Camera Replacement

This past weekend, I slipped on a damp grassy slope and landed flat on my butt. There was only minor embarrassment to me although my clothes gained some grass stains. A few minutes later, I noticed that my camera also took a hit: there was a tiny scratch in the lens. Regular close-up shots show a blur in the upper left quadrant although use of the telephoto mode fades it out so it is unnoticeable.

The lens is built into the camera, not an add-on like an SLR. Checking with Olympus, they would fix it for a prix-fixe of $160 USD. To help decide if this was worthwhile, I went to eBay to see what the going market value of the camera is currently. The bids seemed to run about $130 USD, making that decision pretty easy.

Checking a little further, I found an auction for the next model up for my camera for only $120. In the next 24 hours, the bidding went up slowly but I ultimately won it for $153 including shipping, a 2GB card, a USB cable, lens cleaning items, a carrying case, etc..

I won't have the toy for the coming weekend of fall foliage but I'll live.

Camera Replacement

This past weekend, I slipped on a damp grassy slope and landed flat on my butt. There was only minor embarrassment to me although my clothes gained some grass stains. A few minutes later, I noticed that my camera also took a hit: there was a tiny scratch in the lens. Regular close-up shots show a blur in the upper left quadrant although use of the telephoto mode fades it out so it is unnoticeable.

The lens is built into the camera, not an add-on like an SLR. Checking with Olympus, they would fix it for a prix-fixe of $160 USD. To help decide if this was worthwhile, I went to eBay to see what the going market value of the camera is currently. The bids seemed to run about $130 USD, making that decision pretty easy.

Checking a little further, I found an auction for the next model up for my camera for only $120. In the next 24 hours, the bidding went up slowly but I ultimately won it for $153 including shipping, a 2GB card, a USB cable, lens cleaning items, a carrying case, etc..

I won't have the toy for the coming weekend of fall foliage but I'll live.