Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Point and Shoot Cameras vs. Low Lighting

I haven't acquired any new products to try or anything so instead I'll talk about my camera woes. They didn't really form into woes until yesterday really.

I have a Sony DSC-W120. I did a decent amount of research and decided that the functions and features on this line of cameras would fit my needs the most. It can take 7.2 mp shots, but usually I set it at 5 mp because I just don't have the need for such big pictures. I'm usually just posting them on facebook and here anyways so too big of a picture actually becomes a hassle since the pictures take forever to upload and I have to resize them smaller. Besides, just because it has more megapixels doesn't mean it takes better pictures, it's really more dependent on the lens. So I got my camera used off of ebay for $30 because I'm a poor student and it's been working fine for at least a year, half a year? something like that. (I was skeptical and thought it might break within a week or so).

I won't complain about picture quality because I'm pretty satisfied with that, the pictures that come out look beautiful... well except for this thing where it can't pick up purple and sees it as blue instead (made more upsetting by the fact that purple is my favorite color). What I'm most upset about is the video capabilities.

I didn't think I'd be using video all that much, but I've found that lately I've been attending a number of concerts and it's upsetting to not be able to properly pick up what's going on. The problems are listed below:

1) The video picture is grainy. Even when I put it on the highest setting (fine) it still comes out looking grainy.
2) You can't zoom while filming. Sometimes I want to go in for a closeup during at a performance. You can't do that while filming, you have to stop, then readjust, then resume filming.
3) In low lighting, the camera can't see anything. Well it can, but barely. I went karaokeing yesterday and the room was dim, but bright enough that you could see everything clearly. My camera just picked up dark shadows moving around while my friend's Canon was able to see everything (although, it almost made things a bit too bright imo, but better than not seeing anything)
4) Even when it does zoom in, it doesn't zoom in enough. When I zoom all the way, the faces of people become blurred. When I look at other people beside me's cameras, the faces are sharper and you can zoom in closer
5) Sometimes it loses focus during filming. How upsetting!

I'm not sure if the later models have these problems changed/ fixed, but I feel like I just need to go to a different camera brand altogether. The only problem is that I don't want the picture quality to suffer and I have no idea which is best to get. I read the panasonic is particularly good in low lighting, but some comments say they don't last long and that the faces of people are blurred.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Just because, I'm putting sample pictures and videos up for you to see how my camera performs.
Vid: I did a sampling of dim lighting like that of what it was like at the karaoke place and the second half is what I saw and how I would have preferred if the camera picked up that way.
Pics: They're all taken at 7.2 mp and from max zoom so you can really tell the quality.


My purple lamp is a genuine purple, but on the pictures it shows more indigo. =(





NO FLASH                                         FLASH

Fluorescent Lighting


Dim Lighting


Dimmer Lighting (Where the video was taken)


Tuesday, December 07, 2010

At Last, I Present to You: Etude House BB Magic Balm SPF 30

I've been using this since I got it with my first Gmarket haul. And I've been telling myself over and over how I have to post a review. The first set of pictures I lost, then I took another set months later, and who knows what happened to those. So today, I told myself, hey! just do it! and so here it is.

On the bright side, it's given me a lot more time to try the product out and make sure I like it.

I started using this most during summer and I've found that results during summer and results during winter are different because of my skin conditions. During the summer, it was hot and my skin would produce a little more oil. Therefore, I'd put on the bb balm and an hour later it looked like I had no makeup on, it melted into my skin. Don't misunderstand though, I don't mean it wore off, I still had the coverage, but I guess the extra skin oil gave it a bit more of a natural-er look. I was wowed.

Winter though, is a bit of a different story, my skin doesn't produce as much oil, so I don't get as much of a melt it effect, it sits on top more, so closer to a foundation I would say. It feels ever so slightly drying too, so now I first put on a little bit of moisturizer beforehand. I know a lot of you do that anyways before makeup application, but I didn't do that under the bb balm during summer.

The balm looks kind of darker so you might be afraid that it won't be your skin color, but that's not true, it's actually very light when applied as you can see from my pictures. And BB cream/ balm is different from foundation as many of you know because it does  tend to adjust to skin tones. This also comes with a synthetic applicator brush which I love. It helps you to get the right amount of product and apply smoothly. You only need a dab of this at a time. Too much and you'll look like you're caking it on- very unflattering.
There's not really any added fragrance that I can detect. It just smells like makeup- like what makes up the makeup. I think..if I remember right, I've had this for ~ 1 yr, and look, I haven't even reached the bottom yet!

I definitely love this, I've exchanged my concealer + powder routine for this because it feels a lot more lighter. I don't care about 100% coverage of my acne scars, but this does a much better job than the Missha or other creams that I've tried. I think it's because it's a thicker balm.