My picture taking life was unmanageable
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen it comes to taking pictures, it would nice to say I belong in the same building with Pat Ford, Tosh Brown, Val Atkinson, Louis Cahill, Brian O’Keefe, Jessica McGlothlin, Nick Price, Tim Romano and, of course, others. But I do not and never will.
My ‘digital’ camera dilemma had always been, aside from taking bad pictures, breaking them, but lately it had been drowning miscues.
We all have financial tolerances
Adding up just 2016s costs, all iPhones (my new economy try) with accouterments galore, of phone replacements did not put me in the Hasselblad (H4D 200MS @ $45,000) league, but it still seems like a lot when I shell out several hundred dollars every other month or so. Plus, I was paying rising insurance costs.
Specs: 16MP 1/2.3″ CMOS Sensor, NIKKOR 24-120mm f/2.8 Lens (35mm Equiv), 5x Optical Zoom, 3″ 921k-Dot OLED Screen, Full HD 1080p Video with Stereo Sound. Image provided by NIKON.
No wonder they are so good
So, the search began by calling the pros. Fuhgeddaboudit. For them, image taking was an all-in thing, so money was not the point or relevant. Plus the tech stuff they launched into was Greek to me – could not wait to get off the phone.
I needed waterproof – always did
A little googling – best small digital waterproof cameras under $500, best small outdoor digital cameras under $500, best small waterproof cameras under $500, and so on revealed a good lead. And boy was I glad I discovered lensguide.io.
One camera was in every category I googled. It was number one in all but a few googled – those that I left out the word small, or under $500. But it was still mentioned along with those in the four and five figure ranges.
The camera that won out in my google quest was Nikon COOLPIX AW130 Waterproof Digital Camera with Built-In Wi-Fi (Yellow)
The one I got was used, but it arrived in a sealed (no heat gun use evidence) shrink wrapped new box. I paid much less than for ‘new, ’ but I had to order other make life easier paraphernalia – case, etc.
How did that work out for me?
Being ‘untech’ savvy did not help, but a trip to an Atlanta camera store and a little begging got me a smart little gal who worked there (I guessed she was at least ten years old). She sorted it all out for me in under 10 minutes. I took notes.
It takes great pics, has easy to manage features and has already survived dunkings, including rock tumbles in the currents of the Chattahoochee River, Georgia. I do not have any good fly fishing images to show, but some homey shots came out great.
I have yet to use the ‘movie’ feature, but I’m working up to it. Baby steps…
NOTE: Featured Image Nikon COOLPIX used Game & Fish Magazine.
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