For about five years, I have been using an old HP, plastic 2 MP digital point and shoot camera. It was my first digital and was given to me as a gift. At the time, I was a diehard, 35mm fan, but slowly became addicted to the practical side of digital photography.
Last fall, though, my old HP began to show signs of age. On a fall trip to photograph waterfalls, it began to act strangely. I did get some nice pics, but lost a lot of opportunities as well. So last week, I took the plunge and bought a
Pentax Optio A10. First, let me say that digital cameras have changed an awful lot in five years. Duh!With 8 Megapixels and a 2.5" LCD, not to mention image stabilization (Pentax calls it shake reduction), this is a wonderful little (and I do mean little)camera. As a wildflower nut and digiscoping fan, it proved to be an excellent choice for my needs. Through my
Kowa 663 with the
Kowa TSE-21WD 20x eyepiece, I could count individual hairs in a squirrel's tail on a shot from my patio.
For macro work, it has both a macro and super macro mode which I love. Haven't had much chance to do wildflowers, yet, but I will report back soon. So far, though, I am having a blast with this little camera.