As with most everything in my life, there’s a story. Simply that I bought a new camera is not very exciting. Heck, the whole story isn’t very exciting but it’s Saturday night in Nevada, MO so . . we tend to make any event as exciting as possible.
A digital camera has become a huge part of my every day life and it’s something I use multiple times every day. There are pictures to be taken for the blog. I take pictures of quilt blocks on the design wall. I see things in a photo on the computer screen that I don’t see when staring at the design wall. I take pictures of fabrics I pull for quilts. The pictures tell me a lot – some fabrics blend too much, some fabrics I know right off the bat will not photograph well. When quilting for others, I’ll sometimes spread different colored threads across a quilt, send the picture to the top maker and say “pick one”.
My first digital camera was a Sony 2.1 megapixel. I loved that camera and knew from our first day together that we’d never part! Wait . . maybe if I could get a better camera for less money . . then we might part but back then I think I paid about $350 for that camera! And, Speck was a puppy . . an adorable, energetic, snuggly, destructive puppy from hell! One day, he got my camera when I wasn’t looking! This wasn’t the same day that he chewed the cord to the new vacuum cleaner . . while it was still plugged into the wall, but now he had ruined my camera! Who cared about the darned vacuum cleaner anyway? So, back to Sears, bought a second Sony 2.1 megapixel and kept it high and dry . . way out of reach of a miniature dachshund!
To enter quilts in shows, I had been having professional photos taken of my quilts and sending in slides. In 2004 or 2005, most of the shows had begun allowing digital photos sent in on CD, so long as they were at least 5 megapixels. I reckoned that it was less expensive for me to buy a 5 MP camera than it was for me to have professional photos taken once or twice a year so I bought a 5 MP Sony Cybershot. Quickly, the love affair with the 2.1 MP had ended and this new 5 MP was the best thing since sliced bread . . until last fall when the battery stopped holding a charge. A new battery could be purchased but why not just buy a whole new camera! Don’t you love my way of thinking? Vince feels the same way you do — a battery is much cheaper than a new camera! But, new cameras have more megapixels and can do things the old camera can’t do! (Don’t ask me what that might be but I’m sure there’s something!)
The real problem was that when I was in Louisiana in June, Chad and Vince had gone shopping and Chad bought this camera. He loved it and it took much better pictures than my old camera and it made videos (which I now know my old camera did but I never knew it did!) so I was just looking for an excuse for a new camera. BAM! My battery stopped holding a charge so I went looking to get this camera. Chad knew how to work it so he could show me how and I didn’t even have to read the manual!
But, when Chad bought his camera, Office Depot had a $50 instant rebate. When I bought mine, they had a $50 mail in rebate . . and so my tale of woe begins. I sent my rebate papers in and you know how I am — I entered all the info on my trusty spreadsheet entitled “Things for Followup”. The promised 4-6 week wait time passed and no check. I waited more time and no check. It isn’t that $50 is a make or break deal for me but dang it, they told me I was getting it and I didn’t get it. I went online and since they had spelled our name wrong, I couldn’t check my rebate status online. Finally I called and talked to a human, albeit a not so nice and friendly human who probably said the same thing about me. She promised my check would be in the mail within ten days. I waited another month and still, no rebate check. By now, I’m aggravated and I don’t even want the darned camera . . I’ll just buy a new battery for the old camera and be done with it.
Four months have now passed and no rebate check has arrived. I called Office Depot in Joplin and talked to one of the managers who looked it all up and told me exactly what it said when I looked online because they had now corrected the spelling of our name — PENDING! I explained to him that $50 wasn’t the end of the world but Office Depot was using everyone’s money (collectively, everyone who was waiting on that rebate — it probably added up to a good amount for Office Depot to be borrowing!).
Today I took the camera back — four months old and told them they could keep the $50 rebate and give me my money back! They did! I left with cash but then the thought occurred to me . . I now have no working digital camera. That isn’t going to work!
We went to Sam’s, Target, Best Buy (although they’re on my black list and I wasn’t about to buy anything there, I didn’t mind picking the brain of the camera guru in there) and then back to Office Depot. I was so torn between getting an SLR type camera — especially since we have three nice lenses that will fit the Canon Rebel XTI or getting the plain old point and click digital camera. The deciding factor for me is that the SLR cameras will not make the videos that I like a lot.
This is the Sony DSC-H7 which is 8.1 MP (the same as the camera I returned today) but has a 15x Optical Zoom (vs. a 3x Optical Zoom on the other one). With a 15x zoom, I’ll get some darned good shots of the deer eating my garden! And, I think I’ll order a new battery for the old 5.1 MP and keep it in my car!