Long ago there was a post regarding my camera and its handy memory card. Well, that camera finally filled itself with so much sawdust that it was no longer able to take a recognizable picture. I didn't want to be wasteful and just chuck it, so I sent it back to Nikon and asked them to please repair it. Unfortunately, the economics made no sense: when the quote came, it was for 50% more than a factory refurbished model. Alas.
So I asked that they send it back to me (still en route). Now that I know that it's economically irreparable, I'll be a little braver about trying my own lens disassembly/cleaning/reassembly. In the meantime I bought one of those factory refurbs. It just arrived! However, as is sometimes the case with refurbs, the quality isn't max-tops. There are some little scratches on the housing, which is no big deal, totally understandable. Also, though, when I went to insert the battery, the little battery restraint tab broke and flew across the room! Noooooooooooo! The associated spring is seemingly unfindable.
Nevertheless, the camera is still usable, and the pictures are much clearer than those taken with the the old one. So this is progress.
That's the new camera, reflected in the screen of the phone that has served as my camera since the other one went terminally blurry. The bits in the foreground are the broken battery restraint.
So here's what I like about this camera: it's cheap, small, light, did I mention cheap? Yet it still can take a decent close-up, which is what I usually get excited about when documenting our handiwork.