New camera for the fam . . . not for me.

I already mentioned that our family has been needing a new camera (in this post).  And I also mentioned that I have a deep-seated desire to have good gear - stuff that will never let me down if I use it right.  Of course, I'm also a Dad with a very limited income.  This means that, if I'm doing my job right, my needs don't come first. 

To make a long and boring story less long, but probably just as boring, we bought a new camera.  And contrary to my previously stated intentions, I repeated my old pattern of buying the top-of-the-line subcompact on the market.  It wasn't what I wanted.  For what I want to do, it's not even what I need.  However, it is exactly what Sarah wanted, and what the family needs.  Oh yeah, and it cost less than half of what I intended to spend on other cameras/lenses/etc.  

Don't get me wrong, it's still a $400 camera - way more than most people are willing to spend.  But it does exacty what Sarah wants, takes snapshots in low light without blurring, and does so without having to know a lot about cameras.  A photographer may notice the noise present in the pictures below.  Nonetheless, the fact that a subcompact could take these pictures without blurring, each one in light that I would have great difficulty reading in, is pretty remarkable. 

The top of our entertainment center.

The kitchen

Icons of the things that keep me going in the middle of the night

I shouldn't complain.  New York Times columnist David Pogue loves the camera we just bought so much that he wrote a love letter to it. 

Still, it just won't do for what I want. Then again, what I want more than anything is a happy family - especially a happy wife.  So if the Canon S95 pulls that feat off, then I truly don't have anything to complain about.



P.S.  I should note that Sarah didn't pick out the new camera.  I did.  Nothing got forced on me in any way.  Sarah would have been 100% behind me if I bought what I wanted instead of what we needed.