Sunday 16/3/08

I am a big believer in the power of a good picture. They are an invaluable freeze frame of life, which can become a seriously precious time capsule, especially in the event of a death. For the last six weeks, I have been involved in a fiasco with a company (not aptly) called cameracare in dublin city centre. The camera which I bought a year and a half ago, was an eight million megapixel lightweight with a great 3" lcd screen. It seems it was slowly breaking over time, the pictures were increasingly grainy,and a definate far cry from the picture perfect clarity which I had come to always expect as standard from my trusty konica minolta. Before my trip to india, I was paranoid bringing it back to the shop I'd bought it from, and they always allayed my fears, by telling me that I simply had the camera on the wrong settings. The pictures from india were ok, but the vibrancy of the colours was not there.

The pictures from new years eve, confirmed to me that there was something seriously wrong, but it took a visit to a camera shop on george's street, to confirm that something inside the camera had broken, and that the light was not hitting the right spot. That nicon shop owner was excellent, he told me more in five minutes than the other "professionals" had told me in over a year. He was genuinely helpful. Usually, shop assistants are all about the sale and commission, but this guy took time to show me diffferent models and tried to get the best one for me i.e ones with anti shock and touch screen features. Long story short, I decided to get my broken one fixed. I don't really want to buy into this disposal culture, was'nt prepared to downgrade, and could'nt justify spending 300+ on a similar camera, but after waiting a month, paying 161 euro, and taking time off work on a friday to collect it, it was worse than I originally left it in. Nothing worked, and the guy lied to my face by saying it was perfect leaving the shop.

He offers me a full refund, and promises to restore the camera to its original condition, as I have precious vide clips I want to transfer, that other camera's will not recognise the video file format of. When I got it back the second time, the bare minimum had been done (even the shuttter wont close), but he assured me it will transfer video. Now it only turns on if in the docking station. At this stage I am sick of them, have bought a new kodak, do not want to protract things by going back a third time, or down the small claims court route. The advice I would give anyone with a digital camera, is not to even think about getting it repaired. Upgrade to a better camera with extended warranty. Believe me, it will save you headache down the road!

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