There are so many models coming up so fast and I don't even try to catch up. Even reading the reviews is too time-consuming and confusing for most buyers. So, just find the cameras you are interested in and see the scores or "conclusion" at the end of each review on DPReview and Megapixel.net. DCViews is a great portal site. The page for each camera model includes the links to the review sites mentioned above. The sample images on the review sites are taken by professional photographers in most cases and they don't reflect the kind of pictures you can take at a party with a shaky hand. Flickr Camera Finder is very useful because you can see the photos taken by amateur photographers. Think about a digital camera from 4 or 5 years and how old it looks. If you get a digital camera and keep on using it, chances are you will replace it with a new one in 4 years ;) Don't spend a fortune as if this will be the last digital camera you would ever buy.

If you are buying a digital SLR and if you have a little more budget than the entry level body-lens combo, then spend the extra money on the lens rather than the body. Good photos only come from good lens. With today's technology, the body will become outdated faster than the lens.samsonite guardit laptop backpack s 13 -14 So, in a few years, it will be better to ebay the body and get a new one than keeping the body and replacing the lens.backpack askar If you are a CostCo member, don't forget to check outbackpack 60l melbourne They carry few models but their prices are often comparable to Internet prices (like Amazon).backpack bp100

In April 2007, I sold my Rebel XT (+ one lens and flash) and bought Nikon D80. There were a few reasons. My point-and-shoot camera is Panasonic DMC-FS20 (10MP, 4x zoom, $179.95). For a $180 camera, the image quality is not bad. It's just one-inch thick and its response time is very quick. wvu backpack coolerPerfect for a point-and-shoot to carry along.yeti 4300 backpack What amazed me was that Panasonic has so many models and they all seem to have very good user interface. I was surprised to see exposure compensation and auto bracketing on this camera. Gary Fong's Lightsphere is basically a diffuser dome to put on the flash. For a $50 product, it works amazingly well, especially when the ceiling is white and not too high. I bought Lightsphere II P1 ("clear" for Nikon SB-800) from Amazon.

Digital Foci - Photo Safe II (PST-251) (160GB, $149) Besides being a regular USB external hard drive, this product can suck all the photos from your flash memory card on the road. It can also work as a flash card reader when it's connected to the PC. Lowepro - Fastpack 250 is backpack. Tamrac Velocity 7x Model 5767 is a shoulder bag. Both bags can be carried on your back and allow you swing the bag to the front and take out the SLR within a few seconds. The Lowepro backpack can also hold a laptop PC. The important feature of the Tamrac Velocity is that it opens toward you, not away from you, so the camera would never fall out. Smugmug is the photo hosting site I use. You get unlimited store for $39.95/year. If you use my personal coupon code xgUN9VgfTELiI then it will save both you and me some lunch money but that is not the reason I recommend Smugmug. Look & feel is gorgeous and photo managing is very easy. Plus their staff are photo nerds like we are and they respond to your questions vigorously.

Flickr (Yahoo) gives you unlimited storage for $24.95/year.  Google's Picasa Web gives you 10 GB ($20/year), 40 GB ($75/year), etc. These two probably are not going away but I'm not sure about other ones, especially the ones that are free. I believe they can do whatever they like (for instance, removing your photos) if their business climate changes. You can try Flickr or Picasa Web first before trying Smugmug.  Smugmug has a migration tool called Smugglr [I love the name :) ] that would help you copy the photos from other sites. April 19, 2009 - Komei HaradaAdventure Podcast #14: Leon McCarron, Enjoying the Requisite Amount of Misery 4 Dec 2013Posted in: Adventure, Adventure Podcast Leon McCarron is a Northern Irish adventurer, filmmaker, writer and motivational speaker. He has cycled 14,000 miles from New York to Hong Kong, walked 3,000 miles across China, walked 1,000 miles through the Empty Quarter and then rode a folding bike around the UK, with smaller things in between.

Last month I attended the premier of the film about his trek through the Empty Quarter, an expedition which took place in 2012 in the company of our mutual friend Al Humphreys, an early guest on this podcast. To subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes, please click on the appropriate button below. The Requisite Amount of Misery for a Good Adventure “Better to suffer in liberty than delight in captivity.” “There’s a whole breed of adventurers these days who seem to survive on misery…. There is something wonderful about misery.” While few adventurers would say that they actively enjoy suffering, it does seem to be a trademark of many adventures, to the extent that it may start to look like a prerequisite. Ranulph Fiennes, Shackleton, Franklin, Scott, Mallory…. all suffered, some terminally. It is in the nature of adventure that it should be somewhat unpredictable, to be pushing a boundary, either personal or geographical or physical. And, as I have amply proved to myself, getting outside the comfort zone is, by definition, uncomfortable.

I was delighted, in a schadenfreude kind of way, to hear that Leon had experienced the head-in-the-hands, why-am-I-doing-this kind of suffering that I also endured in my early days on the Atlantic. Eventually I arrived at the realisation, as did Leon, that: 1. While suffering may not be inevitable, it is what makes adventure worthwhile. This allowed me to reconcile myself to being cheerfully miserable. 2. Putting your head in your hands only prolongs the agony. It’s perfectly feasible to be miserable while still making progress towards your goal. Best to get back on the saddle/rowing seat/road, and be miserable on the move. 3. The greater the suffering, the greater the sense of achievement. You’ll remember what you achieved, not how badly it hurt at the time. As Alastair Humphreys says, adventure is all about “selective amnesia and the rewards of retrospective pleasures”. So I would argue that if it is all nicely packaged up and safe and discomfort-free, it’s a holiday, not an adventure.

And while it may be much more enjoyable at the time, it’s not going to make such a good story in the pub afterwards. “There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight.” Follow this link to our Adventure Podcast promotion. We recommend A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. 3:45 Welcoming Leon McCarron 4:50 How did Leon get into adventure? 6:40 Cycling America 8:55 Investigating people’s passions 11:45 On misery and retrospective amnesia (since attributed to Al Humphreys) 12:50 Home – actual and spiritual 15:00 Walking from Mongolia to Hong Kong 19:15 The kindness of strangers (again) 21:55 Gear talk – cart, or backpack? 24:50 Walking as therapy – or not? 27:00 Execrably slow modes of transport 30:35 Is adventure for everybody? And “adventure” is all relative 32:30 Getting outside your comfort zone