Cameras for Greece

Cameras for Greece are nice except when there are electric cables strung all over the best vantage points. Has that ever happened to you too? If its a major site they have to light it up and usually do a pretty good landscaping job. But if its in a populated area there may be tram lines or street light lines or some other utility in the way of a nice clean picture. This is Hadrian's arch on the left after they gussied it all up for the games. For years it had scaffolding around it as did the Acropolis. That's gone too, at least for the moment!

I read in the Athens News, Letters to the Editor Dept., that power lines are disfiguring Evia from the wind generating plants that have sprung up there. Some poor ex-pat named James Brown wrote in about an "endless stream of of electricity pylons/cabling disfiguring the mountainside." James obviously has soul and cares about the environment and so do the folks up in Brussels as they are taking Greece to task for three different environmental issues. (When I say task I mean court). Ahem! The beaches are still the cleanest in Europe however! Praise the Apostles for that!

This power line area must be where the real photographers among us prove their mettle or metier? Perhaps they hire helicopters or have a better lens than I do? Maybe not. Do digital cameras have good lenses? Mine is supposed to be good, but its got a small fixed lens. Is it just me or are they hard to hold steady? Keep your arms tucked in? Lean on something? A full sized tri-pod is a pain to lug around but how about those mini-tri-pods I see for sale in the camera shop windows on Stournari St. in Exarhia? I might buy one of those. The light is strong in Greece too so shadows can be a problem and getting on the proper side of the subject not always easy.

I am toying with the the idea of a digital camera with interchangeable lenses. Bear in mind that if you are going to be posting images to the internet you don't want or need really high resolution. 72 dpi is standard. Maybe I should get serious about photography and buy a new Nikon or Canon EOS digital camera that boasts interchangeable lenses? Lenses are extra no doubt. Can I afford minimum 1,000 eu to get started? Maybe If I wait the price will go down and for crying out loud, I already own 3 digital cameras.

My first camera is great and I may switch back to it except that the others are smaller and easier to tote around. I bought all three in the US by the way because there is more competition in the US.

Camera no.1 is a an older Sony Mavica and the only digital camera to use 3.5" floppy discs as storage medium. I haven't paid a dime for film or development in years. Cant say as I miss it either. No $35 to 150$ memory cards required . The 3.5 ' floppies sometimes jam up however, particularly if you don't put them back in the box during storage. Occasionally you get a bum one too. A major drag if you took some nice photos.

At "medium" quality I get about 40 to 45 digital photos per floppy and half that at "fine". I can't up grade the floppy disc like I can the memory cards the other two newer cameras I have require.

Floppy discs are cheap too but they pile up physically and need to be stored! This older mavica Sony is simple, box like, the size of an old style Kodak and seems to want to keep working. Sony on line has a newer even bigger one if you are interested.

It still wont fit in my pocket though and that's bad.

My older Sony lens is not as good as my SLR NIKON standard lens which I never use anyway. I have two lenses for that but it needs cleaning probably and its heavy.

My second camera is a Casio and very compact. Its does all sorts of amazing standard things like record sound and short video clips and I actually ordered it over the internet rather than buy it here in Greece. Do I need all those features? Do those settings really make a difference?

Casio isn't really known as a camera company in Greece, its more of a calculator/musical instrument company and stores that sell those type of electronic item are distinct from stores that sell cameras. There weren't any such stores near my house either, at least with with good prices. Oh and it was cheaper too. Because I paid for it in dollars not euros. The USA is cheaper than Europe for electronic items, especially with a weak dollar.

Here below is a photo of the Olympic Stadium they used to kick off the games back in 1896. Its called the 'Kali Marmaro' or good marble stadium. I saw the Clash & the Cure there in the 80's!

Then there was a mix up and some friends brought me another small, new generation digital camera called a Pentax Optio. I guess that's Ashai Pentax which used to make pretty good cameras and still seem to. Anyway the major difference is the that the Casio uses Nicad batteries that you have to be able to re-charge and lug around with you on an extended trip, 

The Pentax uses 2 regular old AAA batteries. After I got use to that, it was a refreshing change. The batteries on any battery operated digital camera last longer depending on how much you use the camera and how you use the camera too. The standby function is a battery saver as is turning off the monitor and using the little view finder window instead.

FILM FOR THE GREEK TRAVELER

Buy your camera, film and digital memory at home, it will save you money. Airport X-ray machines can fog your film if you go through enough of them, so ask them to hand inspect it. You'll be dealing with a lot of bright sunshine. If you are in the Greek country side at night you may want to shoot the stars, which are truly inspiring to me, a city dweller. I guess you'll need, time exposure, a tripod and special film. I recently met a world traveler named Joe Carr. Joe rented my apartment downstairs for a week and had just came from shooting the total solar eclipse of the sun in Lybia in April 2006. Now Joe had a Cannon EOS camera with interchangeable lenses and was kind enough to show it to me briefly. It was light as can be but even though its digital, it is still an SLR, so you have to use the viewfinder window vs a screen to aim it. Just like old times! Got me thinking too! But it is bigger and needs a special bag for all the lenses. No doubt it will take a superior photograph however! 2007: I have since bought an Olympus 500e and once I figure out how it works will continue this enthralling tale.