Jul 27, 2002, 8:00pm

Okay, so I chickened out of getting the Nikon D100. $3200 (or almost $4000 if you buy from stinky Kerrisdale Cameras) was a big pill to swallow, so I chickened out and decided on an evolutionary upgrade instead. I got the Nikon CP4500 (I've also updated this site somewhat - check out recent site updates, to the right).

It's not a major quantum leap up from the Coolpix 990, but a lot of good steps. It took roughly a $700 hit on the camera upgrade - I bought my CP990 for $1200, and sold it for $500 with some of the accessories. This camera cost me $1000, so that's a $700 hit. (or a $500 hit, depending on how you look at it). Is it worth the moolah?

BIG Bee Managed to snag this pic of a bee. Click to enlarge, but warning - it's 233kb in size.

You tell me. The picture to the right is completely unretouched, except for resizing and slight sharpening to account for the down-sampled image. No colour changes, no fake blurring, no nada. The lens was literally less than an inch away from this patient bee. My finger was maybe 3mm further away. He was a good photo subject. I still feared for my life. In the blowup, you'll see his pincers. Yeeeouch.

The macro abilities of the Nikon CP lineup, especially the 9xx series and the 4500 are staggering. That's the main reason why I bought my old Nikon 990, and why I went with this 4500. Bonus for me is I can use my wired remote (a piece of junk, but a $150 piece of junk), and all my lenses like the fisheye and telephoto.

And of course, all my memory cards, some 1.5gb worth, work in it. That's a bonus too.

The D100 may be in my future, but not for now. I'll wait to see what the shakeout is over it, and maybe wait for a D100x or similar. Who knows, maybe the price will drop to $2500 or something like that.

Lastly, a plug. I bought the camera from www.cameracanada.com and the service was excellent. I highly recommend them, and their prices are much cheaper than stank Kerrisdale Cameras.

3 comments | reply

Mixelania

Photos from Algonquin Park
Photos from my trip to Algonquin Park this fall with my Mom and two brothers.

War Stories

Making Snow for the Fortress
One of the worst jobs I ever had... till I got out.

Webiffied

Tools I Use
The tools I use to build websites and lead a tech life.

iPod and iTunes Offline

iMark's iTunes and iPod isn't iPlaying anything right iNow.

Most Recent Songs

Fiddlers Green by The Tragically Hip

Around The Bend by Pearl Jam

Here With Me (Rollo's Chillin' With the Family Mix) by Dido

With arms open wide by Creed

truffle pigs by Matthew Good Band

In the News

Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
Great article by Peter Meehan - provided some background.

St. Petersburg Times
Side mention in an article about good machines

AP Story on Espresso
Background and information provided

NY Times - Grinders Article
Especially proud of this one - got the reporter to focus on grinders

Globe and Mail
LOL - showing bad reporting, dude says I'm an American-based site!

The Olympian, WA
Talks about my love for the El Sal Siberia Pacamara

Seattle Times - Clover
Interviewed for comments on the Clover brewer

NY Times - How it Works
Background and information for various espresso machines

Time Mag Article
Just a brief mention, article about roasting beans.

NY Times
Front page article about consumers getting into specialty coffee.

Washington Monthly
Quoted reference to what I wrote in an article at CoffeeGeek.

USA Today - Barista Jam
Intereviewed for my thoughts on what the epitome of espresso is.

WSJ Article
The Wall Street Journal has interviewed me 3 times. This is the first time my name got in a story.

Reuters Interview
Interview with Reuters, Jan 2 - this is the USA Today version.

My Other Stuff

CoffeeGeek
Launched Dec 22, 2001, this is THE online community for espresso and coffee fanatics.

CoffeeKid Website
It's all new, as of March, 2002. My personal coffee obsession site.

WebMotif Services
My company's site - needs an update!

Amazon WishList
Hey, if you feel the need to buy me something, check here!

Daily Visits

enGadget
Great gadget site run by the guy who used to do Gizmodo.

Google News
This is how I get my daily news fix.

DPReview Forums`
The most active forums for digital photography online today.

Daily Zen
Need my Daily Zen fix!

Jalopnik
A blog about car stuff. Vroom Vroom.

MoCo Loco
An industrial design blog. Very cool stuff.

Friends and Family Plan

Beata Blog
Beata's got her own blog! She updates it most days.

Riddla on Flickr
Matt Riddle's flickr account, updated regularly

Irdy Photos
Irdy, my friend from Jakharta, on Flickr

Recent Acquisitions

Canon EF 24-105 f4 L Lens
The best lens I've ever owned. Super sharp and quick.

Canon 5D
A full frame dSLR, with luscious colour reproduction.

Alzo Digital Lights
Some amazing florescent cold lights for product photography

Canon Xsi dSLR
Amazing technology and image quality in a tiny package.

Canon 40D
Latest prosumer camera from Canon - a much better upgrade than the 30D

Fujitsu P1610
Great 2.2lb computer that does most of my travel / writing needs

28mm f1.8 Lens
A great lens for closeup work and full picture photography

Foodsaver Advanced
Finally got the right tools for freezing green coffee.

Canon 50mm 1.4
Most amazing lens I've ever owned. Produces stellar photos.

Canon 10-22mm
Super wide angle (full frame fisheye) zoom for my Canon 20D