Our long national nightmare is over. Well, mine, anyway. Sorry about yours.
My nine-day, extra-credit stint in the VeloBarrel came to an end last night, so I slept in this morning, enjoyed a medium-heavy breakfast and then went for a ride. The big yellow ball was back in the sky, and I wasn’t the only one enjoying it, but the path was not crowded and so I had time to snap a quick pic of myself — actually on a bike instead of in an office chair — without endangering anyone, including myself.
It was a short ride, because I needed to get busy spending some of the extra money I made. The Forester needs service, the iPhone needs a hands-free kit and I’d really like to buy a new camera. I don’t much like my Canon PowerShot S5 IS — it’s bulky without the corresponding feel of solidity, the battery life is terrible, and the four rechargeable AAs and SD card sit in the same bay, so when you need to pull out the card to transfer pix, well, the batteries pop out, too. Plus the lid to the battery/SD card bay is a pain in the ass.
I’m thinking about the Canon PowerShot G11, but not very hard. The sucker costs a ton, and even with extra money burning a hole in my pocket it’s hard to justify spending $500 on a camera when I already have two of ’em and a wife-slash-accountant who is very aware of this. Ain’t no flies on Herself. She’s small but fierce.
Mad Blog Media 
Great to hear you actually RODE a bike instead of writing about other people riding theirs! A gorgeous day here in Iowa too, so my fat ass got out there for a couple of enjoyable hours with more to come the rest of the week. Can’t help ya with the camera suggestions as we make do here with two ancient Canon Powershot 4’s though we use the rechargeable special battery which holds a charge OK and the memory card fits in our laptops for uploading pics to the blog and website. No need for high-rez stuff for our purposes as most everything is put on the web rather than printed in fancy magazines. But hey, only as of a few months ago can I say my entire personal bike fleet has combined brake/shift levers so we’re far from cutting edge here.
Get a Nikon. The batteries last a long time, it’s easy to switch out the card, you won’t have to buy another one anytime soon, and it’s a REAL camera!
Patrick,
Look at kenrockwell.com and check out his recommendations for cameras. Check out the G11 before you buy one … and you probably won’t.
Bruce
I’ve owned a couple of Canon PowerShot Elphs now, and they’re so handy I hardly ever use my old SLR any more.
The elph is small enough to slip into your jersey pocket for a ride, or into any other pocket you might be wearing. It has a rechargeable battery so you don’t have to keep buying the suckers and sending them to the dump. I’ve got a memory card on mine so big I could never fill it up, and that’s bumping up the file size to 2 or 3 MB per picture. Perfectly adequate for your needs, I’m guessing.
Hummmmm… Perhaps I should clarify my remark about the G11. I love Canon’s “point-n-shoot” cameras, Elphs and such. I, like a particular overweight bike rider we all know and love, have used a SD600 and currently use a SD880IS. The problem with the G11 seems to be that it is way overpriced and is fundamentally no more than some less-expensive models, such as the SD880IS. The 880 is no longer available but has been replaced by others. The SD780 IS looks really good and goes for under $250, much less than the G11.
Hummmmm… Perhaps I should clarify my remark about the G11. I love Canon’s “point-n-shoot” cameras, Elphs and such. I, like a particular overweight bike rider we all know and love, have used a SD600 and currently use a SD880IS. The problem with the G11 seems to be that it is way overpriced and is fundamentally no more than some less-expensive models, such as the SD880IS. The 880 is no longer available but has been replaced by others. The SD780 IS looks really good and goes for under $250, much less than the G11.
I love the PowerShots, too. Been through three of ’em, though I didn’t really like the feel of the last one and gave it to Herself, who likes it just fine. My SD600 is entirely idiot-proof and is what generates most of the pix on this site. But it’s a little long in the tooth, only 6MP and lacks image stabilization, which is crucial for a shooter with an occasional case of the DTs.
The G10 and G11 appealed to me as bigger versions of my favorite point ‘n’ shoot, but after laying hands on a G10 and reading reviews from CNET and Ken Rockwell (thanks, Bruce) I nixed both.
Now I’m thinking about the PowerShot S90, but it too is insanely priced — a guy could get a Nikon D40 for that and have something capable of shooting sports, like, say, bicycle racing. ‘Course, it won’t fit in a jersey pocket. But then I barely fit in a jersey.
Maybe I’ll have to lay hands on an SD780 IS.
Patrick, I recommend the Panasonic DMC-TZ5. Super super little camera. Great battery life, huge LCD screen, easy to use when you’re riding. The Canon point and shoots just don’t have as easy to use controls.
The July 2009 Consumer Reports rates 77 point and shoot and SLR digital cameras. Free at your local public library.
They’re so handy I hardly ever use my old SLR any more.
The elph is small enough to slip into your jersey pocket for a ride, or into any other pocket you might be wearing. It has a rechargeable battery so you don’t have to keep buying the suckers and sending them to the dump.