It gives me nuts!

My little Fuji FinePix HS10, and it is rather little compared to a full-fledged DSLR, is fun. Yet, I have to agree with the little boy who said about something that bothered him, "It gives me nuts!"

For years I shot with a high-end Canon EOS DSLR. The quality was superb. Now, shooting with what is essentially a sophisticated but dated point-and-shoot, I have to make some trade offs. I say dated because there is now an HS20 and it reportedly fixes some of the problems that I have encountered with my first generation camera.

But what the HS10 lacks in absolute quality, it makes up in fun. I shoot for the Web or to make small snapshots. The quality is more than adequate for my needs.

This shot of a young bride dancing with her father was shot at ISO 800. I popped some straight on strobe into the scene, punching up the highlights and to opening up the shadows a smidgen. I set the zoom to its widest setting, 24mm, laid down on my stomach and with the screen on the camera back pulled out and rotated, I composed my picture.

I may not have ultimate quality but I have a picture with visual impact. It is a different shot from the one being captured by the photographer standing off to the side with a high end Canon camera equipped with a pro telephoto 'L' lens. It is a judgement call but I prefer my angle. Now, if I just didn't have the shutter lag I must contend with. (Reportedly, the new HS20 is not bothered by shutter lag to the same extent as my older model.)

Fuji FinePix HS10, lens cranked out to telephoto. Auto.

With ultimate quality well out of my reach when shooting indoor stuff like the above, I must cover myself by shooting other images outside using lots of available light. Unfortunately, it was heavily overcast on the day of the wedding. Shooting inside a covered gazebo, I was still up against some low light level issues.

Note: When shooting the bride, groom and groom's parents, I was well off to the side to stay out of the way of the photographer hired to shoot the wedding. This angle has the benefit of making for a tighter grouping with almost no dead space between the subjects' heads.

I got the images I needed with a camera I can easily carry and I'm happy --- even though the little devil can really "give me nuts."