My New Camera!

5:28 PM

I've had my Nikon DSLR camera (D3000) since it was given to me as a high school graduation gift 5 years ago, and I continue to love it every single day. It's been through so much. I've probably taken thousands of pictures with it throughout the years, and it's done a phenomenal job as a primary camera, especially for taking high-quality pictures for blogging and such. But recently, I came to the conclusion that I may need a second, more portable camera for taking pictures on-the-go. As much as I loved my DSLR, it's not very practical for storing in my purse and quickly capturing moments throughout my day. So, on the internet I went, and after hours and hours and hours of researching and swaying back and forth between brands, I finally settled on the Olympus XZ-10 iHS.

When I first began my camera researching, I was dead set on buying a Canon brand. One of my motivations for buying a new camera was to have one that could also shoot video - whether for vlogging, simple videos, or whatever else- and I knew Canon to be the signature camera brand among many prominent Youtubers. Unfortunately, as I started looking through some of the promising models like the S100 and S110, I kept seeing similar reviews cropping up about a lens error and clicking noises being heard during video. These bugs were supposedly fixed upon the release of the S120, but seeing as how I didn't quite have the budget for this model, nor for the much talked about Canon GSX, I started exploring other camera brands as a possibility. Soon enough, I found the Olympus XZ-10 iHS. It seemed like the perfect compromise: well in my budget, a promising camera brand, and very similar specs to other models that were much more expensive. I decided to make the leap and buy it.

After making the purchase on Amazon, I eagerly awaited for my beloved camera to arrive. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long at all. I had signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime with my purchase, which I can opt out of at any time, and which conveniently gave me two-day free shipping, making the final price on my purchase a solid $249.99. Pretty good price for a compact camera, if you ask me. After coming home from a day in town yesterday, I saw my package waiting for me at my doorstep, and with glee I instantly knew what it was. Now, I know I haven't had my camera for very long, but I couldn't resist unpacking it yesterday and playing around with it, and I knew I had to do an initial impressions review - so enjoy!

A photo unboxing! - Standard Amazon package.


1) USB camera cable 2) manual 3) Warranty stuff, blah blah blah... 4) Wrist strap 5) Adapter, which connects to the USB to make a wall charger 6) Stylus (for the touch screen!) 7) Software CD 8) Camera!

Aerial view: 1) Mic 2) Power Button 3) Zoom/shutter 4) Modes dial.

Pretty standard, simple controls.

This should give you a general idea of its size when held in your hand - again, a pretty sufficient portable camera!

Although this camera is generally compact, I find it's also a bit chunky, especially when viewed from the side. I could just be nit-picky.


One thing I definitely noticed right off was how clear everything looked through the viewfinder. WOW. It makes everything look so much brighter and perfect for any photo opportunity. I was completely blown away.

Some Cool Features

Touchscreen:

I believe I mentioned this earlier, but one of the cool things about this camera is that it has touch screen capability. Not only can you navigate menus through the touch screen, but with a tap of the screen you can also take pictures! It's that much closer to a smartphone in that way, and while I won't ideally use the touch screen function on a regular basis for taking photos, I'll definitely have some fun with it from time to time when I just need to snap a quick picture.

Create collages?!

Another cool feature that I stumbled upon while fiddling around is that you can actually create collages straight from the camera! Just as pictured above, you pick any number of templates to choose from and snap a picture for each square until you've created a collage. I've never come across this feature in a camera before, but I just thought this was the coolest thing ever, especially since I do love making photo collages. It'll definitely be easier now that I have this feature handy!

Face Recognition:

I'm not exactly sure what's particularly useful about this feature, but I still think it's pretty neat: this camera has face recognition technology, so any time you take a picture of someone, it'll detect their face and create a little box around it. Yes, we have reached the future!

Low-Lighting? Don't worry!


Oh hi, I'm just hiding in a closet

Another thing that I think this camera does well with is shooting in low-lighting. Normally, taking pictures in my room is somewhat of a disaster since the lighting isn't that great and I'm often forced to take pictures near my bed, which is by the window. But I've noticed that this camera overall makes everything look brighter and can manage low-lighting spectacularly. To prove this, I even hid in the closet to see how the picture quality would hold out - and it still somehow worked great! As someone who's constantly struggling with low-lighting, or even just weird lighting, I am very happy to know this camera will come through for me.

And with a trip fast approaching, I made sure to stop and buy an SD card while out in town today. I know next to nothing about memory and camera and all of that, so I wasn't sure which one to buy. All I knew was that I tend to take and keep a lot of pictures on my DSLR, so I definitely wanted a card that could do the same with this new camera. I popped this 16 GB card in as soon as I got home, only to find that... yeow, it can hold A LOT of pictures. I can't remember the exact number anymore, but trust me, it was A LOT. So, I'm pretty much set - for my trip, and basically for life! By the way, can we just admire the precision in that picture? Just goes to show what a great camera this will be.

I feel the need to say, the only thing about this camera that I'm nervous about is how the battery will hold up day-to-day and how often I'll have to charge it.

Overall, I am very happy with my new camera! I'll be sure to take it with me on my upcoming trip to Victoria B.C. where I'll properly be able to test it out for long days out. If I run into anything else worthy of mentioning in this review, I'll make sure to do an update. But either way, I'll definitely be sharing all the pictures I take on my trip, so stay tuned!

x Danielle

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My New Camera!