I ain’t gonna sugar coat it. The cellphone pictures surprised me with their quality and I consider them pretty darn good for a cellphone. But they don’t hold a candle to a proper camera.

My Sanyo lasted for over two years, but the particles of something unknown between the lens elements finally did it in. It would have cost much more to fix it than it would cost to buy a new camera.

I looked at quite a few and though I’m on a lean budget, the new models of my old Sanyo appear to have drawn some criticism. Minor things like “lens error” cropping up shortly outside of the 90 day warranty that would cost more to fix… Well, you get the idea. I don’t think so. Thanks anyway.

One of the things I dearly missed on digital cameras I’ve had since my first one has been a real optical viewfinder. Shooting in burst mode, you have no idea where the subject will appear when the exposures finish because the screen has gone black. Likewise, some lighting conditions can cause the screen to become unreadable.

I already have a supply of rechargeable AA batteries and I insist that my digital camera run on these. They’re everywhere if you need one. They’re cheap. They’re dependable. I refuse to buy one of the cameras out there that take some weird, proprietary battery pack. I just know it would end up biting me in the @$$.

I also have a few different SD memory cards. Some of the cameras out there take other types. I really don’t want to have to worry about buying more memory cards.

I finally decided on the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS.

• Major brand – check
• One year factory warranty on parts and labor – check
• Runs on AA batteries – check
• SD and SDHC card compatible – check
• Honest, no Sierra optical viewfinder – check
• Shoots good video with sound and has a speaker for playback – bonus
• 4X optical zoom – bonus
• Serious manual controls – bonus

I might be eating cup of noodles for a while, but I don’t think I’ll mind too much

So how do the pictures look? Here ya go

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And here you go – the beast as seen on Canon’s product web page. It comes in several colors, but they only had grey in stock and I didn’t mind. Of course, taking 4MB pictures will tend to fill up the included 32MB card in a hurry, but like I said I already have cards.

I really like that it only takes about one second from the time you hit the power button until you can take a picture. The old Sanyo took a good five or six seconds and if you get caught unaware by a surprise opportunity for a great picture this could lead to a tragic loss of the shot.

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So without further ado, I present for your evaluation the first picture from my new camera to go public

Yes, I took it by sticking the camera out the driver’s window while going down the road. Yes, I was smart enough to keep the strap around my wrist : I had to rotate it to get it level and crop it to get it square again, but I can still only describe it as FREAKING HUGE Of course, you have to click on the picture to see that full size version

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Check out the full size version of all three pictures. Go ahead, as long as you have a high speed connection. Once the picture is displayed after you’ve clicked on it, click it again to see it truly full size. I really can’t believe the detail and contrast. Shadows cast by clouds in the humid air below them show clearly whereas the cellphone could not capture them.

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And now for the last pic of the day. You’ve seen similar scenes looking west on Smoke Ranch, but not this rich in detail

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I can’t wait until I have the chance to give this camera a real workout