September 17, 2007

Over the years I've made my way through various Ultra-Compact digital cameras, the latest being the Canon Powershot SD550. I don't especially like the SD500 for a number of reasons which I don't feel like listing here. What I am going to list, is what I *do* want in an Ultra-Compact Digital Camera: **Required**:\* Somewhere Between 5 and 10 Megapixels \* RAW Mode \* Full Manual Mode \* Tripod Mount \* Excellent Low-light Performance \* Quick or Instant Startup Time \* ≥ 3" LCD \* ≥ 2x Optical Zoom \* At Least 24-50mm Equivalent Zoom \* Fits Easily in Pocket \* Macro Mode \* Video Mode \* Doesn't Use Obscure Memory Format \* USB 2.0 **Would be Nice**: \* Water-Resistent of Water-Proof \* Image Stabilization \* Bluetooth / 802.11x \* Face Recognition \* Standard Sized Batteries Obviously there is currently no camera that meets my required specs, but I'm hoping there will be some time soon. I was considering the [Leica D-Lux 3](http://www.leica-camera.us/photography/compact_cameras/d-lux_3/), but because of its poor low-light performance and protruding lens won't work for me. If my SD550 dies before a camera with my required specs comes along, I'll probably go with the [Nikon Coolpix S51](http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25574), although it doesn't have a RAW nor manual modes.... ok so maybe that won't work. For now I'll just make it a point to lug around my 5D as much as possible. Btw, this post was inspired by Scott Beale's post about his new [Fuji Finepix F50](http://laughingsquid.com/fuji-finepix-f50-se-a-powerful-point-and-shoot-camera/). **UPDATE** I have created a handy little size guide so you can get a real life idea of the size of the various Ultra-Compact cameras out there. So far I have only done Canon and Nikon, but I plan on adding other manufacturers. You can download the [Ultra-Compact Camera Size Comparison Chart](http://eecue.com/eecue_ultra_compact_camera_comparison.pdf) [66k PDF]. **UPDATE 2** Hmm, I think this might be the perfect camera for me: [Canon SD870 IS](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_sd870is.asp).

It's been a good run for me over at [blogging.la](http://blogging.la/), but I have decided that I no longer have the time to contribute quality, unique content. I have been mulling over this decision for some time now, and I decided to stop putting if off and admit to myself that I'm just too busy to handle all the blogging on my plate. I will now be focusing on writing for eecue.com and [blogdowntown](http://blogdowntown.com/). If you're interested you can [read through my 283 posts](http://blogging.la/profile.phtml?author=810) from the 2 years and 2 months I wrote for blogging.la.

Thanks to [Scott Beale](http://laughingsquid.com/) I now have a [Yahoo! Mash profile](http://mash.yahoo.com/eecue). I also have invites if you need one. It would be helpful if mash included a way to invite from a vcard file, but otherwise it seems pretty cool. **UPDATE** Ok so I know this is still in beta, but the fact that Yahoo's own service flickr's module has now broken my RSS feed link is somehow pleasantly ironic: Invalid URL: http%3A%2F%2Fapi.flickr.com%2Fservices%2Ffeeds%2Fphotos\_public... I should point out that it did work this morning. **UPDATE 2** I have added a few friends and none of them show up in my friends list, although I show up in theirs. Odd. **UPDATE 3** Ok I get it, the friends don't show up until they've claimed and set up their profiles. There are some pretty cool little modules, I like the twitter feed.