New Camera

My Casio S600 camera has had some lens extension problems. It doesn’t always focus and I finally decided to get a replacement.

Casio’s newest model is the Exilim EX-S10. It’s basically the same as before with a better display and better user interface.

Retail for the camera is $250. I found it on sale at Dell.com for $212 with free shipping. I went to Best Buy on the way home from work and showed them my printout from Dell.

Normally Best Buy will only match prices for other local hard site retailers and not internet stores. In this case though, the manager said he’d knock $30 off. So, I ended up purchasing the camera for $220.

On top of that – Casio is running a Trade In / Trade Up promotion. You can send in your old camera and depending on condition, spare battery, docking port, cables and what you send end – Casio will send you a rebate check. The on-line estimate the Casio site came up with for my old S600 was $36. The site prints out a pre-paid shipping label.

The bottom line is a new camera for about $185. That’s pretty good for a digital point and shoot with video capability.

The price is especially amazing when I recall that my first digital point and shoot was a Casio EX-S3 from about 5 years ago. I think I paid $350 for it. All it did was take pictures (basically). But it was great and simple to use. I wish I still had it.

There has been one major downside to the new camera.

It records video in h.264 / MPEG-4 / .MOV format. Which my PC / Windows MovieMaker does not recognize / work with.

I wish the S10 had the option of selecting the video output format. Oh well.

The old S600 recorded in a format (MPEG-2 I think?) that created .wmv files. So MovieMaker, which is included in PC software, worked just fine for my simple editing needs.

The camera’s video format is idiot proof – in that – if you’re one of those idiots who wants to upload every video you've ever taken – without editing out the crappy stuff – then it’s super easy. God knows, the internet is overloaded with this kind of drivel.

However, if you want to do some minor editing – such as cutting out the blurry stuff or extraneous footage or if you want to add titles / credits – then you basically have to purchase Apple’s QuickTime Pro. Or third party full featured editing software.

I found freeware on C|Net that converts .mov to .avi (and similar MicroSquish friendly) formats so it appears that I’m in business with MovieMaker.

Of course, I had a fight with Microsoft One Care World Domination when downloading. It didn’t recognize the software origin and I had to keep overriding the blocks.

Plus, the freeware is very basic and doesn’t utilize install wizards and such. So I’ve got to put it in the program location (instead of cluttering up the desktop) and put on a desktop shortcut. No big deal – just not automatic with refined software.

But it works.

Muscat Manor

Heard from Nuke. He had good flights to Oman. He was in Muscat for a couple of days (waiting for lost luggage) before heading off to desert camp.

Haven't heard from him since so I guess he's in the desert with limited connectivity.

Or, maybe he's been kidnapped.

Here are photos he sent of the local town taken from the Global Geophysical offices and the hotel where he was staying.



NCAA

I'll be watching the NCAA games again this weekend. It's down to 16 teams so it's time to get serious.

I'll be pulling for the ACC teams, Duke and Carolina.

Plus - I've got Davidson College to pull for.

Over at Davidson College, their making it to the Sweet 16 is a once in a lifetime event.

College Hoops are so important down here that some wealthy Davidson alumni have stepped up and are footing the bill for any Davidson student that want to go to the games in Detroit. They are arranging for and paying for the charter buses, hotel rooms, and tickets. All the kids have to pay for is their own meals.

The kids leave Davidson on Friday morning and will get to Detroit in time for the evening games. They'll stay in Detroit through the Sunday games (even if Davidson doesn't win Friday night) and return to NC overnight Sunday in time for Monday morning classes.

According to the newspaper, several hundred students are making the trip. Davidson officials said they had to scramble to find enough basketball tickets but they think they'll have everybody taken care of.

Now that is some pretty serious basketball.