Digital Camera Fiend - A Camera Review

I want to talk for a moment about search engine marketing and optimization (SEM and SEO), topics relevant to every blogger and website.

SEM and SEO boggle the minds of most common web users. But if used properly, they can be important tools for increasing traffic to your site. Apogee Search, an SEM firm based in Austin, TX, has put together a helpful glossary of SEM terms that every uninitiated webmaster should read and be familiar with.

Don’t know the importance of a 301 redirect or what ‘doorway pages’ are? Look it up here. And if you want to see a great example of how SEM and SEO works, check out the ‘miserable failure’ glossary link.

Apogee also offers tips on keeping to Ethical SEO standards. Google will penalize any site that engages in so-called ‘black hat’ SEO tactics. On the same token there are a lot of opportunists out there that prey upon naive webmasters. Arm yourself with information by checking out Apogee and its resources. This post was sponsored.

The Canon Powershot S2 IS is a powerhouse in its field of competition. Released in April 2005, this compact digital camera improved every aspect of its predecessor, the Powershot S1.

It’s got a 12x optical zoom, 5-megapixel resoltuion, and a solid optical image stabilizer. If that’s not enough to sell you on this gem, check out its stellar movie mode–one of the best among digital cameras. Even the movie mode’s stereo sound is high-quality, and you can use the image stabilizer when shooting in this mode.

Sure, the swivel LCD monitor can be a bit difficult to see in bright conditions and pictures shot above ISO200 won’t be ideal, but the Powershot S2 is well-priced, versatile, and will produce quality photos.

Another win for Canon.

A friend of mine just got back from a two-week photography trip to Florida. He’s an avid photographer and said some of the best shots he’s ever taken were in South Florida: urban portraits in Little Havana, fashion shooting in South Beach, and some good old fashioned wildlife photography in the Florida Everglades.

He used a Canon EOS 30D and the Canon Digital ELPH 630 complete with a waterproof casing—a must for the Everglades. After seeing the photos, it’s making me want to book a trip there.

I’ve actually done a little bit of research and it’s not as expensive as one would think. I found a great deal on Destin vacation rentals online on a site where condo owners list their properties to rent. This is perfect if you’re like me and want the comforts of home (i.e. a kitchen) while on the road.

I’ve also found options for a studio condo right on Ocean Drive in South Beach, and an historic old house in the Florida Keys that could sleep six (anyone want to go?). You can basically pick the city you want to stay in and chances are, somebody is willing to rent their place. Just click on the icon and you’ll be emailing the property owner.

So, if anyone has any suggestions of photo worthy places in Florida, send ‘em my way!

This is a sponsored post.

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Photojournalism can be a grueling career, working all hours of the day, being ready to bolt to a news scene in a moment’s notice, endless waiting once you get to the scene for the perfect shot.

Is it any wonder that some photographers end up in the underbelly of the profession as members of the paparazzi. It’s grueling and thankless, and nobody likes you, but the pay-off is much higher.

Many news photographers do what they do because they believe they are making a difference. The paparazzi photographers do it purely for the money, and quite often they ruin people’s lives.

But every once in awhile the paparazzi beast can do some good. The recent shots of Lindsay Lohan passed out in a stupor in a car two days after a drunken driving arrest where police found cocaine at the scene might just do this troubled star some good.

The photos, coupled with her arrest, pretty much forced her to enter a drug rehabilitation program and hopefully this time the message will stick with her. She was headed on a one-way path of self-destruction. It could be that the paparazzi photographers who snapped her photos that night indirectly saved her life.

Drug addiction is a serious problem everywhere in this country, not just in the back rooms of Hollywood clubs. It can afflict people of all ages, races, and social classes. The sponsors of this blog post, Stone Hawk Drug Rehab know all about addiction, because they were once addicts themselves.

They are one of the premier Michigan drug rehab centers, which offer 28-day, and 3-6 month treatment programs. The programs feature drug detox to eliminate physical cravings, life skills training, and post-program job referrals.

If Lohan’s stint at the Malibu treatment facility doesn’t work, perhaps she should go far from LA, to say, Michigan for another shot at being clean. This post is sponsored.

It’s amazing how quickly the king of the mountain can become also-rans in the digital camera industry.

Two and a half years ago, Panasonic came out with the DMC-FZ20. At the time, it was the company’s flagship model for super-zoom cameras, boasting a 12x optical range and five megapixel resoltuion. It was the closest a compact digital camera had ever come to resembling a digital SLR camera.

Today, many compact cameras are mimicking the functionality of DSLRs. And if you still have the FZ20, be happy…it’s still a solid camera. It has a Leica branded DC vario-Elmarit zoom lens with an impressive optical image stabilization technology.

The stabilization allows you to hand-hold at the 12x end of the zoom range at speeds as low as 1/30th of a second.

Steves digicams called the FZ20 “incredibly responsive,” noting that it captures consecutive shots nearly as quick as a motor-driven film camera. The MEGA BURST feature enables consecutive rapid-fire shooting at three frame per second.

Of course, technology has passed the FZ20 by in other regards. Its use is basically restricted to ISO 200–anything else is very noisy.

But as DP Review summed up in a review when the camera first came out at the end of 2004, the Panasonic FZ20 is highly recommended and was worth its $500 price tag at the time.

“A small price to pay for such an impressive camera,” the reviewer stated.

It can be expensive to keep up with the newest digital camera technology, particularly because better and better models are constantly being released. Nikon’s amazing D40 digital SLR was only on the market a few months before the company improved upon it and released the D40X.

That’s why online coupons can make all the difference. There’s a great site called Coupon Chief that lists thousands of deals from big name merchants.

They list new deals every single day for all types of products, but I of course keep a trained eye on the look-out for camera coupons.

The Best Buy coupons are fantastic–today I found deals for $50 off the Samsung NV10, $20 off the Kodak V1003, and sales on photo printers. Just click on the coupon link you want, and you’ll get shot over to the merchant’s page, where the discount is clearly marked on the final price.

I also like the Camera World coupon: free shipping on orders of $100 or more.

Check also for deals straight from the manufacturer. Coupon Chief has compiled Sony discounts onto one page, where it lists special prices on many of the most popular Sony products including laptops, camcorders and digital cameras.

When I last checked Sony’s coupon page, they were offering 15% off select camera and camera accessories, and $100 off instant savings with the purchase of a DSLR camera and HVL-F36AM flash.

Not too shabby if you’re in the market for one of those products.

Couponchief.com is definitely worth checking out before you make that next purchase online. This is a sponsored post.