~~ a journal of observations and thoughts ~~
My new camera also allows me to capture images of very fast things. I used a shutter speed of 1/1250 seconds (.8 milliseconds) to photograph this dragonfly in flight. You can see that the wings are not in the same position, so they must be able to flap with slightly staggered timing. This probably gives it more stability and control. Cool, huh?
I have been having a lot of fun with my new digital camera since I got it on Saturday morning. I've been looking forward to getting a new one for some time now, but there just wasn't one that was quite up to my standards (for the price). Until the Canon Powershot S2 IS came out, that is. I'm one of the early adopters of it, since it still isn't available many places. It wasn't even on display at the Best Buy where I got it. It is very well designed. It's fast at starting up, focusing, and repeating. It can see very close and very far very clearly due to the good optics, image stabilization, and high resolution. It's compact in size, and has great video and sound recording capabilities. Plus, it cost no more than the previous camera I owned, which came out about three years ago. Technology really is advancing rapidly. In the following posts, I'll demonstrate how it has expanded the realm of what is visible for me by being both a spotting scope and a magnifying glass.
Here I was able to get close to something far away. This finch would have flown away before I could get close enough to take this shot with my old camera. But with a 12X optical zoom, I could capture this image from forty feet away. The image stabilization feature kept the image sharp even at max telephoto. Cropped down to just the bird at full zoom, you can discern individual feathers, and it still looks relatively clean, thanks to the five megapixel sensor. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun doing some bird watching out at Carver Park this summer.
The super macro feature on the S2 IS allows me to get a good look at some very tiny worlds. Here you can see a ladybug heading over to an aphid encrusted stem for a light snack. Zoomed in, you can discern the eyes, legs, and even individual hairs on the aphids. It's rather remarkable.