Tough Little Camera, R.I.P.

Belated post from July 25, 2010

Well I thought I had killed the camera for sure. I dropped it in a mud puddle. It was a shallow puddle and the camera only spent a split second there before I snatched it out and dried it off on my white T-shirt. Then I hurried into the house and placed it in front of the fan. But while sitting by the fan, my husband, who was doing carpentry work inside, didn't see the camera, and tossed a board on it which caused the camera to clatter onto our tiled floor.

When I went to check on the camera a couple of hours later, I couldn't get a view through the view finder. I took some photos anyway but only black rectangles downloaded. The camera would not allow me to throw them away. So after messing with all the buttons like a pre-schooler and even giving it a shake, I went online to see what a replacement would cost. There were three exact models, used, for 60 US dollars, so I ordered one.

After placing the order I turned the camera on one more time and there were my feet in the view finder. I trotted outside and took several photos of a bright orange and yellow canna lily, a small anole lounging on a Elderberry and a blue dragonfly. The dragonfly being the reason I was at the muddle puddle in the first place. I downloaded and viewed the batch then cancelled the camera purchase.

This is a tough little camera. Especially compared to our wimpy computer keyboard. We've replace the keyboard three times due to a few ounces of beer and a half a cup of coffee. But we've never hit it with a board.

Updated post from October 4, 2010

The camera is dead. It limped along all through September, but banging it on a pine tree in Sam Houston National Forest to photograph a spider was the last time we could get it to work. After its mud bath, the camera needed a good shaking or whack for the view finder to turn on. We did managed to get some blurry shots of a snake capturing and eating a shrieking Leopard frog at the National Forest. But having to stand before your subject thumping and smacking and shaking your camera before taking a shot, makes photography not so much fun.

I still have several photos taken from the time I dropped the camera in the mud, which was on the same day my husband hit it with a board, to upload to Woophy. So all in all I would recommend the Lumix 6X zoom point and shoot camera to any amateur photographer interested in shooting subjects an inch or less in size and three to four inches away. Works great in those parameters. And it is a tough little camera. My husband even admitted to dropping it on the cement pavement a couple of times before I dropped it in the muddle puddle and he hit it with a board.

Here's hoping Santa will bring me another camera before the year is out. Maybe a Lumix 8X.