Sunday, December 9, 2007

Ain't as smart as I thunk I wuz

At work, I am known as The Most Technical Person. I have earned this title by being most consistently able to unjam the photocopier and coerce reluctant printers to actually print. However, all things are relative, and tonight I'm really not feeling like a genius.

Back in May of this year, I bought a digital camera, a Sony DSC-H9 Cybershot, if you care. It was a big investment, but my photos are precious to me and I wanted the best that I could afford. I bought it at a Serious Camera Store (Henry's, if you must know), where knowledgeable experts go to get all their camera gizmos.

The first few of batches of photos turned out really well. The detail, the focus, the colour - top notch. Then, sometime near the end of the summer, I noticed that some photos I had taken out in the sun had a whitish, blurry patch in the middle of them. I put it down to overexposure, and fiddled around in iPhoto to minimize the damage.

Next time I went out, I screwed a sunshade attachment onto the lens. The same problem recurred. Then I started noticing the blurry effect in indoor photos too. Because I had already diagnosed the problem as over-exposure, I figured that there must be something wrong with the photo-receptors inside the camera. It was a manufacturer's defect, and I'd have to get the whole camera replaced under the warrantee.

Today I finally got around to calling Henry's to ask how I should go about returning my camera. I even took a series of pictures to show the obvious blurred area. I was just about ready to pack the camera back into the box it came in, when Ken said:

Maybe there's something wrong with the lens. Have you checked the lens?

Well, no, I had been so confident of my previous assessment that it never occurred to me to take a look at the lens. And guess what?

There was a greasy smudge on the lens. Right in the middle, where the blurry spot kept showing up.

So, basically, I had been worrying about the state of my photo-receptors and taking bad photos for four months because I WAS TOO STUPID TO CLEAN MY LENS. Boy howdy, am I ever glad I figured that out in the safety and comfort of my own home, and not in the Fancy Pants Camera Store.

"Did you hear about that woman who came in this morning? Yeah, she wanted to return her camera because their was a smudge on the lens. No, seriously! Can you believe it? Some people are so dumb."

4 comments:

R.E.H. said...

That made me chuckle. I'm sorry to be laughing at your expense, but that was funny ;)

Glad you did figure out the problem before you took it to the store though. I often deal with customers bringing it what they believe to be faulty stuff they bought, when really there's nothing wrong with it.

Jameil said...

hahahaha. they DEFINITELY would've had that conversation. lolol. we always talk about the people who call the station with foolishness.

Karen said...

sounds like something I would do. LOL

Sparkling Red said...

There's nothing like a little foolishness to perk up a day. :-) The best part about realizing I've been a clown is knowing that I have an appreciative audience to share the story with!