Our Nikon P520 is now 5 years old and it has taken thousands of photos for us. And while most people would agree that the photos we post here are fine, I'm not totally happy with them. I have to do a lot of adjusting after the fact to get them to look natural. The photos the camera takes on it's own do not often look the way they should.
I think there's something wrong with the image sensor. Plus, it is physically starting to fall apart.
So I want something better. I don't want a $2,500 camera, but I do think we're ready to upgrade to a DSLR. Something under $1,000.
When we were out hiking a couple of weeks ago, some girl asked me to take their photo and she handed me their camera. I liked what I saw, and started talking to her about it. She had only just bought it a little while ago. It was a Nikon D5300. The model has been around for a while and it gets really good reviews.
So Amazon in Canada had a Prime Day deal yesterday on a factory refurbished (with a one year factory warranty) model with an 18mm-55mm lens and the Nikon camera bag included for $529 CAD (about $410 USD) , which is a fantastic deal. If you buy new, they are almost $300 more than that.
I went to order it, but the system wouldn't let me ship it to Yukon. I tried everything, including the address of the house across the street from us! I tried General Delivery to the post office... everything! I even tried a couple of addresses in British Columbia and they wouldn't work either.
Eventually, I called Amazon Canada. Surprisingly, I got to speak to an actual person right away! However, he couldn't figure out the problem either. After 20 minutes on the phone with them, I just gave up.
Too bad, but we're not in a rush. I'll continue to keep my eyes open.
The town of Dawson City was really busy yesterday. We think that because it had rained really hard a lot of people were waiting for things to dry up before going anywhere. In fact, The Dempster Highway was actually closed in two sections.
We had a clean up day yesterday. Filled the water tank, had showers, did a bunch of laundry. That kind of thing.
In the evening, we went back to Diamond Tooth Gerties. (Once you buy a ticket, they are valid for the whole season).
Fellow RVers and blog readers Judy and Tim joined us. They hadn't been before, and while we had, we had only seen the 8:30pm and 10pm shows. There's another show at midnight and the three shows are all different.
So we got there in time for the 10pm show, and stayed for the midnight one as well.
Lots of laughs when they get some of the audience members up there too!
So, a bit of a late night for us, but lots of fun.
We're enjoying Dawson City and we haven't seen everything we want to yet. Not a cloud in the sky today, so we're going for a hike! Tomorrow, we're booked to do some gold panning and exploring the area that sparked the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.
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Thermos brand beverage can holder, almost half price!
Thermos Beverage Can Insulator
And in Canada...
3M Ergonomic Standing Desk
I'm surprised you got on line to Amazon - the web site overloaded in the U.S. and no one could get on line. Amazon extended the deals one more day for all their angry customers.
ReplyDeleteThis was Amazon Canada so not quite so busy as Amazon US!
DeleteHubby had trouble ordering yesterday on amazon canada as well (some business items) but managed to about 3 hours later after the first crush. Just fyi I have a dslr camera - nice - but so bulky, I hate travelling with it. It is only 5 years old and I paid just over $1000 for it. Hubby's iphone 6 which is 3 years old sometimes takes nicer pictures! They are great for close up shots if you buy an extra telephoto lense but we are actually upgrading my phone (for free) to an iphone 8 for the camera! Yes, we have a contract but we need it for work anyway. Just a consideration.
ReplyDeleteKevin had no problem getting into Amazon Canada to make the order or even to phone and talk with someone, the problem was with the shipping or more exact, not being able to get it shipped!
DeleteOur phone takes pretty good pictures too but it doesn't have the versatility that a normal camera will have. The camera Kevin is looking at is only a little bit bigger than the one we already have and we don't have any problems bringing it with us on any of our trips.
I'm in the market for a new camera too and forgot all about Amazon day. Oh well. pretty sweet to buy a ticket and have it be good for the season. Your header picture is just fantastic. It's a framer for sure!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you may have had a problem trying to get it ordered on Amazon's Prime Day, but other people got their orders in, you may just have had to wait for a while in order to do it. This way you can still keep your eyes open for a good camera deal and then buy it at your leisure.
DeleteYes, it is pretty neat that you can do that, however the show only lasts throughout the summer and all the monies collected go right back into the town for further restoration work on other historical buildings that they own.
Thanks, we love that picture too!
Have a look at the Canon SX60 HS, Colin's choice after much study, to use as our major travel camera.
ReplyDeleteThanks Contessa, Kevin had a look at it and yes, it could be a possibility for us.
DeleteAt Christmas we bought a Canon T6 with an additional zoom lense. We're still working with it but it is our first semi-professional camera.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good camera for you to start with, especially if you haven't had a camera like that before. Have fun with it. :-)
DeleteAmazon was experiencing a lot of problems on the first day of their sale. Hopefully you can find a similar deal soon.
ReplyDeleteKevin had no problem ordering the camera, he just had a problem with the shipping of it. The guy on the phone said that it may have something to do with the shipping regulations in certain province or territories due to the lithium battery.
DeleteToo bad about your problems with Amazon. And sure looks like a fun show you enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteThanks George, hopefully we can find it somewhere down the road and buy it at a good price, we'll see.
DeleteYes, Diamond Tooth Gerties puts on a great show.
I had a Nikon D3100 for years with 3 lenses (2 it came with and then I bought an 18mm-270mm so I wouldn't have to keep changing lenses). Great camera but decided it was too big and bulky to carry in my travels so sold it and now have a Canon Powershot G7X Mark II on the recommendation of a colleague. Great size and takes fabulous pics. Hope to really learn it more once we hit the road in 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun show! Hoping to find gems like that on the road. First stop...the cool coast of Northern California and Oregon (really, really hot here in the Sacramento area). Continued safe travels!
That is why Kevin has loved this camera and is having such a hard time finding something similar but slightly higher quality. The camera that we have now doesn't require an extra lens and has a great zoom on it. Unfortunately it is hard to find something similar, he really doesn't want to carry around an extra lens with him but he does want really nice picture quality. Definitely a little frustrating!
DeleteWe are looking forward to heading down the Oregon Coast in October of this year. :-)
Sorry to hear you couldn't get that new camera. Amazing how many photos we take during our travels that we actually wear the sensors out. I've thought about upgrading my bridge camera to a DSLR but every time I think about the need to change lenses I decide to stick with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300. I can go from a wide angle landscape shot immediately to a zoomed in wildlife shot. Good luck finding a new camera replacement... Ingrid @LiveLaughRV
ReplyDeleteYep, it was a little frustrating but maybe that just means that something better will come along later. :-)
DeleteYes, Kevin has this same dilemma, he loves the camera that he has now because of the fact that he doesn't have to carry around extra lenses with him but he also wants to get something with a bit better quality and that means not having as much versatility with the zoom. Hopefully he can find something that will fit the bill without breaking the pocketbook.