In LIFESTYLE

Cyber-Age & A Basketful of Memories

When it comes to kids’ birthday parties, we cannot be short of French Fries, orange juice, cake and of course digital cameras or mobile phones with built-in cameras. Why are these items so important and necessary for a kids’ birthday party? First and foremost, who doesn’t love French Fries, even adults mostly order french fries as finger foods during drinking sessions, apart from the calamari. Kids love to eat French Fries and drink orange juice, that’s why McDonalds is so successful. Then what about the cake and camera? Well, mothers love to pose with their birthday kid in front of a very colorful and well-themed birthday cake and then ask their bystander friends attending the party to take as many shots as possible.

After the cake-cutting session, mothers will start to boast about the vanilla fresh-cream or decorative chocolate cake they have baked for their kids’ birthday and hopefully their friends would ask for the cake recipe in return. During small talks, they would move to scroll their digital cameras or mobile phones to look for the best shots which they have taken with their kids. A digital super-zoom compact camera is a handy companion for parties, for traveling or a device to take snap shots of the things we want to remember wherever we go. With improved technology and superb designs, we have an Ultra slim camera that is only 12.2mm thin called the Sony Cyber-shot TX55. It is a sleek and stylish and the ultra-thin digital camera that comes with innovative features like 16.2MP “Exmor R™” CMOS sensor and Superior Auto for capturing high quality images and full HD movies, including 7 new picture effects which allows you to be more creative with your photo-taking techniques. It is thin enough to slip it into your pouch bag or clutches and you are ready to capture those sizzling moments when you go for a party with your friend at a hip joint or just put it in your hobo bag along with your kids’ snack boxes and water bottles to take cool pictures of your kids wherever your go. The camera does not take up much space and is just the size of a smartphone.

As for myself, I lived and breathed the brand Canon. I bought my fusion pink Canon Ixus 130 about 2 or 3 years ago. It was small, it was 14.1 megapixels and it took great pictures for all the international events which I had planned and concluded. It was fusion pink and it made a statement about me being bold and luscious whenever I took it out.

My children are gifts to me from Heaven. They bring you so much joy and laughter but they can also bring you pain and grief. My fusion pink camera saw its demise when my older son, Caden, took it out from my work desk to play with it. He dropped the camera and innocently told me he was very sorry. How could I scold him when he had that sad face? He looked so apologetic. My digital camera’s shutter couldn’t work anymore and when I took it back for repair at the Canon Service Centre, they told me that it was S$199 to replace the new part because my warranty was no longer valid. They suggested that I buy a new digital camera which costs only S$260. I was shattered. The camera was my party, work and play companion and now it’s being damaged by my son. I was upset but I had to move on. The next thing I knew, I told my husband that I wanted to learn photography. He knew that I was upset and told me softly to take pictures first with my Iphone 4S and discuss about my photography lessons when I am in a happier mood.

Well, I like the pictures taken by my Iphone 4S because it is convenient and the images are also very sharp. I can upload the images easily onto Facebook, Twitter and Instagram anytime I want to share the moments with my friends and family. Personally, I love really sharp pictures with strong and bright colours and obviously, I want to take great pictures which will mean something to me in the future when I look back. I wanted to see the world through the camera lenses. So I came up with a plan to ditch digital and buy a DSLR Camera.

Although we have a few powerful women heading technology firms, the laymen woman is mostly happy with easy to use and manageable technology. We will not go into the specifications of the digital camera or DSLR.  It is sufficient as long we like their sleek design and silhouette and they can take the beautiful pictures of our kids so that we can put them on our social media website. Well, that’s the view and impression I get from a huge population of the women (Female photographers who take pictures for a living are excluded from these comments because they know the natural light their DSLRs super well.)

On Mother’s Day this year, my husband presented me with a Nikon Coolpix S100 touch screen camera (See, he doesn’t even know my favourite brand is Canon, not that I am complaining.). I was pleasantly surprised by his action. He bought it in a red colour and the Nikon Coolpix S100 digital camera was easy to use, not to mention it was touch-screen. It takes high quality full HD videos, which I like and it’s 16.0 megapixels. which would take sharper pictures with higher resolution than my fusion pink Canon Ixus. I am happily using the new digital camera to take the pictures which I require for my blog and for work. However, the gift from hubby did not deter me from getting a DSLR. One of my university friends who is a Master Photographer advised me as a beginner to buy Canon EOS 600D. The Canon DSLR camera came close to my budget of S$1000 and it had very good specifications.

I convinced my husband that I wanted to learn photography and getting the DSLR was something that would help in my learning. So we researched and found several shops recommended by the forums which sold the camera at a cheaper rate. We managed to get quite a good deal for the whole set of the Canon EOS 600D with standard lens. After the purchase, I came home and immediately signed up for the complimentary classes at the Canon Digital Imaging Academy to learn to operate DSLR cameras and also for its beginners’ course at S$280 for 6 lessons which I find it to be quite reasonable. I am very excited about going for my photography classes and learning a new creative art. I really hope that I will be greatly rewarded from the lessons and hopefully move on to the Advanced Photography classes which my University friend is teaching.

As I am in the technology sector and read fair bit about technology on websites and magazines, I am always inclined to get the newest kids on the block like the newly launched Ipad 3 which is already available in Singapore. Well, the urge is there but since I have just bought my Acer laptop, I will wait for a while before I head to the Apple Shop to invest in an Ipad 3 with cellular.

In conclusion, it’s not the machine you use that elucidates you but it is how you capture and exemplify the images that personifies you. My friend’s digital camera is only 8 megapixels but she takes great pictures because she always catches the right smile of her child. You don’t have to buy a very expensive digital camera or DSLR to capture the best moments with your kids. You can just buy a Canon Digital Ixus 115 at S$219 from Canon. It is 12.1 megapixels and takes full HD movie videos and it is enough to capture the smile on your kid’s face during his or her birthday party or whenever they are playing. My favourite photo of my kids was captured with my 5-megapixel Iphone 4S and it’s now sitting on my TV console in a nice frame as a decorative piece. If you are interested to purchase a digital camera to keep those memories, you might want to check out “Holiday-friendly Cameras” featured in the May Edition of HWM just for your information.

My Favourite Picture of Caden & Charles taken with my Iphone 4S
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