First and foremost, thank you to Hamdingers and the following folks: ame, aquaajb, Ben, Boy Howdy, Cake, djm, greenduck, grumbleboy, headonastick, iMac, therfore iAm, Kirk, Krisobi, Papa Romeo, placebo1969, Shlo, Skippy, thin shadow, titan aresta, Trish, Wesson357 and zzcoop.

These members of AppleAddict chipped in to get me a digital camera for Christmas. Last year several members chipped to get me a 20gb iPod.

For those who don't know, I run and maintain the Apple comminity web site AppleAddict.com along with thin shadow. I cover the cost of running it out of pocket and do so without expecting or requesting compensation. Yet these folks have seen fit to get me a wonderful gift (again).

It has been a tough year financially, so I haven't been able to get some of the things I really needed/wanted. A digital camera is one of those things. I have been needing one for quite sometime, and this is a great one.

They got me a Cannon S50 with an extra battery, 2x256mb compact flash cards, a case and a tripod. After looking at several cameras, the s50 was the one for me. The G5 is a wee bit fancier, but not being a photographer, I valued compactness over the few extras the G5 offered. And I have always been a fan of the Cannons. I used to use a S10 and my sister has a G3.

Thanks again all, I am very stoked.

The complete package and the card:

My Princess Liea Wallpaper and the first shot I took:

Here is the full resoulution image of the first picture taken. (1.7mb)