I got into the digital world, with my first pocket-sized Olympus digicam. From there, I jumped up to the Olympus C2100 UZ (the uzi)... a 2.1MP 10x zoom camera, that was much more sophisticated than any other camera I had touched. It was a great camera, and served me well. Image quality was top notch, but over time, I wanted something with the ability to print in large scale...

From there (in 2004), I moved up to the Olympus C8080, still regarded as a camera with excellent image quality. 8MP, and 5x zoom. The images it has taken, including those from my honeymoon are, quite simply, breath taking.

I have no plans to dump the 8080, but definitely needed a long zoom. Ever since my parents got the farm as their retirement property, I have tried to take pictures of the wildlife. The lack of zoom capabilities, and no image stabilization has left me walking away from fantastic shots, that "could have been". I didn't want a DSLR, because I need long reach of a telephoto lense, but am not ready to put out the big bucks for an equivalent DSLR and lense(s). I'm not a pro, andnot sure if this "hobby" will be a lasting interest, or a fun fad...

For the first time since I bought my first digital camera, I broke away from Olympus. I tried the Oly SP570, but I just couldn't put it in my hand comfortably. Also, the image stabilization (a critical factor for me) was not up to the task, when dealing with my hand shakes. So what did I get? A Fuji S100FS. It's the most sophisticated "bridge" camera on the market, offers very good image quality, great zoom and image stabilization that worked for me.

I went to my parents' retirement home, over the weekend. It's about 70 acres of land, near Brighton, Ontario. There's a lot of wildlife there (well, way more than this city-boy is used to seeing), and I started to put the Fuji to use. Here are a few photos taken, with no post done, other than resizing (no cropping, either):

Taken from the widest end of the lense:

Same picture, from the longest end of the lense:

Picture taken from about 12 feet away from the flower:

Focusing on a Great Blue Heron through long grass:

I continue to shoot, and hope to have more great looking pictures from the S100FS to share, in the near future... Take a look at my general photography photo gallery, and check out the most recent photos I've taken (virtually all have been taken with the S100FS).