Letting Go and Moving On (or Underwater Housing for Canon S45, anyone?)

I think my camera is broken. A couple of weeks ago, I took it out of my briefcase to take pictures of my patient for research purposes, and it just wouldn’t come on. At first I thought the battery had gone dead, so I gave it a quick charge. An hour later, the darn thing still wouldn’t light up. Two hours of charging, a new battery (RM 150) and a not-so-small-amount of stress later, the camera was still not responding and it began to dawn upon me that it’s going the way of the dodo.

The guy at the camera shop politely told me that he would try his best to fix it, but in the meantime, would I be interested in looking at some of the latest models of digital cameras? Sigh, I guess that’s his subtle way of telling me it’s time to let go and move on.

But I don’t know if I’m ready to let go. That camera has been with me for almost four years. She was my first foray into the world of digital photography. She has seen me through the start of my fledgling orthodontic career. She’s been with me to Bali, Bangkok, Sipadan (twice!) and Sydney. And I was just starting to get a hang of taking underwater pictures with it (although supermacro pictures are still almost impossible!).

So, I’m still hoping to receive the good news from the camera shop guy one of these days but at the same time, getting myself used to the idea that she’s not coming back, sob sob. Oh well, at least now I have an excuse to go shopping for a new camera.

It never fails to cheer me up to do some research online about the latest models of electronic equipment…. like a child in a toy store. The wonders of the Internet… so much choice! Now that I have some experience with digital cameras, at least I know what special features and functions I would like in a camera. And I’m sure that my best friend Kieran has a thing or two to say about which one will suit me best. :-)