New camera

I have a new toy! My old camera was not playing nicely. First it started to play up when on the telephoto lens. Then it got really naughty and would not even photograph stuff that was right in front of it.

So yesterday I got a new one - a Panasonic Luminix DMC-FZ28 for those who care. Paid for substantially by the cash back acquired in 2008 on my credit card, it is as near to a DSLR as I can get - I toyed with a DSLR but ruled them out on price and the distinct lack of likelihood that I would cart several lenses around with me. That said, although this has both a 27 mm wide lens and an 18 optical telephoto lens built in I can get even wider/ longer lenses and filters to add on it I get that far.

I never got around to blogging my New Year aims but one was to get into the technical side of photography more before we go on our trip, so I now have plenty of time to play. Today we went to a travel show in Manchester,which was so dire we were inside just 6 minutes and I insisted on my cash back! We spent the cash on a late breakfast and I got to use the special mode on the camera for taking close ups of food !

Then we frittered the day browsing books and drinking coffee in Waterstones and also playing with the camera in John Ryland's Library. I chose that location because I knew the lighting was difficult and it gave me chance to play with changing the exposure and so forth.

In the cafe I set the camera on the tabletop tripod and played with the burst photo setting and shutter speed trying to see how to take crisp pictures of a moving object. Of course not a lot moves in a cafe so Dennis patiently sat and waggled his hand as fast as he could for a while... there are 178 more like this.....! (No, I don't know why he hasn't left me before now either!)