ultimate frustration
I’m not an enthusiastic shopper
I went shopping on Black Friday – it was a traumatic experience
my old camera has major problems and I NEED a good camera
so a new one was on the wish list
this is the same camera, just a newer model of my past 3 cameras
they have all served me well but like all new electronics sadly they are not made to last forever
it was a great price – last year’s model – but I’m not a fashionista
it is suppose to be a simple “point and shoot” with an excellent macro lens
for textiles and weave structures and flowers and butterflies
but it has the technology of a NASA computer
it took me 6 hours to figure how to download the pictures from the camera to the computer
my neck ached, I felt dizzy and completely stupid
but I thought I had it figured out!
NO – just pointing and shooting has major challenges
it has way too many settings and choices – some of them I’ll never use!
next morning and a walk around the neighborhood for some test shoots
there were no butterflies, everything is brown and grey
lichen likes the rain
and I may not figure all the settings before Spring is here
happy with the macro lens 🙂
the only other purchase on Black Friday was a comfy – but expensive – pair of walking shoes
think I’ll stay home next year
www.onesmallstitch.Wordpress.com u 
I never shop in person unless it is clothes, quilt fabric or shoes. And, speaking of shoes, I like yours! I have had my camera for 10 years and still don’t know how to use it manually. Further, even the automatic settings can get too complicated for me… The camera is getting tired and has me missing my old tech Kodak Instamatic. It took great pictures, point, click, perfect every time. If it helps, your photographs are beautiful in spite of the complications. I hope it gets easier for you.
Regarding having to pay for the manual download… ARE THEY KIDDING? You just spent large on the too complicated camera, and now you are expected to pay to learn how it works? Oh my.
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Lynda – slowly I will get the hang of this camera, it is the rapid advance of all technology that I find concerning. And I do have fun taking practice photos around the neighborhood.
The only things I buy online are art and textile books I can’t buy locally – I was brought up in a family of generations of small business owners and if we don’t support our local business community they will cease to exist along with the jobs they create.
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oh, jean, so much commiserating!!! i hate the five billion extra bells and whistles that no one ever asked for in the first place. i tried to get that panasonic p&s but wasn’t crazy about it, so i returned it and then spent many more months researching the next one. i think they are all the same: TOO MUCH crap to wade through simply to take a few pictures. i have a computer that has an SD port, so i pop my SD card out of my camera and into my computer to upload. every other option is too onerous. but when i looked into new computers, none of them have the SD port!! so i’m clinging to this ‘old’ tech (only about 6 years old!!) for as long as i’m able. if i could, i’d make an electronics company that makes a good solid product that doesn’t become obsolete every year or two.
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Aimee – we are destroying the planet making throw away products, eventually we will reach a tipping point where we will have to go back to a simpler time or cease to exist. Alas my computer doesn’t have a SD port and I’m dreading the day I may need a new computer – we have become dependent on them in such a few short years – computers in everything! We have to keep doing our low tech art to show the world what is possible.
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I’m with you on the camera. I like my Canon Ixus 110D, but it too has far too many settings and a very fat instruction manual. Luckily I have an older model which uses a download cable so I don’t need to be a matchmaker for the camera and laptop! I tend to stick to the auto settings unless I need something very specific. Life is too short to read instruction manuals.
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Kate – I got a skinny little instruction booklet with the email address for something more substantial – that I can download at my expense. I use a USB cable to download but the software the instructions suggested took 2 hours to download and then wouldn’t work on my computer. Life is too short to deal with this nonsense but I think it is only going to get worse.
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I was lucky; the camera and my MacBook Air spoke to each other at first introduction, no need for downloads. Good luck!
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Kate – I have been speaking to both my camera and computer but they’re not listening!
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Nice…shoes. I totally relate to frustrating camera-computer interfaces…arg, double arg. I hope using the camera gets to be easier, or more familiar or something by the time the butterflies come back… The pictures are very nice!
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Kjerstin – these shoes were definitely meant for walking. double double arg! The world is quickly becoming a very complicated place.
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