Treasure Hunting

Well, this might seem a little off topic, but I wanted to take a break and write about my new DSLR camera. It’s not completely unrelated, though, because you’re going to want a decent camera to take with you when you’re out on collecting trips. Not only do you want to be able to take pictures of the scenery surrounding wherever you’re visiting, but there are a lot of other things that you’re going to want to record visually. When you find that great new bed of rock that’s housing a nice big pocket of amethyst quartz, you just have to take a picture of it.

There are a lot of digital cameras on the market, and more are emerging everyday. I think it’s important to be willing to invest a little extra money in a good digital camera rather than a cheap one, so I’ve done a ton of research recently on the topic. I can be pretty lazy so I wanted something that I didn’t have to spend ages trying to master yet something that would also take great photos. After narrowing it down to the Sony line, I ended up with the Sony DSLR-A300.

This camera is definitely marketed towards those who have never used a DSLR before. It’s incredibly easy to use. If you want, you can just put it on automatic and shoot away. But if you want more versatility, it has that too. I’m learning more and more about its capabilities everyday, and I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface.

My favorite feature is the tiltable viewing screen. For a lot of the photos I take, I hold the camera pretty far away from my face - either high in the air or off to the side depending on what I am trying to shoot. With other cameras, it was mostly luck if I managed to get a decent shot. Now, with the Sony A300, I can actually see what I’m taking a picture of when I do this.   It’s like a whole new world.