Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

CANON “POWERSHOT A610”

Date Range From

2006

Date Range To

2014

Materials

PLASTIC, GLASS, METAL

No. Pieces

1

Height

6.75

Length

11

Width

4.8

Description

SILVER-COLOURED METAL CAMERA WITH RETRACTABLE LENS, HINGED VIEWING SCREEN AT BACK, AND WOVEN CLOTH STRAP CONNECTED TO A METAL LOOP AT TOP LEFT. CIRCULAR DIAL WITH SYMBOLS AND LETTERS AT TOP LEFT BEHIND SHUTTER RELEASE BUTTON. BATTERY COMPARTMENT AT BOTTOM LEFT, BELOW MEMORY CARD SLOT. MAKER’S BRANDING READS “CANON POWERSHOT A610 AIAF”. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

PHOTOGRAPHIC T&E

Historical Association

PROFESSIONS

LEISURE

History

THIS CAMERA WAS OWNED AND USED BY THE DONOR, CHRIS MORRISON. MORRISON IS AN AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN OF WATERTON-GLACIER INTERNATIONAL PEACE PARK, ABOUT WHICH SHE HAS WRITTEN NUMEROUS BOOKS. MORRISON PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT HER USE OF THE CAMERA AT THE TIME OF DONATION: “THIS CAMERA, NO LONGER OPERATIONAL DUE TO MANUFACTURER’S PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE, WAS A TURNING POINT IN MY INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPHY. I PURCHASED IT IN 2006 FOR $395.99 FROM COSTCO ONLINE, MY FIRST PURCHASE USING THAT METHOD. HAVING DONE A FAIRLY THOROUGH SEARCH OF CONSUMER REVIEWS, I FELT THIS CAMERA MET ALL MY NEEDS. WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW WAS JUST HOW GOOD IT WOULD BE. DURING ITS SEVEN YEARS OF LIFE, I TOOK THOUSANDS OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN A VARIETY OF SETTINGS AND LOCATIONS FROM JASPER, ALBERTA TO GREAT FALLS, MONTANA. OFTEN REFERRED TO AS A ‘POINT AND SHOOT’ THIS CAMERA HAD FEATURES WHICH MADE EXPOSURE AND FOCUS AUTOMATIC OR COULD BE OVERRIDDEN TO SUIT THE SITUATION.” MORRISON CONTINUED: “WITHIN ONE YEAR OF BUYING THE CAMERA, I WAS ABLE TO MORE THAN PAY FOR IT BY SELLING FREELANCE PHOTOS TO A NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS. SINCE DIGITAL CAMERAS DO NOT USE FILM, RESULTS WERE IMMEDIATE AND COULD BE CORRECTED OR RESHOT AS NEEDED. GETTING THE PHOTOS TO BUYERS WAS VERY FAST BY USE OF THE INTERNET. WITH MORE THAN 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE WITH TWO CAMERAS (A YASHICA D TWIN LENS REFLEX AND A 35MM MINOLTA SINGLE LENS REFLEX) I HAD A THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE BASICS OF BOTH BLACK AND WHITE, AND COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY REQUIRED SOME ADDITIONAL LEARNING TO MAXIMIZE THE MANY FEATURES NOT FOUND ON FILM CAMERAS.” MORRISON CONCLUDED: “I BECAME INTERESTED IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ABOUT 2003 WHEN I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO BORROW A NEIGHBOUR’S CAMERA FOR SEVERAL WEEKS. THIS WAS A CAMERA THAT REQUIRED SQUARE FLOPPY DISKS WHICH DIDN’T HAVE MUCH MEMORY. THE PHOTO RESOLUTION WAS ALSO LIMITED. HOWEVER, WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, NOT ONLY DID DIGITAL CAMERAS GET BETTER AND BETTER, THEY BECAME CHEAPER. WHEN I REPLACED THIS $395.99 CAMERA IN 2014, I GOT ADDITIONAL FEATURES AT HALF THE PRICE.” SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

Catalogue Number

P20140044000

Acquisition Date

2014-11

Collection

Museum

Less detail