My weapon of choice.

About 6 months ago I decided to upgrade my camera from my very first digital camera that was several years old. I spent some time researching online and asking my photography friends endless questions. I don't want one to put me in debtors prison, but I wanted one that was very reliable and could handle the type of shots I'll be taking with my volunteer work and my around Anchorage ramblings.

Over the years I have owned a lot of Sony electronics, TV's, stereo's, radio's, phones, etc. I never had a warranty issue, never. I haven't tried their computers because I never saw them as a computer company. So I didn't at first take their camera's seriously. I looked at

and read up on the Cannon's and Nokia's, but they didn't have the combination of megapixels and optical zoom that I wanted.

Sony was comming out with a new model, so the only reviews of it were put out by Sony. The model wasn't available in stores or online. You could preorder through Sony for delivery of 2 to 3 months away, but this is what the new Sony DSC-H9 had to offer;

Shoot long distance, fast action, even night scenes. The 8.1 MP Sony® Cyber-shot® DSC-H9 provides Carl Zeiss® 15X Optical zoom, Advanced Sports Mode, even NightShot® infrared capability. Also: tilt-up 3.0”1 LCD screen for low-angle shots, Super SteadyShot® image stabilization, high sensitivity, Face Detection, HD Output2, up to 250-shot3 Stamina® power. All for $479.00 plus freight.

It showed up in about 3 weeks. Earlier than they said it would take. I fell in love. The price is reasonable and it's user friendly. You can always use the automatic settings or you can manually set them. I've been using it on all of my blogs and websites. I'm not a photography Guru, so it does take a bit to catch on to some things. But it's very forgiving and the menu settings are very helpful.

So now I needed more. Ruth kept wanting to use the camera the same time I needed it, so I ordered her one for her birthday. I figured while I was ordering one I might as well order the telephoto lens (1.7X) and the wide angle lens (0.75X). Freight was free this time.

So, I've been playing around. What do you think so far?