Every picture tells a story, don’t it . . .

I haven’t had a digital camera at all for more than a year, a state that began when the battery door on my ancient HP 318 snapped off its retainer tabs, and I wanted one to take on our summer trip to Virginia.  L agreed it would be good if I had a lightweight camera again (somehow I just DON’T want to lug twenty pounds of Minolta SLR and all its lenses across the country), so yesterday I went to Precision Camera and, by virtue of combining a Mother’s Day sale and a new but opened-box model (the customer didn’t like it, so he traded up after three days), I got a Nikon Coolpix P50 with a 1GB SD card for $165 including tax, which was right at the center of the price-point I’d quoted the sales rep when we began tallking.  I liked the Canon Powershot A720, which he also showed me, a bit better, but it cost $200 before tax and before adding an SD card, which I can’t do without (there’s not enough native memory in either camera to be bothered with).

To my Austin-area readers who might be thinking about getting a newer camera RSN:  Precision is offering some acceptable discounts on Nikon point-and-shoots through Mother’s Day.  And I’d damn sure rather talk to their staff, who are often professional photographers themselves and actually know about what they’re selling.  I began by reciting my camera history to the clerk:  Rollei SL35 SLR, Speed Graphic press camera (the big, boxy flash camera you see in 1940s movies), Yashica 635 TLR, Minolta XG-1 SLR.  He listened to me, then said “OK, so you know something about photography and what you want.”  And took me right to the case for performance point-and-shoots instead of the training-wheel models.  Just see if I’d ever get THAT response from a know-nothing floor clerk at Fry’s!

And one of these years, when Rich Uncle Sidney dies, maybe I can afford a digital SLR body and an adapter so I can use all those Minolta lenses that would be SO friggin’ expensive to replace!  (I won’t go with Minolta for digital because they’re now part of Sony, and I think Sony’s product quality and customer service are both craptacular, a sentiment with which the clerk fully agreed.)

Wyoming electoral badges invalidate the Belgian edamame.  Fnord.