davidcook

So ... quite a while ago, I posted about the trouble I was having in choosing a camera to replace my poor old Optio S (lost while getting off a BA flight at Gatwick). Not quite as long a while ago, I came to a decision[1] to get the Optio W20. Then I dithered a bit longer while trying to decide where to buy from, and then failed to buy it from purelygadgets.co.uk (bad online ordering system, and their support people couldn't help much either). Finally, I ordered from Pixmania and it arrived on Tuesday. It's shiny ! And has many neat features - interval timer, very close macro (see below), nifty highlighting of under/over-exposed areas, waterproof (essential for Scotland), and still quite compact. I also got a spare battery and a nice neoprene case (both from eBay; the case fits the camera snugly, and I've not seen anything quite like it in the shops - look for seller "atomichh" - based in Australia, ironically).
Of course, I'm still thinking of eBaying an Optio S sometime, for two reasons - one is that the W20 doesn't work with the IR remote control that I have, and the other is that I want a camera that I'll feel happy about hanging from a kite. Clearly not something I want to do with my shiny new one !

And here's a sample image - taken from about the minimum focal distance, approx 1cm :


[1] Astrology is almost entirely silly, but Libran indecisiveness ? Very, very real, at least for me :-)