PC World’s done a feature on some of the more famous viral videos from the last wee while. While I’m sure most people have seen most of them, I feel compelled to encourage everyone to watch Chocolate Rain – if you do nothing else constructive with your day.

Virussssssesesses!

Get anywhere even remotely near identifying the reference in the title and I’ll send you a wowwypop.

There’s this thing called analysis paralysis: you spend so much time analyzing information that by the time you come to a decision it’s a) no longer the best possible alternative, b) so not worth all the time you spent deciding on it. Opportunity cost and all that jazz.

I suffer greatly from this affliction, and as such it takes me AGES to decide to buy anything over like $100. I explore every option, read every review, and when I get close to making a decision, I find something else to factor in. Thus it was with my epic Quest for a Camera.

First I started thinking sub-$1k. This was never going to lead anywhere constructive, as the moment I thought I’d found something, brainmeats kicked in. If I was going to spend $800 on a high-end prosumer (how I hate that term) model that couldn’t be upgraded, why not spit out a few hundred more and get an entry level DSLR? Once I have the body, I can upgrade the lenses over time… making more sense than buying entirely new cameras every few years, n’est-ce pas?. Sure, the functionality with regards to zoom range etc etc isn’t there initially, but it could be – given time and patience and judicious spending on glass.

So, the cycle began anew. Due to me being a complete cheapass, my options were pretty much limited to the entry level DSLRs – nothing top of the line, and it had to come in a kit so I had something to play with off the bat. I pretty much narrowed it down to:

• Nikon D40
• Canon EOS 350D
• Olympus E510

Think you know what I (eventually) chose? NO YOU DO NOT.

First, some photos! The camera arrived yesterday but I had to charge the battery overnight (sadface), so I only got the chance to play with it today. As luck would have it, it was a nice sunny day – perfect for 10 billion flower shots. Photos are about all flowers are good for.

Told you there’d be more of these.

Squeels of delight! It’s fruiting!

More! MORE!

Pre…tty?

Groo…

OK, so I’m not exactly challenging myself. I take lots of flower pics, and honestly, they’re hard to screw up. But it’s only day one! Here. This’ll make it better.

Taken during the nanosecond she was still.

So I went with the Olympus E510. Why? It fitted my needs best. And really, isn’t that what it’s about? (I did try the E410 for comparison purposes, but even though I have ickle girl hands it felt too small and unbalanced and so was disqualified, despite being way cheaper).

1. It comes in a 2 lens kit, and the kit lenses are considered PFG as far as kit lenses go – far better than the competitions’ kit offerings. I know Olympus doesn’t produce the range of lenses Canon and Nikon do, but it’s not like I’m intending to make a living off this. I figure at most I’ll get a macro and a telephoto dealy, but not quite a while yet. Cheap! Cheap is an important thing to remember. What care I for a zillion awesome lenses when I can afford half an OK one?
2. I live in the dustiest, most cat furriest house in the universe. The Olympus has a dust filter. This one, not so tricky.
3. Image stabilisation in the body. Good. Good for wobbly Karen.
4. Live view. Not that I ever intended to use it as the primary viewfinder, but I still find it easier than clinking my glasses up against an eyepiece – especially when I’m feeling lazy. And of course, you can get to angles you can’t otherwise. I know I’ve been spoiled by digital point and shoots but I’d feel lost without it now. :P

Of course I have much more playing around to do – many many more modes to try out and exciting experiments to perform. Basically I’m just happy I finally have my camera and it seems to be doing everything I want it to do. I call it a win.

Cookies to end on, as part of my ‘test WB outside at 6pm’ series. Mm, cookies.

Madame Fizz loves my seat. That’s my seat she’s curled up on. What am I sitting on? A hard wooden dining chair I went and got once I rolled her out of the way. Still asleep on MY chair. She is spoiled rotten and she knows it, little fiend. Oh, and you can’t see it, but I have Bee asleep on my knee while I’m taking this photo – I’m all the seat he needs.

Roses are coming in again. This lil guy was numero uno. I’ll get another pic in once they’ve all gone KABOOM, as they do.