Photo equipment

It seems appropriate to let you know what equipment I am using to publish photos on this blog.

The leading role in this show belongs to Olympus C-5060 WZ. I have purchased it on eBay in June 2004 and it has been a great companion ever since.

The main reason for choosing this kind of camera (a cross between a compact and an SLR) was that I wasn't sure if I was ready for a digital SLR. They are quite expensive and a pain in the ass to carry around. I am afraid that with the next step there will be no alternative. I think now I am ready for an SLR - but not before my Oly bites the dust.

It performs great in almost every situation. The only things that bother me are:

• only 4x optical zoom,
• not so great performance in poor lighting,
• grainy results when using high ISO settings.

Fortunately, there are many great features for every one of the mentioned downsides. Here are just some of them:

• settings for almost everything you think of,
  
• very useful WideZoom (don't believe those who are saying: "You don't need that! Just take a couple of steps backwards and you get the same result."),
• robust body (comes in handy when your girlfriend drops it on the floor),
• great battery life,
• great macro performance,
• CF and xD memory card slots,
  
• etc.

In addition to that I also use various kinds of photo software. For browsing through my photo collection I am usually using Google Picasa. It has replaced ACDSee - my former photo browsing tool.
For editing I prefer Adobe Photoshop. Although I try not to alter the real feel to the images I often use it to give the final touch to the photo.