farmdoc's blog post number 585

I’ve written here of Louden Wainwright III. If you’re young, you may know him as the father of Rufus and Martha. Of Louden’s songs, the one I identify with most is ‘Last Man on Earth’. Especially the first few lines. And so to a discussion of cameras. Almost a decade ago, in Nevada, I bought my first digital camera. A Sony Mavica MVC-FD83 (picture, above), it was then state of the art: 1.3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom, images stored on diskettes (do you recall diskettes?), 3-5 images per diskette. Though it was big, heavy, clunky and slow, I persevered with it. Until a month ago when my last diskette bit the metaphorical dust. Enough was enough; I couldn’t bear it any longer. So after a bit of research I bought a Panasonic DMC-FZ35 (picture, below): 12.1 megapixel, 18x optical zoom, 1,200 images on my 8GB SDHC card. I’m ploughing my way through the 219-page manual. And I’m slowly getting the hang of it – at least the Intelligent Auto Mode. To quote ‘Last Man on Earth’, I feel pretty good that I’m no longer ‘old fashioned, retro to a degree…(and)…a throw-back anachronistically’. At least regarding my camera. Though in every other way, I may still be so. And even if I’m ‘the last man on Earth’ to take a photograph with a Sony Mavica MVC-FD83, ‘I can guarantee…there ain’t nothing wrong with me’.