As far as cameras go, I did a ton of research (Jacqui ponied up the dough since I haven’t taken pictures in 20-years and she really wanted some!) and bought the Casio EX-Z120 on specs.

It has way exceded my expectations. To see why, go here:

James Bay, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

These are from a person who hasn’t taken photos in 20-years. The couple that are blurry are because I didn’t know anything about exposure times.

Notice photos 11, 12, 13, and 18 especially. These were taken at night, first time out the gate, and without reading the manual (camera was mounted on an inexpensive tripod). They are low resolution 2 megapixel photos because I’m still waiting for the memory card to arrive.

11, 12, and 13 are all shot from Victoria, BC and that’s Port Angeles, WA in the background. The mountains are the Olympic Mountains. For some more daylight pics (lowest resolution - 640×480) taken earlier the same day, go here:

Chris Church Cathedral, Victoria, BC

Camera rocks. Specifically, it conveniently takes 2-AAs, it produces wonderful video (this is why I bought it… up to 28 fps at high quality and normal quality is great too!, and video length is only limited by the size of the SD card you choose to use), and includes an audio-video out cable. While I hadn’t personally taken any pictures with them, the camcorders I sold 10 years ago for hundreds of dollars were no better than this in quality.

I chose this solidly built compact camera with a metal body specifically for short-to-medium video performance to post on the web. Coming soon.

The video stores in AVI format, which is totally perfect if you use Windows (you don’t lose quality and time converting a MOV file to Windows format to manipulate with the free Windows MovieMaker). If you use Mac or Linux, you should choose a different camera.

It includes a voice recorder, which stores in WAV.

I experimented with many MP3 players before I discovered one that easily outclasses the best Sony tape recorders I have owned for quality… it is the iRiver ifp-799. It includes line-in that supports a mono or stereo external microphone or dubbing from another device. The built-in mic is great. Sound quality is phenemonal when listening to music with volume to spare. FM radio works well. Folder navigation is easy.

A good piece of kit. It can even be fitted with an optional dive-case, I kid you not. Of course, I don’t know who would actually do that, but it is kind of cool…

There are other good choices. However, if you want to guarantee yourself that you won’t be disappointed, consider the Casio (”not just decent inexpensive watches”) Exilim digital camera line and top-of-the-line iRiver flash-based MP3/WMA players.

Drop me a line at Loving Jacqui anytime.

Then again, I want a nice mp3 player with a built in voice recorder too. Decisions, decisions…

I hope girls still like my 5.0…