Welcome to 2015 everybody! Since this year I am finally waving goodbye to my iPhone 5 blogging pictures I thought I would formally introduce to you my pride and joy, my new camera, Dolly.
She’s a Sony RX100 and she is just everything. Naming inanimate objects is pretty much my jam and when we met, I knew she had to be named after my beloved Ms Parton. As beautiful as she is smart, this baby works wonders in poor lighting which in Scotland, can happen everyday. As I mentioned in a previous post, I do have a DSLR but I pretty much have the fear while using it. It stresses me that I may loose and / or break such an expensive piece of kit but also that I don’t know how to use it the way it should. I’ve been chatting to a lot of bloggers who use high quality Compacts and I have been so impressed with them. They really have improved so much throughout the years! When it comes to this model, she HD vlogs, has auto intelligence, a pop up flash and is basically everything you would ever want in a compact camera. Perfection, and that’s got to be Dolly.
‘The Tech Look’ Product shots from Sony.
My Christmas money couldn’t quite stretch to her £399 retail price, so I hit up my good ol’ friend ebay and managed to secure her for a steal at just £175 including 32G memory card. Like cars, cameras loose their value as soon as you leave the shop so if you choose to go the ebay route like me just remember the following tips:
- Check the full description. The most important thing when shopping eBay etc is to double check ALL details of the items description. Look for mentions of any marks and working conditions, message the seller if it is not clearly described.
- Check all variations of spelling. Sometimes you will find the best bargains when people didn’t check their listing before posting. It didn’t happen in this case but has done in the past when picking up my £20 ‘Vercace’ jeans!
- Check the ratings of the seller. This is pretty much a standard, if you are spending a lot of money on something, don’t give it to someone who will rip you off. Be safe out there!
- Check the Country. When you are buying electrics in particular, it is so important that you check where the item is coming from and/or where it was purchased. In my case, Dolly was originally from Germany so had a European plug. Luckily in the Sony RX100’s case, it has a USB charger so slips right into my iPad’s charger plug instead. If buying from America, watch out for those custom charges as they can almost be as much as the item you are buying, not cool.
- Set an Alarm. If bidding for an item, make sure you set a wee alarm to remind you to bid. There are plenty of apps that you can download to do this for you where you set your limit and it works automatically, but I like the excitement of the battle! When I was looking at other closing bids for RX100’s they were ending around the £250 mark which, lets face it, is still a great deal but was out my £200 budget. Luckily for me, fate brought me Dolly which I won around 5am on the 27th of December. Worth those tired eyes when you save over £75 on what is already a bargain eh?!
To protect her pretty little features, I’ve went for this classic vintage esq case in a wine/burgundy colour from Amazon. It’s not arrived yet so thanks to the seller for the beautiful product shots. Isn’t the colour gorgeous?
I am finally back to work on Monday and will be giving Dolly her first outfit post test run with a really exciting collaboration. After this Christmas break I feel so much more motivated and excited for the next year, shows you what 2 weeks of eating/sleeping and drinking with your loved ones can do eh? Have you ever tried the Sony RX100? Let me know any tips you may have over Twitter (@foreverursbetty) and thank you to @stephenemm for the amazing recommendation.
Nice case! Glad you like the cam. I’ve been using it religiously as of late when travelling.
Oh no thank you for reccomending it to me! The case is sweet eh? Can’t wait for my first shoot!