Confessions of a Flip-Flopper

So, remember a couple weeks back when I broke my camera? I stated at that time that I hadn't really liked it all that much anyway, and so decided to replace it with a smaller, sleeker, slip-into-my-back-pocket camera in the interest of convenience.

Well, this is me, officially coming back with my tail between my legs.

After a few days of snapping with my new Canon Powershot SD1400, I was not super-thrilled. The images that I was viewing were not nearly the quality of what I'd been accustomed to for the past four months. I kept hoping that it was me; maybe I just needed time and practice to get used to this new gadget. It really bugged me, though, when I did a side-by-side comparison of two pictures taken in the exact same spot, with the exact same lighting. Here was Kaiser's 15 month pic with our old camera:

And here is his 16 month shot with the new camera:

You may be thinking, "Is there really any difference?" If you enlarge each of the them, though, you can definitely tell that the first one is much crisper, whereas I think the second is a little fuzzy on the edges. Now, I knew that it would be a trade off, changing to a smaller camera--the lens would be smaller, too, and that is bound to affect the pictures. But I thought I was willing to make that sacrifice for something more convenient. I now realize that {GASP!} I was wrong.

So, what's a clearly hard-to-please flip-flopper like me to do in this situation? Well, try to track down the camera you once disliked, but now desperately long for, of course. I could have kicked myself when I found out that the Best Buy down the road (where they were priced to sell at $200 the weekend before) was now completely sold out. You better believe that made me want it even more! The cheapest I could find it online was $300, and I was not really excited about paying that much, considering I bought it for considerably less than that the first go-round. Upon calling around to other Best Buys, though, I located one about a half an hour east of us that was selling it for $160! Whoop! That's $85 less than I paid for the fuzzy-picture-takin' contraption. I thanked the sales associate profusely for placing it on hold for me on Sunday night and made the trek with Kaiser first thing Monday morning to stake my claim.

Meanwhile, I gathered up the Powershot and its accessories, printed out my refund paperwork, and sent him packing. I'm so sorry, Mr. Canon. I gave you a chance, but you ultimately made me realize what I was missing with this guy...

Oh, Sony DSC-H20, with your pop-up flash and lens cap, you may be bigger and slightly more complicated than the average point-and-shoot, but boy, do you take a mean picture. And ultimately, that's what I want: quality pictures of my sweet family. So please forgive me for ever doubting you. I promise to take extra good care of you and be extra careful when handling you. And I will never, ever bad-mouth you again.