A brief history of all my... Powershots.

When you are in a long distance relationship, the hours of only being able to talk or write may occasionally teach each partner something about their significant other. On occasion, what they learn is something about their deepest, darkest secrets. Their cravings and baggage... Things they collect, treasure and hoard. Our preciouses.

D touched upon this yesterday when I happily informed him that I'd fallen for a cheap deal seized an opportunity and invested in a new camera, for cheap! A Powershot SX20, to be exact, whose 20x optical zoom I had decided was needed to complement Angelo* (my lovely and trusty little black Powershot G10) who can only magnify by 5x. I named my newest Big Fat Maggie, as she, with her ample lensage, was easily the most voluminous camera I had ever bought.

D's reaction to my happy news was:

"But... didn't you get your last camera less than a year ago?, In fact, wasn't it LESS than HALF a year ago?"

...which of course led me to say the only thing I could:

"Umm... yeah..."

The truth is that Angelo has only been with me since May. 2009. I have to defend myself though - by being a powerhouse of a COMPACT camera, i.e. being THIN, he has followed me through thick and thin, stuffed haphazardly into tight spaces to record everything at a moment's notice. I have used him to the point of mechanically wearing him out. The lens protectors won't open all the way anymore on startup, I have to prod them open with my fingertip. The last half year, I have taken a weekly average of... thousands of pictures. Really.

But this is beside the point, as D told me in som many words...

"So now you own... THREE cameras?"

Umm... Yes, dear... IN CANADA.

If I count all the cameras I have collected, including the old 35mm Pentax Asahi I kidnapped from my parents about ten years ago, I own a shameful total of six cameras. Three of them are Canon Powershots. (I refuse to get a DSLR, I'm not ready yet)

Well, I would be ashamed, save for the fact that I have used them all very much - usually wearing them out mechanically, in fact. I am a Camera Eroder of the 21st century. The fact that I rarely keep them in a camera bag for protection is beside the point - they have all followed me all over the world, been ready to record random happenstances and fun times at a moment's notice, and endured sun, rain, immersion in salt water and red wine** and winter exposure - and I'm not even that outdoorsy.

But the first four days I spent with Big Fat Maggie were, shall I say - a disappointment. We didn't get along. She lived up to all her specs, but I realized that having a much bigger camera with a much bigger focal range is great, but if it is VERY SLOW to boot, you've paid a chunk (however cheap it seemed at the time) only to miss all the important action (if your serial shooting of a jump in the air only catches the getting ready before the jump and the already having landed, you get the most BORING before-and-after pictures EVER!). Also, she pinched me with her sunguard when I turned her off. Ow.

So today, Big Fat Maggie was thanked cordially and returned to the camera shop - and I enlisted, for a fee, the services of her younger, faster sister the SX1, named Big Fat Maggie Junior.

Shame to waste a good name. ;)



* I name my cameras. They are family. Their names are Bolly (1999), Meow(2006), Darling (2007), Angelo (2009) and the newest member is Big Fat Maggie (2009)... Junior (2009).

** this would be my trusty waterproof Optio WP, Meow (named for the sound it makes on start-up)