My new camera

Well - I eventually did it. After my traditional umming and arring over various models, pouring over every review I could find and then finally deciding to wait until all the new models had come out, I have (as usual) given in and bought one anyway. But, in my defence I've pulled something of a miracle. I was fully prepared to spend over £200 on the right model and had eventually narrowed it down to the Canon A610, the A620 or the new A700. Of course, I then discovered the Canon Outlet on eBay - where ex-demo and refurbished models are sold off cheaply. Essentially, my impatientness merged with the thrill of eBay and before I knew it I'd won a an A620 for only £160 (Argos price: £318). Now it's here I'm even more impressed. It may not have what a lot of people look for (large LCD and pocketability) but it's got a fantastic 2" rotatable LCD (perfect for self portraits and candid shots), full manual controls, a great selection of colour manipulation features and uses AAs so I can use my high powered NiMH batteries.

I've already taken it out for a spin. Already I'm impressed with the vibrancy of colour over my old Minolta and the daffodil gives an example of one of the fancy "selective desaturation" effects. I still take out the minolta on nights out just because it's so compact, but the A620 still fits into a coat pocket easily. Better yet it will take conversion adaptors so I can extend the zoom (alread at 4x) and start using polarizers. Because I saved so much, I might still upgrade the Minolta to one of the new P&S models (Casio z600/z750, Ricoh R3/R4 or similar) if I find one cheap enough.