Now the back-story. I had picked out the Sony DSC-H1 quite a few months ago after spotting it listed as a "CyberShot Enthusiast" camera on SonyStyle.com. I was pretty impressed by the stats I read on it: 12x optical zoom, 2½ inch LCD screen, 5 mega pixels, etc. The 5 mega pixels was less than the couple of cameras that were 7 or higher that Sony was offering at the time for roughly the same price, but each only had a 3x zoom, so that 12x zoom was impossible to ignore. My other one only had a 2x zoom, so 3x was just not enough of an improvement, especially for the asking price.

In all honesty, however, I mentioned it as a passing joke to Anna initially. With us going to Disney World in January, I figured there was no way we could swing a $500 camera on top of that. As she'd be happy to tell you, I annoyingly mentioned it every chance I got. I'd take a cool picture with the old camera and say something like, "Boy, imagine how much nicer this would be with the new camera!" My persistence, or rather annoyance, paid off.

In one short week, I've taken well over 100 pictures, most of which have impressed my critical eye. One mode of the camera allows me to leave the shutter open for a full 30 seconds. So, I set it up on a tripod Wednesday night, pointed it at the sky, and took the picture. 30 seconds later, I had a picture that actually showed some stars streaking across the sky, most of which I wasn't able to see with my naked eye.

This camera just flat-out rocks and I can't wait to see what I manage to capture with it. My pictures from Disney World ought to be great.