New Toy

After my mini almost disaster at check-in in Auckland airport I started the usual wander around the duty free area and as per usual made a beeline for the electrical goods as a way to amuse myself for a few minutes.

Ever since I started my journey the only thing that I have regretted is the fact that I didn’t bring a better camera with me. I know a lot of people have said they think the photos I have been taking are great but in all seriousness my pictures do not do the scenery justice even slightly. Taking pictures on my phones means I can often not get the level of quality of things a little further away as I have no zoom features and I also have a lot of trouble with any pictures at night as it is really difficult to get the right settings on the camera so the pictures always come out grainy and blurred. For ever 1 photo that I post to Facebook / Instagram that people say is great there are another 20 that look rubbish and just didn’t come out properly at all.

A couple of been I have bumped into on my travels have had some decent (but not stupidly expensive DSLR) cameras which brought home to me the limitations of my mobile phone even more when I was able to stand next to them and take the same shot at the same time and then look at what came out. Mine might look perfect on a mobile phone but as soon as you put it onto a PC or want to blow it up they look shocking.

One camera that I had been looking at was the Sony HX60V as a friend I met in Oamaru had one and so I had a chance to play with it. It isnt one of the crazy expensive ones but had all the features I was looking for without having a massive permanently attached lense to take up space and potentially get damaged so it seemed about right for me. I was thinking about getting on some day in the future when I got around to it and had actually had a look at it a few times again in camera shops as I’ve been travelling around just to take a look at it in more detail and see if I could spot a bargain.

As I walked up the the electrical counter in the first of the duty free shops there was this very same camera, on offer and reduced with a free Sony leather case as well for $349 (about £180). Everywhere else that I had seen it the camera had been at least $600 so this price seemed like a dream come true. To make sure I wasn’t being stupid I took a walk around the airport to have a look at the other stores and all of them had the same camera for $499 without the case making my find even better!

After umming and ahhing for about half an hour about buying it or not and if it was sensible logic kicked in and resolved the situation for me. I have regretted not having this camera and I am on my way to Cambodia with many temples and sights that I know my phone wont capture properly so it would be stupid not to. It is also the best price I have seen by far and still a very resonable price for a camera of that level which I will keep on using.

And so I am now the proud owner of a shiny new camera that has built in wifi and all manner of other crazy features but overall I am happy with me decision. Lets just hope that Cambodia and Thailand give me the view to all make it worth while.