A camera and a memory card
This weekend, with my wife away, I decided to finally buy a camera. Every photo I have shot has been on my iPhone. The one consistent limitation… lack of zoom. I bought a cheap scope last year… but too cumbersome and clumsy to attach and remove. I actually dragged my telescope out once. Talk about cumbersome. I may still pop my iPhone on my Cassegrain for shots of Saturn… or the space station. But what I really wanted was a decent zoom for lighthouses, beaches, dunes. A travel camera. Something I could slip in my pocket.
The hunt and capture
A couple decades ago, I would have bought a camera magazine, visited a camera store. Researched the best I could online. But not now. Apple News+ presented me with several digital camera magazines, current and back issues. And article searches. A wealth of information. Overwhelming information. My mind spun with all the choices. Such sexy technology. I was gravitating to more and more expensive, tremendous picture quality and huge zoom cameras. And heavier. Bulky. Then I regained my sanity. What do I really want? A camera with a good zoom. Smaller and lighter the better. Cheap being good too.
When I began to narrow my choices, I found a useful site…. cameradecision.com. I used the 1 on 1 comparison tool. Pitting one camera against another, again and again. Finally my champion emerged. The Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS70. Small, cheap, with a good 30x optical zoom. Perfect for me. After verifying I was getting a great deal on Camel Camel, I ordered on Amazon. Delivered by noon the next day.
Coming up empty
I forgot to buy the appropriate memory card. No worries, I would just pick one up at Staples. Or even venture into Walmart (gasp!). Big mistake. A simple (but high premium) memory card should not be hard to find. Always one for immediate gratification, and camera now in pocket, I didn’t mind paying even double at Staples. Except, Staples wanted not double, or triple, but quadruple the price on Amazon. Oh, and it was out of stock. I searched every local business… remotely via their websites. A simple memory card. Nope. Not even a normal decent quality one.
Yes, I could have driven to Best Buy. But there was not one close. So I dug thru our remaining possessions. Searched our few drawers. Certainly there had to be a memory card somewhere. An hour later I came up empty. We had decluttered too well. Then I saw it. The CPAP machine had a never used, tiny one gig memory card.
To the pier!
The chance to take a few sample pictures without reading the camera instructions. Sitting on a bench far from the lighthouse and pier I snapped a normal view.
Then began to zoom.
And a little more. Yes, this cheap little camera is exactly what I was seeking.
