O Camera, Where Art Thou?

My favorite camera (Fuji HS10) has been 'out' for a few weeks and will finally return to me this week. What a horrible feeling...not having that camera in hand. I suspect when I get it back, and with it [hopefully] functioning properly for the first time, I'll be inspired to get out for some shots. It's not that I have been uninspired, but more that I just have a very full plate at the moment.

Fuji has me by the short ones...this is the SECOND Fuji camera I have purchased brand new and defective right out of the box. The first was my first 'real' digital camera, a S5000, with a whopping 3.1 MP and 10X optical zoom. That camera was my window of opportunity in heading into Detroit for photos. Even though that one went back twice for warranty service, it was never properly fixed. After the warranty expired, I retired the camera and vowed to never do Fuji again.

And then the HS10 hit the market. It is supposed to be a bridge camera, 30X optical zoom, and a CMOS sensor. It was quite entertaining to see the forum posts about this camera at DPREVIEW just about the time it was hitting the market, first in China and then the UK. There was quite a bit of excitement about it, really. Photos started appearing, samples of what the camera can do. Orders rolled in...and then a very curious thing happened...some users returned the camera, mostly siting 'image quality' as the culprit. I got mine and started using it right away, adjusting to the new zoom feature, a manual zoom control. And I never once had the thought of returning it. I do use a tripod when at all practical, and that has helped me capture images I really like. It's really a nice urban ghetto camera to have in hand, IMHO.

Two strikes on Fuji. I'm not vowing to never guy from them again, but I guess I'll have to have some money first. That is in short supply. I think my allotment of money is sitting is some arse-hole Wall Street bankers offshore account.

(Don't you get it...the rich are taking over the world!!!)

Maybe I'll exercise my right to the American Dream, the new one that replaces the concept of working really hard and realizing your dream. No, the new one is...play the mega-million lotto...and WIN! If I do win (I suppose I'll have to start buying tickets now) after I purchase those Leica and Hasselblad cameras and lenses, I'll look into the new Fuji HS20EXR that will probably be out this spring, an updated HS10. But considering how much money I'll have after I win, I think I'll hire a third party agent to check out the camera before and make sure this one works, the very first Fuji that isn't defective out of the box!

So, I'm excited about getting my camera back. My other camera, a Canon Powershot SX30 IS just doesn't excite me. I think my days as a Canon user are coming to an end...with a S50, S3 IS. SX10 IS, SX30 IS, and a Rebel XTi.

I really would rather be a rebel, but not of the Canon nature. I like to support the underdogs like Fuji (when I can get one that works properly) or Pentax.

Since I just started a new Flickr group Cemetery - Winter I think I'll get me cold arse into a cemetery and see if the [hopefully] fully functioning Fuji will catch me some nice shots.