My New Point-and-Shoot

Presenting my new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5. It retails for around $330-325, but I managed to nab this one for a mere $250 (plus about $8 shipping). I bought it open-box, so I saved a bunch of dough. Judging by the pictures that were on it when it arrived, I'm guessing it was B&H's floor model for a little while.

As I mentioned in my hiking post, I wanted to get a small, relatively durable point-and-shoot camera. As much as I adore my D-SLR, it can be a burden. It's big, heavy, and expensive. I can't get it wet, and I certainly can't throw it around in sand or dirt. Thus, there have been many outings where I've been without a camera, aside from my cell phone's mediocre one.

So for hikes, beach trips, rainy days, swimming pools, sledding, ice fishing, whatever... I have this little Sony point-and-shoot. It makes a decent sidekick for my D-SLR, so I'm happy. The photo quality isn't too bad, either:

I dunked it in water a few times to test its waterproofing. It's such an odd sensation -- putting a camera underwater on purpose. All my life I've conditioned myself to protect cameras from the elements. I took a few random underwater shots, without focusing or looking at the screen, and produced some very interesting results. I foresee lots of experiments with this camera in the future!