2023 Weekly Challenge Week 16: Canon Powershot SX130

The week of this review was an absolute nightmare in my personal life, and thus I got a little behind in updating my Blog.  Basement flooding is NOT fun.  Luckily I do not store any photography equipment in my basement, so my camera collection was undamaged. On that note I highly advise against ever storing anything camera related in a basement; Fungus likes to grow inside camera lenses afterall.

I still managed to take something out during this week of hell during short breaks to destress. I went for something simple and easy to shoot, a Canon Powershot SX130. 

The SX series of Powershots are mid range Canon Point and Shoot cameras which add Manual controls (but no native RAW shooting) and a better optical zoom for the sacrifice of being physically larger then an ELPH or even S series Powershot. 

Previously I reviewed the Powershot SX280 and Powershot SX720 which were later generations of the same basic design.  The SX1XX series were where it all started, and originally they were powered by AA batteries instead of a rechargeable LI ION battery pack that are found in most point and shoot cameras past the mid 2000s.

The SX130 came out in 2010 and sported a fairly standard 1/2.3" 12mp sensor and a fairly good and solid 12x optical zoom. 

The important thing to note about this camera is it had a CCD sensor, where most other SX Powershots (Including the SX280 and SX720) had a CMOS sensor.  This made it have higher contrast and a slightly sharper image for a small sensor with the downside of being worse in Low Light conditions. 

Being that I only really shot this camera outdoors (minus a few test shots inside a grocery store) high ISO really didn't come into play that much. That said, I was really impressed at how well the camera handled up to ISO 800 which is a feat where many other small sensor compacts (especially CCDs) really struggle with.

The camera is very chonky and has a good amount of heft to it.  It's thicker then the newer Powershot SX series cameras too, in large part because of running off AA batteries.

So far I've reviewed a number of AA battery powered cameras and I've really dreaded shooting each and every one.  They're either slow to respond and laggy, feel really cheaply made, have extremely poor image quality (even for what would classify as a Digicam) are slow to extend the lens and focus or chew through batteries like a tiger in a meat locker or any combination of these traits (or all of the above).  But this camera was surprisingly none of these.

The the bar very isn't set very high for AA powered digicams but this camera not only clears it but exceeds it when compared to every other AA powered pocket cam in my collection I've reviewed so far. Even the Nikon L105 which was about the same era I did not enjoy the shooting experience with and that ran a sensor and Zoom range very similar to what is in this camera. 

The difference is the SX130 is a lot better built, has much better optics, and offers full manual and priority modes with a control wheel on the back (Yes!).  I took a set of partially drained rechargeable AAs and on one set of 70% charged NiMH AA batteries it lasted me the entire week showing no noticeable degradation of charge by the last shot.

By contrast the Nikon L105 drained one set of 4 AA batteries (Alkaline even!) in one day of shooting; whereas this camera shot an entire week on 2 AA batteries that weren't even fully charged, and I likely could have kept going another seven days of casual shooting easily without changing the batteries.

Needless to say, the Canon Powershot SX130 is by far the best AA powered pocket digicam in my collection.  Is it the best Digicam in my collection?  Of course not. But it is a reasonable middle ground camera on a field that is otherwise only occupied with cameras that have a proprietary battery pack (With the exception of the Fuji S2 Pro, but that is a special case and hardly pocketable and still requires a different proprietary battery to run alongside the AA). It could easily be a daily carry camera for me and I'd be happy with it.

The SX130 is fast and responsive with no noticeable shut down or start up lag.  The shutter lag is minimal as well; and while its not as responsive as say a DSLR or Mirrorless ICL camera I could easily shoot street photography all day with this camera and be happy with it.

A lot of my photos were taken in dreary overcast days with this camera and it performed surprisingly well with the image quality (as you will see below).  It is by far not the most vibrant of Canon CCDs (The S90 and ELPH 190 both having far more vibrant sensors) but it still has a slight punch that the SX280 with its CMOS sensor lacks.

I bought this camera originally as the "emergency backup" camera in case I forgot to charge batteries at home. This was prior to owning cameras with USB charging (Such as the Nikon Z50, Panasonic ZS50 and Panasonic ZS100). But given the situation I was out in the field, and could not charge my batteries at all but had access to a supplier of AA batteries the SX130 would be a solid digicam to have with.  

This camera will likely go on my list of cameras to take a second look at next year as I enjoyed shooting it and it deserves to be used more thoroughly on a week where my stress levels aren't through the roof.

2023 Weekly Challenge Week 15: Sony a37 SLT

Back in the early 2010s Sony pioneered a different approach on interchangeable lens camera; the Single Lens Translucent or SLT cameras.  These cameras were a short-lived strange hybrid of a Mirrorless camera and DSLR. They combined a DSLR Phase Detect Auto Focus system and the capabilities of a Mirrorless body such as focus peaking, exposure preview and a EVF instead of the OVF found on DSLR cameras.

The camera has a semi-transparent mirror which acts as a prism and splits off a small amount of light to bounce to the PDAF sensor.  The rest goes through to the sensor.  The mirror never flips up and operates a lot like a drop-in filter; adding a layer of protection to the senor itself that mirrorless bodies lack.

It was a novel concept, and Sony built some really great cameras using this technology. I own two: the Sony a99 Full Frame (first version) which I will review in a later review and the Sony a37. 

The SLT lines were however prone to Hardware malfunctions, including the IBIS unit failing (as it has in my a99) and other issues like a lens communication issue that my a37 is starting to develop.  I used the camera for years before it developed this issue and it only started acting up when I brought it back out of storage for this week of shooting.

The biggest reason I picked up Sony A mount (which includes the one pre-SLT era DSLR I have the a290) was that I can run Minolta Film lenses natively with Autofocus. Minolta made some amazing lenses for their film system in the 80s and 90s- many of which are so well built that they are still producing great shots to this day. Taking a modern camera and using vintage lenses you picked up for a song is a lot of fun; especially when you don't need to run it through a mount adapter and sacrifice AF and aperture control on the camera.  

The Sony a37 sported a 16mp APS-C sized CMOS sensor; the same sensor that was used in many different Sony and Nikon cameras. It had an extended ISO range of 16000 but started to get fairly noisy after around ISO 1600 so I typically would keep my ISO below that when shooting it. Sony was a pioneer of In-Body stabilization so the a37 along with all Sony A mount bodies (DSLR and SLT alike have IBIS)

I picked this camera up in 2017 and it was one of my first ICL cameras on a new lens system "For Fun" that wasn't a part of my primary system. I was able get a good selection of lenses for it while not investing much money. 

This camera turned into one of my primary Street Photography cameras from 2018-2019 and it's one of the things the camera really excels at.  It's smaller and more discreet then a larger DSLR and the tilt screen on the back makes hip-shooting easy. It's also very easy to shoot. It has a very quick startup/ready from standby or turned off which is huge for street photography as well.

It's not a great camera for Wildlife or Action Photography as I found out during this review.  When I shot this camera back in 2017-2018 I was using this for Street Photography and anything that required a fast burst rate and response I was using my higher end equipment for.  The shutter on this camera is slow; and while it captures the moment as soon as you hit the shutter with no noticeable shooting lag but on the back swing of the shutter mechanism there is a bit of a delay while it resets so you can't fire quick shots in succession unless you are in continuous drive mode.

Continuous drive mode is rated at 5.5 FPS on paper. Which is respectable for an entry level camera.  However when I shot it in the field it felt a lot slower, no faster then a Canon Rebel at 3.5 FPS and the Rebels were better for Single Shot quickfire actuation which is what I typically do instead of locking it into Continuous drive. 

Control wise it handles a lot like a Canon Rebel; with a single control wheel operated with a button press for alternate function (such as setting shutter speed in manual or Exposure Comp in priority modes).  It gets a respectable battery life of around 500-600 shots "in the field" which is more then it is rated for and is respectable for essentially a mirrorless camera with some throwbacks to a DSLR.

Overall I ran into frustrations when shooting it, but one was from a lens communication issue this camera did not have before, and the slower response when I tried taking it out for Wildlife. That said, I still enjoy shooting it and might at some point replace it with a higher end APS C SLT like an a68 or a77 if I ever find one of those for cheap. So enjoy some of the shots I took when I revisited this camera during an unseasonably warm stretch of early Spring weather.

2023 Camera Challenge Week 14: Nikon Coolpix L105

 Last week I decided to treat myself and buy a thrift store camera. Since the Digicam craze hit the market prices at thrift stores has skyrocketed for the thrift stores that still carry and stock Digicams (Goodwill for example now will never stock digital cameras in their physical stores and just moves any digicams they get in to Online Auction- which is sad but I have got a few decent deals this way).  

Gone are the days of finding a $5 working digital camera at a Thrift Store.  Now we are talking $20-50 instead; which put into perspective is about the same price as a Video game so its not the end of the world if it becomes something I don't like shooting, but thrift stores are no longer the "cheap" place for Digicams they once were.

I did end up finding a thrift store that actually had quite a few digicams in the front case and after making the employee pull them all out I felt bad for not buying one and making him put everything back for nothing even if they were a little pricey. But I was also able to test this one in the store to verify it worked which was a plus. I paid $40 USD for it which was admittedly more then I likely should have paid for this fairly basic lackluster bridge camera.

The Nikon Coolpix L105 comes out of a trend of similarly designed compact superzoom bridge cameras from the early 2010s. They were designed to be comfortable to hold and very easy to use; providing a much more ergo friendly alternative to a point and shoot or early smartphone without the price and complexity of a DSLR. 

The Coolpix L105 was released in 2011 and sported a fairly average 12mp 1/2.3" CCD sensor and a 15X zoom. It ran on AA batteries which a lot of Digicam enthusiasts like instead of a dedicated rechargeable pack- but there is a downside to this which I will explain later. 

It has no PASM dial and rather the scene modes were accessed through the main menu, encouraging the user just to use Intelligent Auto and forget about it.  I shot mine in the standard P mode so I had the ability to adjust the exposure comp as it did have a hardware button for it.

As with other more "basic" budget bridge cameras it lacked the ability to shoot RAW or do full manual which is expected in most random thrift store digicams I find. It does have a 4 way control pad with the ok button in the middle which made it more appealing then some cameras I own as navigating menus and getting access to some of the core features like exposure comp and macro mode was easier.

Overall I enjoyed the output of the photos from this camera (which you will see later).  It had a nice sharpness to it with vibrant CCD colors that made me have to do little to no editing in Post on them (with one exception which I will mention later). The 15x zoom was a comfortable range for shooting a variety of subjects.

However, this camera had a lot of flaws and I feel I likely overpaid for it as given my frustrations when shooting it I may not ever shoot again (likely will be on the chopping block for re-sale or a digicam trade in the future).

First off and most notably the battery door latch was VERY poorly designed, and mine may have been slightly damaged.  When you put the AA batteries in the door has a lot of pressure on it, so much so that if it wasn't latched perfectly it would crack open just enough to lose contact with the batteries and shut down the camera. This was beyond frustrating as you had to open the door and close it before you could even retract the lens to fully shut the camera off when it happened.

Secondly was the battery life.  In general the battery life on AA battery operated cameras is worse then those with dedicated packs, that much was certain.  But even among other AA powered digicams this one stands out and not in a good way.  First off it takes 4 AA batteries, not two and it burns through a fresh set of alkaline batteries in about 120 shots.  Using high grade nicad rechargeables may extend your battery life a few extra shots but overall pretty lousy especially when considering it burns through 4 batteries each time.

The camera's LCD screen was Dim even with brightness adjusted which turned all the way up was nearly impossible to see on a bright day- this is a fairly common issue with digicams that lack a OVF or EVF however (more premium digicams like the Olympus XZ-1 have bright high contrast screens which can power through bright sunlight shooting.)

The Zoom was incredibly slow.  Worse then pretty much every other digicam I own even older ones.  Forget about using this camera for Wildlife photography (I tried) the bird will be long gone by the time the optical zoom extends to take the shot.

And lastly, the camera starts to fall apart at IS0 400 which is pretty a-typical for small sensor CCD digicams. However it uses very aggressive and primitive anti-noise algorithms so instead of getting somewhat organic CCD noise which can be artistic to use you wind up with a blurry smudge that looks like this:

In spite of my frustrations with the camera I did get some pleasant shots out of it and a few that actually surprised me.  It's slow and clunky but it does have a pretty sharp lens; I just wish there was more you could do with it (like shooting RAW or manual modes) of course and that the zoom didn't take so long to extend.  Also the Image Stabilization on mine was extremely noisy but that may have just been due to the condition of the camera and fact it likely had been sitting for years and may have had some internal dust in it. 

Aside from the cropped and smeared photo of ducks that was taken at an ISO much higher then I needed (as I turned it off auto ISO for an indoor Macro shot and forgot to turn it back to Auto) here's a few of the shots that did turn out with this thrift store find:

2023 Weekly Challenge Week 13: Canon Rebel T2i (Canon 550D)

 The Canon Rebel T2i is the newest Canon interchangeable lens camera I currently own but not the newest I've shot. Prior to 2019 I was mainly a Canon shooter and used a Canon 80D which was a much more advanced camera.  

Since then I jumped ship to Nikon as my primary system so the Canon DSLRs I own are now just cameras I shoot for fun. As far as Pro/Prosumer cameras with all the bells and whistles I've become a bigger fan of how Nikon does things.  

Simplicity is why I really like these cameras. The Canon Rebel series reminds me of a simpler time when I was just learning about photography, and they are absolutely great cameras to learn Photography on. 

The Canon Rebel/XXXD series are lightweight, no nonsense cameras and just a lot of fun to shoot when I just want to get outside and not over-think about photography. That's a big reason I collect and still shoot with them: they are cheap but solid and can still do 95% of the things a higher end DSLR or MICL camera can do, just perhaps requiring you to slow down and enjoy shooting a little, which is not a bad thing.

This camera in particular was a Birthday present this year from a long time friend, who I thank for helping with me in my addiction to get more cameras for the collection.  The T2i I own is a little beat up and a little picky but its not the only camera I have like this.  A collection camera doesn't have to be in the more "perfect" shape my workhorse/reliable cameras are in afterall.

The Canon T2i came out in 2010 and was the cheapest version of this new 18mp sensor Canon had put out (550D/60D/7D mk I).  This was the camera that really solidified the Rebel/XXXD camera as it sold like hotcakes getting many new photographers into the hobby.

It has an 18mp 1.6x APS-C sensor that goes up to ISO 6400 (but is only useable up to 1600 or 3200 in some cases) and has all the expected features from this line one would expect. When compared to the Rebel T1i (which I also own and will review another time) the differences are very minor; yet this would be the sensor that Canon would choose to carry the entry level DSLR camera for the next Decade where the 15mp sensor on the T1i would quickly fade into a one and done design.

Canon made so many of these 18mp APS-C sensors that they're still available on new cameras over a decade later. You can still to this day buy a new unopened camera that is more or less a re-badged Canon Rebel T2i/550D.  It's known as the Canon Rebel T100 or 4000D and is often found bundled with a lens at Walmart and other budget retailers for around $300 USD. It shows how much Canon really loved the design of this camera when you can find one that's a very close match brand new 13 years later. It's one of Canon's last still produced DSLRs along with the 90D and latest 1DX. 

In late 2010 Digital Camera sensors were starting to reach a plateau, as in each new model would just build on more features instead of building a brand new camera with a brand new sensor every time. I have no reason to go out and buy a Rebel T3i-T5i, T5-T6, SL1 or T100 as they are almost the exact same camera as this one.

Last week I reviewed the 6mp Canon Digital Rebel that started it all, and this week was the Rebel that carried it forward.  So let's see what improved 7 years later:  In short a lot has changed, and you will see some of these incremental upgrades when I review the other classic Canon Rebels I own in later reviews.

First off, let's talk startup time.  The Canon Rebel T2i does have one but its a quarter to half a second as opposed to 3-4 seconds with the Original Digital Rebel.  Which is HUGE. Unless I have the camera up to my eye when I turn it on I don't see the brief "Wait" that is displayed in viewfinder.  The time it takes for me to raise the camera to eye level from chest or hip level it's all ready to shoot.

The second really noticeable difference off the bat is buffer and write speed. I shot my Digital Rebel on JPEG mode because it would take a good amount of time (5-10 seconds) between a string of photos if I shot it in RAW.  So long as I'm not using this camera heavily in Burst Mode (something I don't use all that often) I can snap away to my hearts content on single shot in RAW and the files in the buffer are written to the card by the time I am ready to take my next photo.

Resolution is also a noticeable difference too of course, but I don't base my reviews off of how many Megapixels a camera has.  I have plenty of cameras I really enjoy shooting that are 6-12 Megapixels. But for prints the 18mp becomes the start of the sweet spot for printing anything larger then 8x10.

And then of course the elephant in the room: low light performance/ ISO noise and dynamic range.  Modern sensors will still blow the socks off this camera, but this sensor was still a huge improvement over anything from the late 2000's.  The Canon Rebel T2i was a strong start to a new decade of Digital Photography.

I shot the T2i in a variety of conditions: Indoor with good lighting, indoor with less then ideal lighting and outdoors in bright direct sunlight.  It did pretty well in all three of these conditions. Here are a few samples from what I shot during this week of weather flux in early Spring of 2023: