Sight to Insight

Chasing technology is like chasing the sunset as a photographer. Just as you thought you had the best picture on sunset, another one with more vibrant color will overtake it. Fuji has just announced four new cameras, of which two of them were what I was about to purchase. These are the Fuji 300EXR and Z800EXR replacing 200EXR and Z700EXR respectively. The 300EXR has an optical zoom of 15x, and a wide angle of 24mm! The specifications are very tempting. Well they have not been released yet in Singapore. Given the practice that Fuji always underprices Lumix and Sony, this buy is definitely on my radar screen. Today, iPad is also released by the three telcos in Singapore. I don't believe I will go the "Apple" way. More than likely, I will be picking up yet another Samsung with Android 2.1 as the operating system. Why not Apple? Perhaps it is my non-conformist attitude or perhaps I don't like the fact, you are not allowed to change the battery, and even to put in the SIM ...

I am in the process of buying another point and shoot. I have Fuji in mind. These models are 80EXR and Z700EXR. The former is a 10x optical zoom while the latter is 5x but with a 3.5" touch scream. Initially the prices on the market were S$539 and S$449 respectively. When I check with a low cost accredited vendor, the prices were $399 and $339 respectively without the 7% GST. The pricing is rather surprisingly different. This makes the purchase even more attractive. Is the camera what I should be spending money on, or shouldn't I spend it on the Samsung Galaxy with a iFlex plan costing around S$49 monthly payment and about S$148 on the phone? Wouldn't this give me more pleasure in surfing? I have already 3 working cameras (Pentax K7, Fuji s100fs and Fuji J250), and it doesn't make sense to buy one more. I have a Sony videocam which I don't even use now! It doesn't make sense to buy another camera, come to think about it. Perhaps I should focus on the phone upgr...

As usual, decision making is a rational process to select the choices but it becomes an emotional process to make the choice. From my good old Canon G2 to my Lumix FX9 and not forgetting my even older analogue Canon AE-1 (had it in 1977 in France); I decided to go one step up on the DSLR (digital single lens reflex). I was toying the idea of an entry level such as Nikon D40x, Canon 400D.... and then came the announcement of the Casio Exilim Pro EX-1, which does incredible movie; which only a camera devoted to scientific research could. It was to be launched in March 2008. I was in Tokyo for my CoreNet (Real Estate program) in end February and decided to go to Akihabara to inquire whether it was out. For those who do not know; Akihabara is THE place for technology. Japan has a lot of products that are not exported out. So it is a sight to behold. However, even in Japan this camera was still not launched. By chance, I came across this newly launched Fuji Finepix s100fs, which was launche...