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Buying a New Camera

January 2nd, 2008

I got a new camera yesterday. Nice one to a Samsung L830. I got it in Currys in Mahon. Funny thing was that I went into PC World first (who have had their Irish Website shutdown because they didn’t pay for it) but they wouldn’t show me the camera before I bought it! I asked the guy could he turn it on so I can see how the controls work, what the display size was like and how the picture appeared on the display. Very strange. I mean why would I want to buy a camera that I haven’t seen? That’s like buying a car that I couldn’t take for a test drive.

So I went next door to Currys and they showed me the camera, gave me the book so I could see the specs and let me play with it for a while. I was looking dubious so the guy said I could exchange it for a different camera if I didn’t like it. Perfect! So a sale of Currys at the expense of PC World all for the sake of plugging in a camera and leaving me look at it for 5 minutes.

Actually I got a few camera this year. I got an underwater camera and a video camera as well. All of them work perfectly in Linux. I’ve been using the Gimp and Picasso to edit the photos and the brilliant Kino to take videos from the camera.

The underwater camera also takes movies with sound underwater which is pretty cool. The picture quality isn’t the best but by messing with some of the settings I am getting them better and better. Pictures taken with a flash are perfect but that’s no use when I take it scuba diving as particles in the water will obscure the shot. Anyway I am sure I will figure it out.

Entry Filed under: Scuba, Opinion, Sport, Photos

8 Comments Add your own

1. A King | January 3rd, 2008 at 16:18
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 on Windows Vista

how about sticking up a couple of shots from the underwater camera, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2. thesraid | January 3rd, 2008 at 18:34
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 on Ubuntu Linux

Well here is one without the flash and one with the flash. Problem is that the flash won’t be much good scuba diving because of the particles in the water. But I only took a few to test it so as soon as I have more I will put them up. Will probably be when I go Scuba Diving in the Summer.

Enjoy this picture while you can as Lorri might veto it when she sees it. Not a big fan of herself with the swimming hat and goggles on.
3. thesraid | January 3rd, 2008 at 19:06
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 on Ubuntu Linux

Oh and it takes movies as well.
4. brimur | January 4th, 2008 at 15:27
Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP

Lol, at least the pool was heated! ;) Underwater cam is cool! Don’t know anything about the Samsung one you got though.
5. thesraid | January 4th, 2008 at 19:26
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 on Ubuntu Linux

Samsung one is very good. Would recommend it so far. Has an anti-shake option (which doesn’t work with the flash) but which allows you to take great photos in low light. Easy to use and the picture quality is good.
6. Keith Clancy | January 7th, 2008 at 15:08
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.7 on Windows XP

I’d say fiddling with the ISO setting, try it at its highest and bring it down, experimentation in low light … the higher the ISO setting the more the noise.
7. thesraid | January 7th, 2008 at 15:14
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 on Ubuntu Linux

Thanks Keith, I’ll try that. Also you promised me a speedo shot of yourself…..I’m still waiting.
8. thesraid | January 9th, 2008 at 8:30
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 on Ubuntu Linux

If anybody is interested in getting an underwater camera here is another relatively inexpensive one.