The Camera That Started it All

“You’re a total nerd, why didn’t they get you like, a digital camera?” Those words were said to me by a friend when I told him that I had gotten clothes and a $50 BestBuy gift card from my parents for Christmas. Never mind that this took place last year in 2017 when I was already in my mid to late twenties and long past the age of expecting expensive gifts from my parents. Heck, I was psyched over the gift card! However, it was this comment that stuck in my head and caused me to spiral into my YouTube obsession of marathoning digital camera reviews and unboxing videos. Then, for my birthday, less than a month after Christmas, I bought myself a Canon PowerShot SX730 HS.

By no means am I a professional photographer, but I decided to buy myself a camera for a couple different reasons, and the Canon PowerShot turned out to be the best camera for me. Now, almost a year later, I still use it heavily, and I’ve grown an attachment to it that may be more affectionate than the normal human / inanimate object relationship.

In January of 2018, I was privileged with the task of taking a work trip to San Jose / San Francisco California. This was my first time being on the west coast – I had wanted to visit California for years – and I knew I wanted to take spectacular shots of my adventures there. I bought the camera the week before, set off to San Jose on my birthday weekend, and took it on its first test ride with a bang.

The PowerShot takes pictures in 1080p, and I was especially eager to test out its 40x optical zoom, meaning that it can really take close shots of far away objects with exceptional quality. It was also very convenient that the camera was small and compact. It can fit in the palm of my hand, and can easily be stored in a pocket or a small purse. It really made it no hassle to whip out the camera in an instant to capture the moment.

I had so much fun with my camera in San Jose and San Francisco! I took pictures of the famous golden gate bridge, I posed with the silly and colorful Google Android statues, and all the meals I feasted on was captured in glorious HD.

Alas, my California trip came to an end, but the journey of my camera and me was just getting started.

In late January, I came up with the idea to start a cooking / story time YouTube channel. The PowerShot captures videos in 1080p and 30fps. While it’s not the most powerful of its time, the quality was more than satisfactory for my small corner of YouTube. I put out three videos in three weeks before I became overwhelmed and decided to close the channel, but I learned a lot about my camera during the process.

I knew beforehand that the PowerShot did not have an external mic jack, meaning that I could not connect an external microphone to it. I can see where that may be a deal breaker to some people, and I seriously contemplated purchasing a more expensive camera just to get this feature. But I concluded that I’m just a beginner behind the lens and I can always upgrade later if this becomes more than just a hobby. There was no need to spend a fortune now.

When I used my camera to film videos for my YouTube channel, I realized to my delight that the PowerShot has an excellent built in microphone! Granted, all my recordings were done indoors, but it mattered not whether I was five inches or five feet away from the camera, it always captured my audio with crisp and crystal clarity.

It also has an excellent battery life of about an hour and a half, although I would recommend purchasing an extra battery since the charging time seems to be about the same. However, rest assured, if the battery does die in the middle of filming, the footage will be captured and saved onto the SD card before the camera goes out. I don’t know if this is a feature that most cameras offer these days, but I was relieved to find this to be the case as a previous camera I owned would delete all footage if the battery died during filming.

My first attempt at YouTube failed miserably, mainly because I was creating videos that I was not passionate about and instead wore me out. It was only a few short months later that I tackled the YouTubing gig again, and my handy dandy point and shoot camera was there to lend its support.

I used my personal YouTube account, betrix3000 and turned it into my gaming / let’s play channel at the end of May, 2018. Honestly, a point and shoot camera is not the camera that anyone would recommend if one wanted to start a gaming channel. The small frame and flip up screen is more suitable for a vlog type channel. But, one of the best advice I ever heard regarding starting a channel was “The best technology to use is the ones you have,” with the message being a $200 cellphone will work just as well as a $5,000 camera and mic for someone just starting up. The most important aspect is the content.

So I used my “vlogging” camera to film my gaming content and had so much fun capturing my reactions to my “let’s play” videos that even though my channel still has less than 20 subscribers, I still keep it going strong to this day.

There’s a reason why this camera isn’t usually used as a gaming camera, the main one being that reaction gaming videos tend to be longer than others, and the PowerShot automatically cuts off after 30 minutes of recording. This feature was a bit annoying and usually resulted in a few seconds of lost footage, but all I had to do was reach out and press the record button again and I was back in business.

For the past several months, I’ve gotten into quite a rhythm of using my camera to record my videos, then packing it up to take with me on any other photography adventures I may have. It has become very versatile and suits all my needs, and it helps to know its limitations and how to work around them. Even though the lens of this point and shoot camera is fixed and cannot be swapped, I (being the beginner that I am) do not know anything about lenses and have not remotely missed the inability to change it. I’m really just hyped about how far the zoom is on the one lens that I have.

The Canon PowerShot SX730 HS is a superb camera for casual photographers and filmers. It’s also a budget friendly option for someone who wants to get started with digital photography, but doesn’t want to spend a pretty penny. The PowerShot can be found at BestBuy for $349.99, although it was $399.99 when I bought it in January. While I do believe that I will upgrade cameras one day in the future, I have no plans to do so anytime soon. I love this camera! The photos, videos and audio are crisp, and it has given me so many memories that would have otherwise been lost to the imperfections of my mind.

For those of you who like to skim through passages, here are a list of features, pros and cons of the Canon PowerShot SX730 HS.

Features:

• Captures in 1080p, 30fps.
• Contains a flip up screen to view yourself while recording.
• Has 40x optical zoom.

Pros:

• Budget friendly – currently $349.99 at BestBuy
• Excellent built in microphone.
• An hour and a half of battery life.
• The footage is saved if the battery dies during recording.
• Small and compact.

Cons:

• No external mic jack.
• Recording time is limited to 30-minute segments.
• Requires an hour and a half of battery charging time.

I would highly recommend the Canon PowerShot SX730 HS for anyone who is starting out with digital photography. Buy it here at BestBuy if you are interested! – Please note that this is not an affiliate link. I just don’t think you should miss out if you’re interested in this beauty 😊