So as you may or may not know, it is Stampede time here in “Cow-town.” Everyone turns into cowboys and people are drunk at all hours of the day. But, there are redeeming things too, like deep-fried Oreos:
Vintage tractors:
Certain visiting royal persons:
And the Stampede Parade:
I took all the pictures above myself, which leads me to my latest problem. Parade day was hella windy, and super dusty. There were cowboy hats flying everywhere, along with lots of lovely sand still on the road from the winter. And, as I was taking pictures at said parade (I had to get one of the pancake girls to prove I wasn’t hallucinating, but I missed the one dressed as a taco) grit inevitably got into my camera. Now, it’s no fancy DSLR, but it is my camera! I like it! It’s a Sony DSC H-3, and I bought it about four years ago. One of the reasons I bought that one was the 10x zoom—it was the biggest zoom I could find and it seemed useful. And, I use the zoom a lot. You think I was that close to the Duke and Duchess? Nope, that’s 10x optical zoom for you! It also has 8 megapixels, which at the time, was impressive. Now that’s what you find in cellphones!
(source of photo, ’cause I can’t take a photo of my own camera!)
Only now when I zoom, there’s a nasty little grinding noise, and once so far it has actually been briefly stuck all the way out. I went to a local camera store, and they don’t do camera repair there, so it would be $40 to send it out, plus whatever the repair cost would be. When I told the guy it just made a noise, and only one time out of 10 would actually stick/hinder picture-taking, he said to save my $40. If they send it out and the repair guys can’t make the sticking happen, then it’ll just come back the same as it was and I’ll be $40 out. Camera guy said to keep using it until it was sticky all the time. Now that kinda sounds like the type of advice that will just lead to me buying a new camera…which is a little exciting. Four years is old in current technology terms, right? I could have a new toy! There’s just so much choice these days, and I keep waffling on what I want, what I think I should want, or whether I should just keep using Sony McGrindy until it gets perma-stuck. I’ll tell you the problem with that last option right now: mini-honeymoons this summer. I’ll want a working camera for that.
If I do get a new camera, what do I go for? That’s the biggest conundrum right now. I feel like I need to sit down and write down all my options and the pros and cons of each.
Are you considering a new camera in honor of your wedding/honeymoon? What did you choose and why?
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