As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I have a pretty basic point and shoot camera that I purchased back in 2007. It is still a really good camera, but I am thinking about getting something newer. I would give the current camera to my DD (15) so that she has her own camera. I want something fairly simple, but something that I can do cool stuff like color accent, sepia tones, and black and white photos with. I would like to stay under $200.
Just purchased the canon powershot elph 300 HS. Paid $229 at Best Buy on sale and it works great. I researched on cnet.com for best point and shoot cameras and it is rated in the top five. A little over $200 but worth it.
I'd recommend an Elph as well. We've owned 2 and obviously liked the first one enough to buy a 2nd one when the first one wore out. Currently DH has an Elph 1400 (orange!) and it's a pretty nice little camera that does everything you mentioned and it's under $200 (barely). It's on Amazon.com for $192. The only thing DH doesn't like about it is that it's slow between pictures. You can set it to take rapid sequential shots, but if you just want a couple shots, it'll take a few seconds to get ready again. Something that frustrates me is that it's only a 4x optical zoom, but it all depends what you want to use it for if it'll work for you. I think if you want a better zoom option or a little faster recovery time, you would be looking at a bit higher $$. Even though it's a little over your budget, that 300 looks pretty good.
I really like my Canon S95, but it was pretty pricey. I'd definitely look into some of their other models. Canon Direct Store - Cameras They have lots of options!
I have a Canon Elph SD1100IS. I think they are up to SD1400 or 1500 by now (it's a couple years old). I paid less than $200 and I think they are still around that price.
I'm on my third Canon ELPH (no reason other than to have the latest a greatest). i have the SX230 but it's over $300. My previous Canons were $239 and $179. I just took a photography class yesterday and my little point and shoot had as many bells and whistles as the SLRs (I don't have the range they do or the interchangable lenses).
I've always gone on the Canon website to compare models.
I have a Canon Elph SD1100IS. I think they are up to SD1400 or 1500 by now (it's a couple years old). I paid less than $200 and I think they are still around that price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jennie622
I'm on my third Canon ELPH (no reason other than to have the latest a greatest). i have the SX230 but it's over $300. My previous Canons were $239 and $179. I just took a photography class yesterday and my little point and shoot had as many bells and whistles as the SLRs (I don't have the range they do or the interchangable lenses).
I've always gone on the Canon website to compare models.
Last October I wanted a P&S that could record video, to use as an everyday camera. I bought a Canon SD1400IS and was very pleased with the image quality and the video quality, but the thing that impressed me most was how small and lightweight it is. It's smaller than my cell phone, fits in my pocket, and can be carried around every day.
But being something of a photo enthusiast, I missed the greater exposure controls of an SLR. SO when I stumbled across the Canon SX230HS, which has a mode dial and controls interface very similar to an SLR, I was instantly enthralled, and bought one.
The SX230HS has a built-in GPS, which is nice if you're into geotagging your pics, and handles low light situations much better than the SD1400IS. At 12mp, it's fie size is smaller than the SD1400IS, but it more than makes up for that with a tremendous zoom range, more than twice the zoom of the SD1400IS.
Either of these cameras is a terrific step up. They both have some specialty modes like selective color, miniature effect, color replacer, and fish-eye, but they also shoot well in plain old P mode. But if you think you might want to learn a little more about photography, you can't beat the SX230HS. It has better controls, more modes, and way more zoom than the SD1400IS.
I've always found the reviews and suggestions at steves-digicams.com to be very helpful.
For under $200 I got myself a Panasonic DMC-FX700 used from Amazon based on reviews from that site.
Personally it all depends on what you want to take pictures of. For pictures at the parks in the daylight, any camera will be fine. If you want to take pictures inside the rides, you're not going to get great photos with anything as inexpensive as $200. I know, I've tried. The technology to make those kinds of photos is not offered in the less expensive cameras.
The Nikon s8100 was listed as a very good camera with nice features, and I think you can get that for under $200 now if you shop around.
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