Monday, January 12, 2009

Withdrawal Symptoms

Well!!! I decided to go to Honolulu today. I wanted to see if there were any canoers practicing, and I wanted to catch the sunset. So after running some errands, I headed downtown--got completely lost because I never did master the correct route to Magic Island the last time I was here. But no matter, it was a good way to review the area and kind of get my bearings again.

When I got there it was too early for the canoe practice, so I just walked around. Okay, enough of that, time to get the camera out. Set up the tripod. Clean the lens. Get out the bubble level. Scope out a place with a good view. Wipe the sweat from my face and wish I had brought my bottle of water from the car. Sigh.

Put the camera on the tripod, compose, oops, wait, I forgot the polarizer. Get it out of the bag, clean it off, screw it on the lens. Okay, there. Recompose, turn the polarizer for just the right look, press the shutter button.........NOTHING!! Oh, My, Gosh, WHAT NOW!! So I tried again, and it finally took the picture when I held the shutter down long enough.

Gee, that's not right. Try again, same thing. Got another shot. Try again--this time nothing. Aargh! Okay, no more fooling around--gotta get this looked at. So reverse the entire unpacking process, put everything away and hope I can find a camera fix-it-place.

These two images are the only photographic fruit of the entire day!


Right across the road is a huge mall, so that was my first hope. I found, of all things, a Ritz Camera, but even as I was entering the store I thought there wasn't much hope of there being a repair shop--don't know of any like that in NY. Well, much to my happy amazement, there was a repair section and the guy seemed to really know what he was talking about. However! He surmised that it was just the shutter button and nothing wrong with the camera. Whew--dodged that bullet. But he couldn't fix it.

Even more amazingly, he told me where there was a Canon Repair Shop not more than 1/2 mile away. So I got over there as fast as I could and managed to make it there before they closed. Well, long story short, the good news is that it probably is just the shutter release and it can
certainly be fixed. The bad news is--it has to be sent to the "mainland" and will probably take 2-3 weeks. Okay, when I stopped hyperventilating, I relented and said, okay. For a nano-second I even considered buying a new camera, but that's totally an over-reaction.

So now I'm SLR-less.As you know , I've taken a lot of my blog photos with my point and shoot, but I always knew the SLR was there if I wanted it. This is a completely different situation. Okay, this will build character. So much for my day.

Posted at about 7 pm on Monday, Jan 12, 2009

3 comments:

trishalyn said...

Wow...in Hawaii and no SLR. So very sorry, Linda! Remember that adversity builds character. :-) At least you're going to be there for 3 months. Think how you would feel if you were leaving in 2 weeks. I'm trying to make you see the bright side, but I can just imagine how you feel! I'm sure you'll still have fun with your point-and-shoot. Remember your trip to Maine? :-)

J.L.Velez said...

Yes, it will be build character and gratitude:) The trees were nice today. I'm glad you got outside to shoot some things today. Don't worry about the SLR, just fall in love with something in your pictures everyday and they will be worthwhile!

Bridget said...

oh linda that's awful!
i am glad it is repareable and that you do have your point and shoot.
i have enjoyed using my p&s almost the entire time i have been blogging.
remember,we need some sun shots and you are our go to girl!