And that quickly all the refurbs are gone. Sold out.

BTW, when I was hunting best price on the camera I ran across this site that claimed to have it for $214 NEW w/ free shipping & no tax.
I just want to warn people about this site. IMHO & a lot of other people's opinion it is a total scam. The site claims you can pay by credit card but once you get to check out, it will not allow you to pay with any credit card. Instead it takes you to a page that says (& gives yo no choice) you have to go to Amazon & buy a gift card for the purchase amount, then come back to their site & apply the card - which is like giving them cash & untraceable - & they will then send your product.
I checked it out & there are people on the internet saying it's a total scam site. The site, Avadars.com, has "planted" good reviews and even a favorable YouTube about itself. I would stay far, far, far away from them!!! This is the site:
https://avadars.com/index.php?...
Lots of eye candy on there - big ticket, popular items but don't fall for it.

Thanks Ann!

Thanks for sharing that, Ann! It's scary that people will fall for this. I'm glad you didn't!

A sim card usually goes in a phone, so I wonder if she actually meant a memory card, and not a sim card. From what I understand, there are some differences, though it is mainly the size, I think. I haven't looked at the one in my phone in ages, but I think it is smaller than a mini memory card, and I'm not sure that it will work with an adapter for the mini ones.

I have the canon rebel t4i with distance and macro lens, I just got it but I'm having trouble figuring out how to get clear photos. No matter what they are all blurry and when I try to sharpen them on the computer they turn whitish, something I'm doing is wrong. I took a basic photo of a person and their eye is blurry you can't even make out the color.

I've been playing around with/getting acquainted with my new camera. I've made some huge mistakes & lost many photos I took but that's part of learning.
Just testing the zoom on it, I took this photo & then zoomed to the max. of 50X to focus on some spanish moss. This is about 250 feet according to our survey. I see now why one needs a tripod.


Just fooling around.

Now I've edited that last photo and it looks like this:


Look above the bird house there & to the top of the tree line; you can see a dead tree with it's top branches sticking up. The Red Shouldered Hawks like to hang out up there. I wanted to test shooting up there. I found out very quickly I couldn't hold the camera steady enough. I tried sitting down & resting my elbows on my knees. More proof that I need a tripod.

Still standing in the same spot, this is zoomed in on the entrance of the bird house. Darn tree rats! Why do they insist on chewing the holes out?



These are the best I can get with my Sony pocket camera when I'm standing in the kitchen. It can't be more than 20 or 25' to that birdbath. These are all unedited photos.

These are edited all to heck & back:


These are completely unedited using the new Fuji camera:





Up until now it has been terribly windy so it was impossible to try any macro type shots. I hope to be able to get to those now that the wind seems to have let up on us hopefully for a while.

what gorgeous close-ups of the birds with your new camera, Ann!
Do I see a tripod on your Christmas list now?

Ann, your doing great with the new camera!

Birds looked great!

Fantastic shots!! What a difference with the new camera!!

Don't you have a stabilizer button? My camera has one, and it works really well, but a tripod is still needed at times. I even have to use the stabilizer button when the camera is on the tripod once in a while, because of the wind here.

Thanks you guys!

Natty, there's no stabilizer button in & of itself but it does have a stabilizing feature that's automatic. No stabilizing feature would be good enough to make up for my shaking when the camera is zoomed to 50X. I expect to get better as I become more comfortable with the camera. I did notice when I click the shutter button I tend to bobble the camera a bit. I have to learn to squeeeeeeze the trigger.

and

cool!
It looks like your new camera is doing exactly what you got it for

Photos look great Ann! My first digital was a Fuji and I really liked it. I went with Canon for my current camera only because it had the best zoom back when I got it. It is harder & harder for me to hold the camera steady these days. I would love to get a tripod!

Looking forward to photographs, Ann.

Ann, are you still happy with your camera. I'm looking for a new camera right now.

I am Christine although I am still learning it & have to admit I haven't had much time to do the learning. I need to read the entire manual but haven't even dented it yet. I also desperately need a tripod. I began research on tripods & oh boy! I never knew there were so many tripods and different features on them. So the research on that is still ongoing.

I recently bought a tripod (well, I got my DH to buy it for me) which I believe will be my 'forever' tripod. I had bought tripods before, but always let cost persuade me into buying something that was good but ultimately too heavy. I'm sure you will have a huge choice in the US - my advice is to get something that combines stability with light-weight. I still use a bean-bag (which could just as easily be filled with rice or some other dry grainy thing) which gives the stability and is easy to carry around. Brilliant for when in a car - you can just drape it over the car door (window down, of course!), but also good for taking pics low to the ground or when you just can't be bothered setting up the tripod. And when travelling, just pack the bag and buy some beans on arrival. Looking forward to more photos, Ann!

PS I'm not really sure what 'DH' means - is it dear husband? On the other hand, there are a lot of adjectives that begin with "D"...

That post helps a lot Mika!!!! Thank you!
DH or dh does mean dear husband.