Previously I've gloated about my Analog camera vs. Digital.

Recently I borrowed a digital from a friend in order to take insurance photos. It's my first real play with a modern (last year) digital camera.

I've really really enjoyed using the digital, and the desire to get one is there...

The comparison below isn't fair because I'm really comparing two specific cameras, but... get over it. To be fair, rather than "pros" and "cons" I'll give you:

What the digital can do that my analog can't:

• Can take millions of photos for free
• The LCD gives an OK indication of whether you're in focus or not
• The ability to take photographs of objects very close (within a few cms)
• No need to process and scan photographs
• Clear, unblurred photographs in low light (no flash)*
• Small, compact
• Video (although this is a little gimicky it's kind of cool to watch the dog run around)

Where the digital fails when compared to analog:

• Could only take around 150 photos per battery charge
• Very very dark photographs in low light (no flash)*
• Memory cards are very expensive**
• Expensive for the feature set you get, and for the storage accessories required
• Takes a noticable amount of time to take the photograph, creating the potential to miss a photo
• Flash was often too bright
• Not a very long zoom

* My analog will take excellent low light photographs, however the subject cannot be moving. The analog will keep the shutter open up to 4 seconds if required which results in some fantastic photos. The digital will take nice clear photographs even if the subject is moving, however the result is very very dark. I'd be interested to see the results of this digital camera taking photographs of fireworks or a city lights skyline.

** Our last holiday we took hundreds of photographs. With a digital we would take many many more. On the digital I'm playing with, the 256 Meg card will hold 150ish photos. We would at least have to take some kind of portable harddisk to dump photos to every now and then (an iRiver for example).

I suspect my camera actually has some macro options I haven't discovered yet. Also, I suspect some of the digital camera problems could be solved with a bit of fiddling with manual settings.

Digital: Canon Powershot S60
Analog: Olympus Superzoom 140S

The digital options I really fell in love with were the ability to take many photos (or to keep taking a photograph until it works), the macro lens and the LCD showing you if your photograph is in focus or not (although it's too small to REALLY tell). Much better than a vague orange flashing light and two days wait.

While I'm at it, the true power of Picasa has been exposed to me while using it to sift through hundreds of photographs. Browse photographs, rotate when required, delete when not needed... all quickly and without losing the original image. My new best friend is the "Enhance" button which seems to magically pick the best combination of colour, brightness and contast for a photographs. Watching it turn an almost pure black photograph into something almost viewable is amazing. I'm sure better results could be done manually but this takes milliseconds and no effort. I notice there are more options in Picasa 2, which is my second priority when I get home (the first has mostly to do with my bandwidth being reset last night ;p).

Tori's in Australia. She's already played both Sydney shows. As I suspected, and hoped, she's been covering Australian artists in the "piano bar" section of the show. The last Sydney show had her playing Bee Gees and INXS. The US tour saw two different covers per night.

I'm seeing her with friends at Hamer Hall in Melbourne on the 12th. Apparently the support has been Tyrone Noonan, aka. the guy from George.

Meanwhile:

Q You have been in the music business for more than a decade. What are your thoughts on the industry's taking such a hit from music downloading?

A I've been downloaded over 9 million times. . . . The point is to take the music if you need to take it, but at a certain point, if you don't give something back somewhere along the line, all you are is a taker. Can you imagine if I go to a wine tasting, and I taste the wine, and I like it, and then I just take a bottle and put it in my bag? Then who am I, really? I think that is the core of the issue. It's not about downloading music. This is about a value system of a generation, where you either value your artist, or you don't. It's very simple.

Updated: Note that the first Sydney night (7th) saw her cover one non-Aussie act song and one Aussie song. I'm holding back the names of songs to avoid spoiling anyone that may like to be surprised should she play the same tracks again in Melbourne.