So, you want to be a better photograher. . .

Yes, this was taken with my simple Canon SD10. Cool, eh?

. . . and you've come here looking for information on the best camera. Forget it. Stop the search. Unless you are a pro or a truly advanced amateur, the camera is not the big deciding factor in whether or not you shoot good stuff. It's you!

I googled "photo club London Ontario." Found the local photo club and checked out the images. Wow! These shooters are good.

This does not come as a total surprise as years ago I wrote a photography column for the local paper. One column dealt with the The London Camera Club. I interviewed the then president and featured some of his work in my column.

Canon has released a new camera. This would hardly be worth mentioning except it has one feature that puts it apart from the crowd: An f/2.0 lens. I'm talking about the Canon SD4000 IS.

With my Canon SD10 I found pictures just outside my door.

For seven years I played with the first camera in the now long series of SD cameras, the SD10. It was laughably small --- I was used to big DSLRs with giant, heavy lenses as I worked at a newspaper. But I soon learned, or should I say rediscovered, that once one learns to work within the limits imposed by one's camera, the joy of photography is there to discover.

I loved that little SD10. With only an f/2.8 prime lens, it taught me to see the picture in the overall scene. No zooming in to crop out unwanted stuff. Make a composition or move was the demand. I got a lot of exercise running about taking pictures with that camera. And it was worth it.

Go to my site Rockin' on: the Blog and scroll down while looking on the right side of the screen. You'll fine a little slide show of images almost 100% of which were shot with my ultra-compact SD10.

Don't get hung-up on equipment. Get hung-up on photography. Get hung-up on you. Go google "photo club" and add your own hometown. Find some like-minded keeners. Document your world and enjoy.

Once you can shoot successfully within the confines of a simple camera, you are a photographer ready to take advantage of the almost unlimited world of high-end DSLR photography.

My SD10 taught me the importance of composition and light.

My look at the Fuji FinePix HS10

Since posting my personal thoughts on the Fuji FinePix HS10 I have been directed by readers to a number of Internet sites carrying full reviews of this Fuji superzoom.

Many of these had serious reservations about the camera. Pictures of playing cards taken under poor lighting were shown to be grainy. Action shots, poorly composed and rather uninteresting, were shown to be poor. (I don't take pictures of playing cards in the dark. Not my thing. So, I really wasn't all that interested.)

One reads these reviews, looks at the pictures, and it is clear that these folk are shooting for fun. I am and I like the HS10. Straight from the box, set to the no-brainer Auto setting, I got some great pictures. Were they too noisy? Too soft? Oh, please . . .

Full post: Rockin' On: Photography.

The first thing that is important in any photograph is the photograph. A camera is nothing more than a tool for taking and making pictures. The HS10 is not only a good tool straight out of the box, it has features that allow it to grow with the photographer. Using the HS10 can be a challenge but that is not a bad thing if rising to the challenge delivers great images while making you a better shooter.

The HS10 is not for everyone. A newspaper photographer would be driven wild by its infuriatingly long shutter lag. And I can see some parents be ticked off when they miss a shot of their child because the camera is busy writing the last picture to disc and is not ready for more action. To these people I say, break down, spend the money, buy a DSLR. There really is no other answer.

But if you're like me and what you want is a serendipitous camera, one that you can have with you almost all the time --- I don't recommend taking the HS10 into the shower --- then this Fuji offering is worth considering.

Enlarge the image below. It was a chance moment. Driving along the Pacific Coastal Highway, I chanced to see some kite-surfers. I stopped and fired off some quick pictures. It was fun to do and it was even more fun to see the fine moments I captured.

For a more detailed look at the ultra-fast continuous shooting capabilities of the HS10 please check out my post discussing the Best Frame Capture mode.

Click on this image and examine the slightly cropped file. I'm impressed.