It finally arrived on Friday - the camera that I needed to show you through my garden again.

I can see some of you SLR snobs already looking down your nose at my choice, but bear with me, there is a logical explanation.

I originally intended to get the latest Canon 400D (branded as a Rebel XTi in the US). In fact, I was almost swayed to part with more cash and indulge in the 40D. Fortunately, I have a friend who is a keen amateur/pro photographer - he teaches Photography at the college I work at - who asked me some serious questions on my intent of its use. Questions that took an SLR-lusting-wanna-be away from my preferred choice.

Now, apart from my wife's dodgy point-and-shoot that we lost, I've always had SLR's and enjoyed the freedom of their many options. But, for the type of photography that I intend to enjoy, this point-and-shoot on steroids has it all...and a little bit more.

Let me show you some of the specs;

- 18x Optical Zoom (That's right...18x) - Serious macro work for flowers, bugs, birds etc plus the freedom to enjoy the neighbour's backyard from the porch - not that I would do that.

- 8 megapixels

- Superfast 15fps spontaneous picture-taking

- Everything can be automatic or manual at the slip of a dial

- Aperture sizes from f2.8 up to f8.0

- Autofocusing

plus, an optional extra is the conversion adapter (CLA-10) which can hold the TCON-17 telephoto lens capable of extending the focal point by 7x - or the equivalent of a 416.5mm lens!!!

So, why the change of mind? Portability. I've lugged SLR's and their accompanying lenses around before and always whinged about it. And though I didn't want to be seen as an amateur, practicality won it - I must be getting older! And just when you thought they were good enough reasons, I found this one for half the price of the EOS!!

I spent some of the weekend taking a few pics and trying out what this camera could do. Here's a small sampling - <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70755610@N00/" target="new" rel="noopener">my Flickr page</a>. [Side note: I'm thinking of adding an option for Blotanical users to link to their Flickr pages on their My Plot. Would it be a useful addition?]

Anyhow, you should expect a few more pics of my garden from hereonin.