Buta no Ie

I had the pleasure of being the MC for my friends’ wedding yesterday. The whole event seems to have been a hit, my MCing include, if comments from the guests can be believed.

Rich and Phuong, congratulations once again and enjoy your honeymoon!

Unfortunately at the very end of the night, I somehow managed to drop my camera and not notice it AND then proceed to run it over with a car.

I must say that the camera, a Casio Exilim EX-Z50 point-and-shoot, was pretty damn tough. Being the clumsy dolt that I am, I tend to drop things and it has survived many a drop without a scratch. Alas, even Mr Exilim does not survive being crushed under the weight of a car’s tires.

If you were to pick up the camera, you’d be hard press to know that anything was wrong with it. Turn it on, and you’ll notice right away that the LCD screen is completely shattered. Amazingly enough, the lens and motor seem to have come out intact but I’m not sure about the rest of the unit. The SD card that was in the camera seems to be dead as is the second SD that was also in the camera case.

So I’m in the market for another point-and-shoot as my wife and I find them indispensible. I’m leaning towards the Canon SD600 or SD630 (especially with the 630’s huge screen) but have reservations about their battery life and the lack of image stabilization, which seems to be a norm for cameras in their price range nowadays. Cang recommends another Casio, as their batter life are second to none and the Best Shot modes make pulling out the camera and taking a quick shot super simple.

Suggestions on any cameras in the sub-$500Cdn range would be greatly appreciated!