More Words From AOL Pictures

As I mentioned previously, here are a few other items recently blogged in the AOL Pictures blog that you might find useful:

* Here's How to Contact the AOL Pictures Team, including how to submit pictures that you would like to see featured in their blog (like their Picture of the Week from last week, which is a series of rainbow shots).

* Will from the Pictures team is soliciting advice for a new digital camera to replace his ancient, brick-like 2.1 megapixel monstrosity.

With all the digital photo expertise around him, might he be fishing for comments? Nah.

Here are my two most recent cameras:

Me with my cameras -- I'm using a mirror that was given to us by the Business Conduct folks. I include myself in the shot since I am apparently a narcissist.

My current camera is on the right. It's a Canon PowerShot SD200, which was already obsolete at 3.2 megapixels when I bought it last year (around $200 bucks, including a 1gb SD card) -- it's about the size of a deck of cards.

The size, weight and screen size difference compared to the the S200 next to it is pretty dramatic. The S200 is a 2.1 megapixel camera which I also bought when it was obsolete, with memory card, for about $200 bucks.

[Update, 7/13: I've gotten a few comments from folks who aren't quite following the camera talk -- I took a few shortcuts in my entry, so here's what's going on -- I'm basically comparing my old camera, a 2.1 megapixel model, to my current camera, which has 3.2 megapixels.

A megapixel is a measure of resolution -- how much a digital camera can capture, which determines how big the photo can be. Unlike film, digital pictures are made up of dots, or pixels. The more dots you can use, the bigger the picture can be. "Mega" is the prefix for "million", so 3.2 megapixels is about 3,200,000 dots.

Digital cameras store their images on memory cards, of which there are different types -- my current camera has a 1-gigabyte memory card -- the type is called "SD" or "Secure Digital" -- it's about the size of a postage stamp and fits about 1,500 pictures.

I explain more about megapixels and other digital camera stuff in this earlier entry: Go Wild With Your Digital Camera.

Thanks -- Joe]

I am more of a snapshot guy, though sometimes I find myself wishing that I had a more fully-featured camera. And that I was a better photographer. I do like that fact that the SD200 fits easily into my pocket -- being small-statured, I also have small pockets.

In fact the current versions (SD450? SD500? Something like that) are slightly thicker and heaver, though the display screens are ginormous.

Anyway, as with any gadget, it really depends on your needs. But I've been happy with the Canon series so far. The fact that they have Maria Sharapova as their pitchwoman has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: aol pictures, digital cameras, digital camera recommendations, canon powershot