A Not-so Sensible Soapbox About Digital Cameras, Photo Software & Manuals

I got a new camera. Why is this a big deal? Because this is now my FIFTH, yes, you read that correctly, digital camera. And yes, I'm TOTALLY anal, for those of you who don't already know. Anyway, back to my camera fetish— I’ve HATED every digital camera I ever bought, except my first one, which was a Fuji Fine Pix and it was only like 1.3 megapixels, but it broke (the only one, by the way!).

I purchased another Fuji, since I liked the first one so much, but it wasn’t as simple to use as the first, so I gave it to my sister, but only after I purchased my Kodak Easy Share camera (like I really needed an excuse!).

The Kodak Easy Share was kinda cool, because it had a longer zoom lense, but, I kept getting blurry pictures AND the stupid flash wouldn’t work when I wanted it to (problem, mine, but I blamed it on the camera). So, about a year and a half ago, while in Georgia, my friend's camera broke. She mentioned that she LOVED my camera. I told her she could HAVE it as soon as I got home and bought a new one. I arrived home, and true to my word, I found a really cute camera (yep, I’m a fashion fiend…I based my camera purchase on HOW the thing LOOKED!) and hence purchased it, then shipped the Kodak to my friend (she LOVES it, by the way, and takes pictures a professional would be jealous of, and me too, truth be told!).

The new, cute camera was maroon and fit into my pocket (although I hate pockets, so this really wasn't a big selling point. Did I mention cute?). It was a Nikon Coolpix L20. Except the only thing I found COOL about the darn thing was it didn’t need a memory card as it had an internal memory, oh, and I bought a cute little pink case to match (and you know how that’s a MUST! And if you DON'T, read HERE).

Well, I hung on to that cute, maroon camera, like I said, for a year and a half, until I found the Canon Powershot SX30. I didn’t buy it right away, mind you, but every time I went to the store, I played with the camera—you would’ve thought it was a darn video game and I was a 12 year old!

So, just last week, I bought it. I was really excited. And I had done my homework this time—I was all proud—looking up those reviews. Which, by the way, is what I normally do, but hadn’t done with the Coolpix—it was just too darn CUTE!

Well, today I decided to play around with some photos I had taken using…ta da, my NEW camera, and my Paint Shop Pro X software. Yeah, that went over well — NOT. You’d think with a darn manual I’d be able to figure out how to remove a background. That didn’t happen and I wasted my entire morning and most of my afternoon until I chucked the entire project and decided I would find a computer whiz to give me lessons!

No wonder men don’t read manuals! They suck! (The manuals, not men...well most of the time, not men!) With that being said, here I sit, writing this post, which means absolutely nothing to anyone else, but feels pretty darn good to me, because I’m relieving some stress.

And to make sure I don’t get all wigged out over my photo software again... I’ll just go back to my OLD photo software, Microsoft Picture IT. Yep, old works—like me, well, not really, because I don’t work. Well, I do, but nothing that contributes to much, except maybe digital cameras!


There. I’m off my Not-So Sensible Soapbox.