A new toy

On Monday, we welcomed a new addition to our family: the Canon IXUS 850 IS. We're very proud.

We've been considering getting a new camera for quite a while, but we want to make sure we prioritize our spending. Were were originally planning to buy a DSLR, but the cost and lack of compactibility scared us off a bit. With a compact point-and-shoot, we could get a high-end camera and take a weekend trip to Fukuoka for the same price as an SLR, and not have to worry about lugging around a huge case.

So we decided to go with the ultra-compact and more affordable PAS. I've really missed spending time taking good photographs. Our 35 mm SLR is great but it's difficult (and time-consuming) to get film developed here. And our compact Olympus has been very good to us (it's recorded Cate's entire life so far), but it's just not meant for quality photography. So after much research and shopping around, we decided on the brand new Canon IXUS. It's not as über-fashionable as the new slimline Nikons or Sonys but, from what I could tell, it's the best all-around ultra compact digital on the market.

I made the long trip to the north end of the city to a massive electronics outlet at EXCO. As a foreigner, it's a very intimidating place. Among the thousands of booths on three floors, there are dozens of camera shops, mostly selling the same thing but at different prices and with different deals. The key is to go to each one, ask the price of the camera, find out what the dealer's willing to throw in as part of the deal and then barter down from there. I'd write down the information from one booth and move on. The problem is, there are so many of them that I started going to the same shops twice without realizing it, asking the same men the same questions. I started to sweat and I knew if I didn't close in on the right deal soon, I'd make a rash decision and come home with a raw deal. So after narrowing down the field, I finally found the best offer. I found the camera I wanted, which came with a 1GB memory card and a leather case. But for only 15,000 won more (about $17), I talked the dealer into upgrading to a 2GB, throwing in an extra battery, a tripod and a cleaning kit. So I got all the extras and still ended up meeting our budget.
The trip home was a giddy one. Obviously, I had to test out my new gadget, so I recorded my stop at the transfer station downtown, which you can see here. It was surprisingly slow at Banwaldang Station. Notice how swiftly I move through the crowds. It's a technique you learn quickly here and, in this instance, it pays off in the end (you'll see why).