I still remember the day my cousin had his first daughter back in 1997. Everyone gathered to celebrate the birth of their baby. I can always replay the scene in my head, almost like watching a video recording. It has been ten years and counting, as my cousin’s daughter grows up, technology changes much more rapidly. In 1997, digital camera and digital camcorder were still out of reach for many. A sub-megapixel digital camera carried a price tag over one-thousand dollars. Digital camcorder cost even a lot more. We were still using film camera and Hi-8 Video Camcorder back then. These days, we can go to the store and buy a much better digital camera for as low as one-hundred dollars. For three-hundred dollars we can get a great point-and-shoot digital camera. Similarly, we can get a digital video camera for under three-hundred dollars.
Let’s talk about Digital Camera for now, we’ll get to Digital Video Camera later on different posts.
Imagine having a frame filled with pictures of your baby’s first 30 days and another frame filled with weekly picture of your baby’s first year. You can see the growth and changes of the baby in these two frames. That means you have to take a lot of pictures of your baby on daily basis for the first thirty-days, and the first fifty-two-weeks. It is much easier to take tons of pictures using digital camera than the film camera. You can take as many pictures as you want using digital camera without having to worry about wasting the film by taking bad pictures. In addition to that you can instantly take a look at the picture you just took in the digital camera. So, don’t be afraid to take pictures of your baby.
Let’s talk about the digital camera. You might want to get a reasonably compact and fast point-and-shoot digital camera. You want to have the camera handy whenever you want and need to take the picture of your baby. Newborn babies are unpredictable, well, mostly they either sleep or cry. The point is, you need a camera that is easy to carry and use, such as Canon PowerShot SD1100IS, PowerShot SD750, or PowerShot SD850. I have used all three canon cameras and really happy with all of them. My personal favorite is the PowerShot SD850. If yo have not bought any digital camera, please go to the nearest store and test drive these cameras first before you bought one. There are plenty of digital camera brands and models, so take your time to choose one.
If you want to take great picture of your baby, consider getting a second digital camera; a better one if you can spare some change. A Digital SLR Camera can take pictures rapidly, and in general can capture pictures better. Digital SLR Camera is a lot more affordable today. You can get Canon Digital Rebel XT for under $500 at Amazon.com; that includes the body and one lens ($459.95 – April 1st, 2008).
Realistically, you won’t have that much time to think about taking pictures of your new baby, because your attentions will be focused on the baby’s need. It is not going to be easy. We’ll get to that in the second part of Being Digital for New Parents: Digital Camera.
UPDATE:
I changed the selection of camera from PowerShot SD1000 to PowerShot SD1100IS because I have recently tested one. PowerShot SD1100IS comes with Image Stabilization, and I really recommend it over PowerShot SD1000. Of course PowerShot SD1100IS costs more than PowerShot SD1000.
For your reference:
- PowerShot SD1000 ($160- $200). Comes in Silver and Black-and-Silver.
- PowerShot SD1100IS ($225 – $250). Comes in Blue, Pink, Gold, Silver, Brown.