Digital Cameras are back baby…

Meerkat at Bristol Zoo.
Meerkat at Bristol Zoo taken with a Sony DCR-PC110E

According to a BBC report, digital cameras back in fashion after online revival.

Digital cameras from the early 2000s are becoming must-have gadgets for many young people because of a burgeoning trend online. And in the past 12 months, videos with the hashtag #digitalcamera have amassed more than 220 million views on TikTok.

…and to think I still consider this *new* technology! 

One of my favourite photographs, which was taken with a Sony Cybershot Digital Camera in 2004.

My first digital camera was HP PhotoSmart digital camera, this 0.3MP camera used proprietary memory cards, didn’t have a LCD on the back, went through batteries real fast and as for picture quality, well it left a lot to be desired, though outside shots weren’t too bad!

Houses of Parliament taken with the HP Photosmart

There is no way to view pictures on the camera, so you needed to upload them to a computer first.

Since then I used various digital cameras, including other HP PhotoSmart cameras. I then moved over to Sony Cybershot cameras, and I had about three of them.  I still have one that I use now and again, though I seem to have lost the card reader for Sony’s proprietary Memory Sticks which the cameras used.

I also had a Canon EOS 300D for a while and I did think it took some really good photographs.

Hand sculpture
Sculpture taken with a Canon EOS 300D

I bought a Canon EOS 400D back in 2007 and I still use on a regular basis today. 

It’s not very good in low light conditions, this is when I use my iPhone instead. Today I take nearly all my photographs using an iPhone.

coast
Spanish coastline panorama taken with an iPhone 13

I am thinking though of getting a replacement for my EOS 400D

Centon Flash on the EOS 400D

I realise that I don’t write about my digital cameras much on this blog, I have talked about other cameras, but not mine.

I originally had a film Canon SLR and about six or seven years ago I got a Canon EOS 300D Digital  SLR which back in 2007 I upgraded to the Canon EOS 400D.

One of the original reasons for going for the Canon DSLR was that I hoped to use my Canon accessories with my new camera. The lenses seemed to work fine, but I could never get my Centon Flash unit to work with my Canon EOS 400D. I just put it down to new camera, old flash!

Today I was going through a box and I found the Centon Flash and I thought, why not have another go, so I did and yet again it didn’t work.

So… I know lets use Google!

Found this blog entry which though talking about a different Centon Flash unit made this useful comment.

I had to tape over the four communication pin contacts on my 400D with electrician’s tape – it won’t fire the flash otherwise when it is mounted on the hotshoe.

So using a bit of tape I taped over four of the contacts and tried the flash…

It worked!

Simple.

When you know how.