones that are too "flashy" (i.e. shadows cast by the flash, subject over-illuminated). It's compact, relatively lightweight, and has a nice 2.5" LCD screen. For work, I had previously been using a Nikon Coolpix with a flip/twist screen. It's much smaller but thicker, making the whole camera rather clunky and cumbersome. The Powershot G7 is much more streamlined, fits easily in your pocket or under your coat and so works well when I get out to see some of the cities I get to visit.


It's built very robustly. I haven't dropped it yet, and I don't plan on testing its ability to withstand impact. However, it has a very sturdy metal case. I'll take the word of other reviews which have described it as "built like a tank".


It's probably a bit pricey if you're not seriously into photography or don't use it for work. However, given my needs as a palaoentologist who works on typically small fossils, and likes to be a bit of a tourist it is ideal. It serves both manual functions that you need while working indoors and in collections, and for when I want to experiment with my photography "skills".