Did a new digital camera come into your life over the holidays? If so, here's a simple step you can take to help it find its way back to you if you should ever leave it behind.
- Open your favorite word processor, enter the message in the photo at the left, replacing your name, cell phone and email with the sample text.
- Take a photo of it with each memory card you have. (It's best to empty the memory card and have this as the first photo someone would see if they found the camera.)
- Use the camera's protect feature to lock the photo.
- Repeat the process if you format a memory card or buy a new one.
Now, a person has a way to reach you if they find your camera. Without this information, it can be difficult, or impossible to be sure the camera would get back to you.
Last summer we found a small digital camera on the sidewalk in Philadelphia. We took an immediate look at the photos and looked around to see whether we could recognize anyone around us.
Since it was near our hotel, we showed the photos to the doorman and let the staff know we had the camera, in case it belonged to another guest.
Next, we stopped a Philadelphia police officer to ask what to do with the camera. His advice was to keep it. Since it was a very inexpensive model, he didn't think anyone would go to the police lost and found to look for it. What's more, we couldn't give it to him but would have to take it to a police station.
Had there been identification on or with the camera, we would have gladly returned it to the owner. With the full travel schedule we were on, it ended up forgotten in a tote until we were unpacking at home.
I'll be reporting on the new camera that just entered our life. It's a Canon G10 and its photos will be appearing here and on my other photo assignments. It replaces the Canon SD550 that has been my pocket compact for years. That one has shot nearly 20,000 photos, some of them sold to print publications and for web use.
The G10 is a bit bigger but offers far more control to the photographer. It seems to be the perfect tool when I don't have our Nikon D200 around my neck. I'll do a full review in a few weeks, but at first glance it has thumbs up from the whole team here at BostonZest.
In case you have an Amazon gift certificate and you don't want to wait for the full review, here's the camera and the accessories we recommend you buy with it. With all the extra features, you'll need large capacity memory cards. And, we always recommend having a second battery.
