Camera Drama

I am a photographer. No, I'm not a professional and no one has ever paid me to take pictures, but it is a passion of mine. I have a particularly horrible memory and without pictures I forget. I am missing entire years of my life because I don't have pictures to remind me. (I am secretly afraid of what I can't remember from those years).

Since my 16th or 17th birthday I have had a camera. When digital cameras came out and I started my very first (free) website and started posting pictures they weren't great. Not nearly as great as my "real" films.

Eventually I went from a digital camera that took 12 shots at a time to one that took around 50. Then I got a good camera. I don't remember what kind it was but it lasted quite a while and I could take really decent pictures with it, and even a few seconds of soundless video! Since then I haven't used my "real" camera that cost me $40 every time I wanted to print out pictures.

One fateful year at my friend's child's birthday my camera fell eleven inches from my hand to the floor. When I picked it up it wouldn't turn back on and you could actually HEAR something rattling around inside of it. I was very upset.

A few months later my husband purchased what has been the best camera I've ever owned!! It was a FujiFilm FinePix s700 with 7.1 mega pixels a 10X optical zoom, and preset macros (night, museum, sport, landscape, snow, beach, even portrait!! and MY FAVORITE: the close-up macro). I loved this camera SO MUCH you can not even imagine. I carted this thing EVERYWHERE! I took pictures of EVERYTHING! I even took pictures and videos of other people's kids and pets and made CDs and DVDs for them later. (Did I mention this camera had a video function - this time WITH sound??)

I had this camera a little over two years. I had let my stepson Teddy use the camera a few times. Then my 6 year-old wanted to borrow it. I let her take one picture. I am told this was my mistake.

One day my son The Star had a friend spend the night. My Angel took the camera without asking (she stole it) and took about 25 pictures and two videos. Then she dropped it from an unknown (to me anyway) distance. Then she put it back so I wouldn't know.

I took the camera out to take some pictures of a rose I was tearing up and take close-up shots of the petals for a drawing I was planning on doing someday. I noticed that the display was radically altered from it's usual clarity. There were huge bright and dark horizontal bars all over it to the point where you could hardly tell what the subject was!

I quickly found out about Angels theft and destruction. I hoped it was just the DISPLAY that was malfunctioning and I took out the memory card and moved all the pictures to my computer for further analysis. Can you guess it?

The bars were permanently part of the pictures. There was nothing I could do.

I was SO HEARTBROKEN I just sat in my computer chair and cried. I tried to explain to my 6 year-old how important that camera was to me because I KNEW we could never afford another camera like that one. It was $400 ON SALE!! And it wasn't even top of the line back then!

I cannot live without a camera.

I just can't.

So I told my husband she broke it (that was a HARD conversation - I get sad, he gets angry) and I told him I wanted another camera. I told him I was okay with it being a cheap little camera that didn't take great pics like the FujiFilm did, but I NEEDED a camera. It's just who I am now.

So we went out and found out that our camera is probably a busted processor (aka "computer") and it could be fixed. The problem was since the camera was DROPPED then other problems most likely will come up and the camera will continually degrade until it is just worth nothing anymore.

We looked at cameras. My husband showed me the FujiFilm upgrade (I think the s2700) that was only around $300. I felt if he was willing to get me a camera that would be perfect. I already knew FujiFilm! It would be like my old camera! My only real problem with it was the display. In my s700 the display is kind of protected - there is plastic all around it and it's kind of "sunk in" to the back panel. With the s2700 it's flat against the back and no where you can really put a thumb if you need to (I often do one-handed photography with five kids and three pets and sometimes taking pictures while I'm driving....don't worry I still keep my eyes on the road). This exposed display left me feeling uncomfortable about spending that much money on it.

Our friend Ken showed us "the best" camera in the store. It was a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, with ultrasonic image stabilizer, a 20X optical zoom, 12.1 mega pixels, video, macros, a space to add another flash, a place to put a microphone, and a display that you can open, close, turn, rotate - it's just amazing. Of course, the PRICE was amazing, too .... but it was on sale. It was still pretty amazing, though.

I thought it was an amazing camera. I know my sister's husband bought her the "best" he could find and I believe it was a Canon - but I couldn't remember what kind. I mentioned this to my husband and said if we had enough money I would certainly consider buying that camera because it was so awesome. But I walked away. I was trying to decide between the FujiFilm and another much CHEAPER Canon that didn't have any features but it was small and it would take pictures for me. We had been in the store for two hours at this time and my husband walked over and picked up the PowerShot and handed it to me.

I vehemently objected because we honestly can't afford it. But he assured me the extra jobs he had been taking would pay for it and he thought my happiness would be worth it. Well, you know me, I had to cry some more for having such a sweet husband.

So now I have an awesome camera. And kids aren't allowed to touch it PERIOD! It's possible I have not ever been this happy - except I feel I owe my husband BIG TIME!!