This weekend Kim and I hit a few second hand stores to see what treasures we could find. I of course always have an eye out for cameras and I must say I found some good stuff. So I think it's time to do another retro camera (un)review. This time we take a look at a hardly (if at all) used Fuji FinePix A340. I picked up this A340 at a thrift store near our home for the tidy sum of $10.00 . I got the camera (of course) but also the original box, cords, batteries and all of the documentation. There was even an extra memory card. It came from factory with a 16mb XD card but there was also a 64mb XD. Enough to save 33 pictures with the camera set to the highest quality of image. According to This Review the A340 went for around $199 new and was produced in 2004. It features a 4 Megapixel image sensor and a 3x optical zoom lens. Here are some pictures of the one I purchased yesterday.
And here are some sample images I shot today. Let me note that I think the camera had a little difficulty focusing due to some light snowfall. It seems that the snow tricked the camera into focusing on it instead of the main subject. And of course it may just be the 4 Megapixel sensor on a 14 year old camera.
These were all shot at the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown Pennsylvania.
My take on the Fuji FinePix A340? I think the over quality is pretty good for a 14 year old camera. It is good for snapshot photography for sure though it may be a bit of a fair weather friend. Literally I would avoid precipitation for more than the obvious reasons. Mainly focusing. But falling snow is probably the main issue. And it may work better when out of Auto mode even though there is little manual control. Put simply I wouldn't mind having it with me for that odd occasion here and there. But I rather have one of my small Canons or even a newer Fuji on hand.
On another note the low capacity memory card made me think before shooting. It was a lot like the old days of shooting film where I had to pick and choose so as not to run out of space (film).
Hi there friends. It seems that the cold weather wants to hang around for a bit. The temperatures today were once again well below freezing topping out at about 14° F (-10° C). And the wind made it feel even colder. But I am told there is relief on the horizon. Right now though I am a little skeptical. Today I would like to share another camera (non)review. I don't like to call it a review because I am not really going too in depth. I am just doing a quick overview of some of my second hand finds. Today we take a look at another Canon Point and Shoot. This one is a little older than last weeks and is naturally a little lower on the technology evolutionary scale. To that end and straight out of 2004 I present the Canon PowerShot A410. A 3.2 Megapixel shooter that had an original MSRP of around $110 that I found at a thrift store for $1.
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Unlike last weeks specimen this camera uses regular AA batteries. It even came with a memory card so all I really needed to do was put in some fresh ones and I was ready to shoot. The only thing that doesn't function properly is the Time and Date. But I discovered that I just need to replace a button cell battery to fix it. Otherwise everything works like new. As you will see in the samples the A410 does a decent job for what it packs under the hood. You have to remember that though 2004 wasn't that long ago it is almost an eternity for technology like this. So many generations have passed and we are almost spoiled today with image quality and ease of use.
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These were all shot using AUTO Mode and have not been touched up or altered in any way. The are available manual modes too. And yes for the most part they look pretty good. But when you zoom in or crop one of them you will see some image noise (graininess). This is something not uncommon when the camera was produced in 2004. At least at it's price point.
My take on the Canon PowerShot A410 is that in it's day it was a great compact Point and Shoot. But unlike the SD600 model I shared last week I wouldn't rely on it as an every day snapshot camera. The image quality is lacking a bit and the controls are too small for me. And the rear screen is tiny. But none-the-less this particular one has found a home in my collection. I just have a thing for older cameras. Especially ones that I can actually use.
Happy New Year my friends! I hope last year saw you well and that the new year is even better. Today I am starting something I have wanted to do for a while now. It may or may not be a secret that I have a lot of cameras. And I mean A LOT. I'm into the hundreds in fact. And they are all over the board. I have so called "Toy Cameras", many, many point and shoot film cameras as well as a healthy dose of point and shoot digitals. I have bridge cameras and of course a few SLR and DSLR models. I even have a handful of Rangefinders. Displaying such a collection is rather difficult. But I don't want them to become forgotten. So I came up with an idea. Here goes... I will share them with you right here on my blog. One at a time of course. While I will not really be doing a review I will be showing the camera to you and do a quick overview of it. In addition I will share pictures made with the camera. This means of course the film cameras will require a little more work. And expense. There is film to be purchased and then developed. The prints then need to be scanned. Not a problem really just time consuming. This being said I am starting with something a bit easier. One of my digital point and shoots.
Please keep in mind that most of these cameras were purchased in used condition and may look as so. I try to clean them the best I can but sometimes there is only so much I can do. All of the images of the cameras are made by me unless otherwise stated. Today we take a look at the...
Canon PowerShot SD 600 Digital ELPH
The SD 600 Digital ELPH is a very compact digital Point and Shoot model that is mostly intended to be used in Full Auto mode but does allow some limited Manual adjustments. The images I made for this post were made using some of these manual settings and have not been altered in any way. They are Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC). I acquired this SD 600 at a yard sale this past Summer. In fact it was right here in my own neighborhood. I think I paid something like US 5.00 for it. The battery was kind of shot but I was able to get a really good deal on Amazon for an aftermarket replacement that included a charger. So for all intents and purposes it is ready to go.
Sample Images Made With The SD 600
My take on this camera is that for a rather obsolete 6 Megapixel Point and Shoot with a small image sensor it performed rather well. The White Balance is a tad toward the bluish side but that is something that can be corrected in post processing. And keep in mind that I was tinkering with it's Manual settings and Auto may perform better. With it's size I would say this is a good camera to have on hand when you don't want something bulkier like a DSLR or do not want to use a camera phone. I wouldn't use it for serious photography but would not think twice about using it for snapshots.
