Walking in Sutton Bridge with the Canon SD30 Digital IXUS i Digicam

I'm really loving walking at the moment; It's a bit of peace & quiet and time to clear my head. It's good for the soul, body & mind.

I said peace & quiet but to be fair I've always got my headphones on!

Let's just call it meditative (is that a word?)

Post surgery, I've got a lot on my mid and also a reason to enjoy the little and simple things in life.

Simple things just like being able to go out for a walk!

I've bought a few cameras recently; expensive ones and cheap charity shops one's too. And guess what, I've actually been using the cheap ones more than the expensive one. 

The subject of today's blog is the Canon Digital IXUS i, also known as as the Canon SD30. It's a (something like) 2005 5 Mega Pixel point & shoot digicam. Wow things were simple 20 years ago! But hey the digital revolution had to start somewhere and from there; improve with every generation. And just look at where camera technology is at now! 

These days cameras are like little boxes of magic in your hand. This little bad boy is still pretty magic to me though; it's so much fun seeing what I can do with it and its limitations.

The focus isn't too bad though and I'm a stickler for focus!

The 5 mega pixel photos are absolutely tiny! When I upload them to Lightroom on my 27" iMac (let's call it the Big Mac) the images cover the smallest part of the center of the screen; a bit like a 6x4 photo in the middle of my 27" screen. It's kinda funny!

I'm trying to get used to not being able to shoot in RAW and only relying on JPEG's. For a start I thought they were a little lacklustre, so I switched to the VIVID picture style to give the images a little punch.

Out on a wet & grey Saturday afternoon through Sutton Bridge it felt so good to get out of my sick bed and get some fresh air whilst seeing what the Canon SD30 could do.

I'd previously spotted a lone flower over the King's Lynn side of the bridge whilst driving passed; so that was the day's mission to photograph.

Not bad ay!

Along the way I recorded what caught my eye such as the "Relentless" rubbish and the reflections in the rain soaked road.

And then I gave myself the little project of documenting different angles of the bridge.

Whilst using minus exposure compensation in order to try a keep little detail in sky and to show off the grey & moody weather in each image.

And then I carried on walking down the old A17; I'm always drawn to the old Pill boxes along there. It's a shame about the rubbish that other people leave; they're full of beer cans and so too are the areas surrounding.

So for an old timer like the Canon Digital IXUS i SD30. It's an absolute pleasure to use. 

The screen isn't the best; you have to be at the right angle to see it and the battery life isn't great; 

I'm sure mine has a battery error because out of nowhere it shuts off but then turns back on again!? 

To be fair it's an old box of tricks, so a little glitch can be kind of expected.

But for £2 (what I paid) would I recommend it?

YES!

Oh and here's a little photo with the other camera I was playing with that day; the Olympus IS-500; more on that one in the future when I get the film developed.

Thanks for reading

Autumn in Sutton Bridge with the Hanimex Automatic MC 1:2.8 35mm

Another cheap lens with a poor reputation on the internet.

The Hanimex Automatic MC 1:2.8 35mm is apparently a cheap and rebranded bag of crap that you could pick up from Argos when people were wearing big hair and shoulder pads.

I can't quite remember when I got this lens. I can think of 2 possible times both easily 6-7 years ago and it has sat in a cupboard ever since. But put it this way, both possible times were bulk buys of camera and lenses so this lens cost me around 50p at a guess. It can happily sit in the cupboard.

But 2022 was the year for the Hanimex 35mm lens. Out it come, pretty much looking brand new apart from a loose manual focus ring and by that I mean the grip is loose; it focuses perfectly fine.

Another head clearing bit of exercise out in the cold and grey of Autumn/Winter in Lincolnshire; a little village photowalk with my headphones on just shooting what I see.

So leaves, leaves and more leaves.

The lens wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be; it's not super sharp in the middle and the corners are smudgy but just don't put the subject in the corner and it will be fine.

Shoot close and you can soon get out of focus backgrounds too.

Happy.