Greetings From Louisville, Kentucky

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="368" caption="A Quick Low-Light Snapshot"][/caption]

Howdy, y'all!  Just wanted to check in from the "Gateway to the South," Louisville, Kentucky.   I've been having a blast so far checking out some typical tourist attractions like the Louisville Slugger Bat Museum/Factory.  I also went out last night to the street festival here known as "Fourth Street Live."   In my last post, I left everyone with an obvious cliffhanger: I mentioned that the Canon Powershot S100 was the only digital camera I brought on the trip.  In case you didn't figure it out yourself, the reason behind this is that I have decided to forgo the use of a DSLR on this trip and shoot all of my personal images on medium and large format film. Yes, some photographers do still use film. I'll fill everyone in on why I prefer shooting film over digital sometime next week, but for now, I just want to share part of my experience with the S100.  Click more to keep reading!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Every weekend night, a section of 4th Street gets closed for live music and bar hopping."][/caption]

While surfing around the web, I recently saw Mario Aguilar's review of the S100 on Gizmodo.  I totally agree with his strong, positive assessments of the camera. Mario is an awesome writer, but I believe that he took the opportunity to give an unfair slaying to the S100. Mario goes as far as saying that he loves the camera, but would not recommend purchasing it because of the short battery life of 200 shots (or less if you are recording video and/or using the built-in GPS feature).  For a point and shoot camera these days, this is not a terrible rating. The predecessor, S95, had the same battery life rating, but according to Aguilar, the S95 battery charge lasts for much longer.  To me, this is a non-issue.  The NB-5L battery is very slim, so keeping an extra battery with you isn't a problem.  One Gizmodo commenter mentioned he was having second thoughts about the camera because (paraphrasing here) "Having an extra battery is NOT an option for me."  I can't imagine why this is the case, but I'm sure there is some obscure reason like needing to use the camera underwater.  For most people, 200 shots should be plenty!  Who seriously takes 200 pictures without getting the opportunity to charge a battery?  In 2011, most places have something called electricity.  So far on my trip, I haven't had an issue with the battery.  If this changes, I will be happy to correct myself, but I am 99% sure that I won't have a problem.  Trust me, Canon isn't paying me or pressing a derringer to my temple; the S100 is my first Canon camera that I've ever personally owned.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Take cool handheld shots like this, or have a camera that can't, but has better battery life. Up to you. :)"][/caption]

Every night, I just throw the battery on its charger and I'm good to go for the next day.  I do this religiously with my iPhone, so I guess it doesn't seem like a hassle to me.  Additionally, I believe photography should be about capturing the best moments of your journeys, nights out, etc... NOT snapping hundreds of pictures and picking out the better ones later.  Digital photography has granted us this convenience, but I see it as a double-edged sword.  Maybe I'm just not as trigger happy as the typical tourist?  The shorter battery life should be expected as the powerful DIGIC5 processor sucks up a lot of power. I am willing to make that sacrifice because it means better quality photos. As of November 2011, the Canon Powershot S100 is by far the best pocket camera on the market. Period.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Great breakfast menu here."][/caption]

S100 PRO TIP: I discovered this accidentally, but the Review Button on the back of the S100 can actually be used to turn the camera on.  It will instantly go into review mode, so it's not particularly useful.  The S100 already starts up very quickly.

To see more of my pictures from Louisville, check out this gallery.