As a graduation present to myself, I decided to buy a new digital camera since the cheap Gateway camera I had bought two years ago was a complete piece of crap (I’d dissuade you from buying one if they didn’t discontinue the camera right after I bought mine. Sigh). At first I was impressed with this Kodak camera with 10x optical zoom – relatively small, decently-priced, and the zoom is pretty nice.

In person, it was definitely small, but not small enough to fit in the pocket. A list of camera needs was in order:

1. Pocketable: I have a hard enough time remembering my camera; if I couldn’t keep it in my pocket, I’d probably leave it somewhere. Plus, pocket-sized means I can take it with me without much thought, which is ideal.
2. Battery Life: Gateway cameras run out of batteries after a couple days, regardless of whether you’re using it. Using it meant enough planning to charge batteries pretty much immediately before-hand, which almost never happened.
3. Easy to Recharge: Along with the last one, I need a battery that’s easy to charge. The Gateway camera relies on AA batteries, which requires an extra (pricey) charger for rechargeable batteries. I need to be able to charge the batteries out of the box!
4. Quick Shutter Speed: The Gateway camera had a slow shutter speed that couldn’t be adjusted from the menu because Gateway dumbed everything down to the point of being unusable. People would always move before the camera finished snapping. Never a good picture!
5. Options: With the Gateway camera, you’re options were limited to the picture quality (1-3 stars), # of megapixels, and the picture mode. I need something that can scale up when I learn more about photography (some day).

So what camera meets those criteria? I went with the Panasonic DMC-FX01:

It’s everything I wanted plus Panasonic’s fancy image stabilization technology (which isn’t a huge help but I can tell the difference). So far, it’s been great… and now I’m a picture-taking fiend. Check out pictures from Mary & Jason’s wedding this weekend.