Investing in Memories

College is an important time in one’s life filled with events that create memories that should last a lifetime. Over time all of the memories collected can start to mix together and all of these important and fun events can start to become faded in one’s mind. Photographs are an easy way to preserve memories for later in life. A camera would create high quality pictures to add more clean and clear representation of everyday and special moments. Cameras take a more advanced approach to every image it produces. The images produced from every event that is photographed would help the memories last longer. An undergraduate student that cherishes physical representations of memories, has a passion for photography, and has a reliable income that allows for money to be put aside as savings should buy a Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II.

In order to find the best camera, an undergraduate student would need to research reliable sources. Consumer Reports work hard to provide everyday people spend their money on products that are durable and reliable. “What we’re testing in our labs” (2018 Dec) explains the process of testing cameras to find the highest quality products. Image quality is an important part of a camera for both the auto and manual modes. Depending on what the undergraduate would be using the camera for video quality in both regular and low light would be important as well as the photos produced with flash. The LCD (liquid crystal display) quality would be important to the consumer because it would add to the camera being easy to use (p. 11). A camera with a good LCD helps the consumer produce high quality images during the picture taking process instead of after.

Many different professionals tested this camera to see how it performed in all categories. Tercius Bufete (2018 Jun 1) categorizes the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II as a Consumer Report best buy with excellent ratings in image quality and flash photo. The battery life of this camera is estimated at 240 shots. This camera is also light weight only weighing 20 ounces (p. 25). All of these factors would be important for a student that cares about the photos they are taking. This camera would produce high quality images that would preserve memories in a respectable manner. Terry Sullivan (2017 May) ranks the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II as eleventh for video in the advanced digital cameras category with excellent ratings in image, video, and LCD quality (p.22). Video quality is essential for a student that wants to affectively save memories. “4 reasons to get a camera instead of using a smartphone” (2015 Jun) gave the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II the highest rating in image quality, flash photo, video quality, and LCD Quality for the point and shoot camera category (p.50). Across all ratings in every category this camera is shown to be a durable good.

Money for a college student can be a sensitive topic. For many students, they have to juggle one or more jobs on top of their school work. With this in mind, the idea of spending a large amount of money on anything is a huge step. Tercius Bufete (2018 Jun 1) has the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II priced labeled as $650.00 (p.25). Making a large purchase like this for a piece of technology can be a big decision for someone in college. This could be one of their first large purchases and there is a lot behind the system of camera for it to be worth the investment.

The Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II has higher ratings in most categories for both picture and video than cameras that are sold at a much higher price. With this in mind, an undergraduate that has to work would need to have a reliable job so that they could save up to purchase the camera. “Student financing of undergraduate education in 2015-2016: income, tuition, and total price” (2019 Mar) presented the statistics that, in 2015-2016, out of all undergraduate students, 35.7% had part time jobs, 25.2% had full times jobs, and 39.1% did not work while enrolled in high education (p. 6). The students that have to work for their money would be more likely to spend money on something that would benefit them for a long time. A working undergraduate student would want every purchase to be an investment.

Purchasing a Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II would be a reasonable purchase for someone who is wanting to invest in their memories. Gretchen Rubin (2013 Aug) talks about how photographs are an easy way to remember little details in everyday moments and life changing events (para. 7). Pictures can job one’s memory and can make it easy to remember all the little detail surround what is photographed. Rubin (2013 Aug) explains that photographs for everyday life are more important that photos from special occasions (para. 7). Taking picture of the way one lives their life everyday can bring up more memories when looking back at them years later.

Along with memory, the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II would be an investment in happiness. Photographs have been shown to make one happier. Rubin (2013 Aug). explains that having pictures around the house add happiness to a home (para. 2). If someone is separated from family, surround one’s self in pictures of family members or memories from events shared with them would help make the atmosphere happier.

A common argument that is brought up on the topic of buying a camera is that there is not a need for a camera when one has a smartphone to take pictures. Mike Gikas (2017 Mar) explains that smartphones fall short in image quality in comparison to an SLR (single-lens reflex) camera. Before smartphones, cameras were the only way to make copies, later digital copies, of picture from trips or important events. “4 reasons to get a camera instead of using a smartphone” express that Smartphone cameras can produce high quality images but are missing many features that would allow the phones to produce pictures at the same quality of a SLR camera (p.49). Although smartphones are currently easier to access, if the consumer wants to have high quality images then would need to invest in a SLR camera.

Critics have said that speed of the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II is not in an excellent category. Lori Grunin (2014 Jun 27) states that it takes a total of 1.6 seconds for the camera to turn on, focus, and capture the image (para. 9). This speed in which this camera preforms is actually on the faster side on the scale. Grunin (2014 Jun 27) explains that the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II takes 1.3 seconds to focus and capture an image in low lighting atmospheres with the camera giving an icon for not being about to focus on its own (para 10). This can be a common in many different cameras that are not specially for photography in low lighting.

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