Well, it had to happen! I've been shooting using a little Yashica T4-Zoom compact, and although it has given me some good results I've been getting increasingly frustrated by not being able to have any real control over settings. Also, although I Iiked the excitement of picking up a roll of developed film and not quite knowing what I'd be getting, I couldn't help counting the cost of my many failures!
I treated myself to a Sony DSC V3 yesterday. 7.2 megapixels, small enough to slip in a jacket pocket, and I can finally start really learning about the effect of aperture and shutter speeds without wasting roll after roll of film. It feels solidly built, and the controls are user friendly. Playing with it last night I'm already amazed by the detail it captures, and I'm hoping it will spur me on to take more shots and more risks without an eye on cost to hold me back.
Unfortunately my access to a computer to upload the shots is sporadic, so it may be a while before I can put anything online, but you can be sure I'll post something as soon as I can. Meanwhile, looking forward to a weekend in Cambridge to play with it. Aren't new toys great!
regards,
mattp