Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V Digital Camera 32GB Package 3 by Sony, priced at $349.
| The definitive travel camera from Sony has to be the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V and it might just be the whole package for you. With an incredible, 20x optical zoom Sony G lens and compact body the HX30V can cover all your photographic needs with its 25-500mm focal range. Everything from portraits to landscape is a breeze with this versatile, high-quality lens. The high-speed autofocus and Optical Active SteadyShot image stabilization make for a blur-free pleasing shot and smooth handheld Full HD 1080p video. The high resolution 18.2 megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor is purpose-built for mind-blowing low light performance, making the HX30V a trooper in varying light conditions. The HX30 also includes Wi-Fi connectivity, 3D shooting, and GPS functionality, making it one smooth little package. | ||
| Movie Feature – captures Full High Definition video* with audio up to 1920 x 1080 resolution at 50p frames per second for smooth action footage. Optical zoom functions whilst filming. * We recommend using Class 4 or higher memory cards for recording Full HD video. SDHC and SDXC memory cards are only compatible with their respective devices. |
Product Description
Never owning an SLR camera, the photos I took as my kids grew up were all Polaroid, popular in the day. When the first digital camera hit the market years ago, I was one of their first customers. The online software, although clunky and cumbersome was a breeze. Getting a good shot was not.
When we planned our worldwide travels and began this blog in March 2012, I used my Droid X smartphone to take photos with the dumb idea that the phone itself would suffice in our travels. Ha! It was purely my method of denial, I’d have to learn to use a real camera.
We left the US on January 3, 2013, with no camera on hand and with only the Droid X. Each time a photo “op” presented itself, I groaned in my frustration for my lack of interest in buying a camera and learning to use it. It nagged at me several times a day.
Need I say that Tom’s interest in learning to use a camera was not only less than mine, but his picture taking skills lagged far behind mine, a fact hard to believe. I can’t even show you any of his photos. In most cases, they end up in the recycle bin.
On our first cruise on the Celebrity Century through the Panama Canal resulted in a “port day” in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Awakening early that morning, a thought pulsed through my mind as a lay there contemplating our day. It was the day to get off the ship and buy a camera.
Posing these thoughts to Tom, he tentatively agreed but expressed concern as to where we’d find a store to buy a camera. The ship had docked early in the morning. Jumping out of bed we looked out the window. Alas, there was a Wal-Mart in plain sight, across and down the street from the pier!
We’d never shopped at a Wal-Mart store in Minnesota. With the closest location a half-hour drive, it didn’t seem worth the gas to drive there. Thus, we stayed away. Once or twice in the past many years, I had stopped in for cleaning supplies or the like when I was in the area. That was the extent of our Walmart experience.
The story of the walk to the Wal-Mart store in Puerto Vallarta and the subsequent purchase of the camera in a store where no English was spoken, is available in our ARCHIVES listed on the right side of our homepage for January 7, 2013.
The photos we’ve posted since January 7, 2013, have been with the new camera an inexpensive Samsung valued around $100 in the US for which we paid slightly more in Mexico. Up to this point it has served us well. It’s lightweight, takes reasonably good photos but has limitations, the major being poor night photos and another is the necessity of plugging the camera into my laptop.
In addition, Samsung has no memory card to slip into the laptop, an oddity in this day and age. We knew this when we purchased it in Mexico. At that point we were desperate. If we didn’t purchase a camera that day, we might lose the desire to purchase one at all. This fleeting thought had a grip on me while Tom joined in on the fanfare.
On Thursday night while the moon rose high in the sky in its glory, we anguished over our inability to get a good shot, continually running back inside to plug in the camera to review the photo. We couldn’t, no matter the setting, get a decent shot. The decision was made. We need to purchase a higher quality camera.
I have been in love with Bluetooth technology, wanted a camera that was highly rated, affordable, easy to use and was WiFi-enabled. This would allow us to take a photo, immediately sending it to this blog, to Facebook or other social media or to either of our computers, without cords or cards, along with the ability to send it by email to anyone as long as we have an Internet connection.
Now one might ask…how does one have access to the Internet when we’re walking the winding roads of Tuscany with no Internet connection or, while on safari in Kenya? Ah, we’ve got that covered. With our XCOM Global MiFi device in our pocket, we’ll be online at most times (based on the connectivity of a general area).
Taking a photo, we’ll immediately be able to send it via email anywhere we choose. Wow! I love technology. A WiFi-enabled camera is a fairly new technology, although there have been many attempts by a variety of manufactures to fulfill this consumer desired feature.
There’s no doubt that we may be making this purchase a year or so too early, as advancement in this feature will grow exponentially. Willing to take the risk along with a commitment to fully learn the new camera’s nuances, we’re anxious to get started.
On Thursday, after hours of research, we made the purchase at Amazon for the WiFi-enabled camera. How will we receive it? We’ve got that covered.
When our mailing service in Nevada receives the camera (shipping was free from Amazon) in the next week, the mailing service will include it in the large box of supplies we’ll receive to be held at the UPS store in Miami Beach for our pickup on April 13, 2013, when our ship is in port for the day.
If for any reason, it doesn’t arrive by the time the large box goes out from Las Vegas, Nevada to Miami Beach, Miami, we’ll be back in Miami Beach for yet another port day on April 20, 2013, when we prepare to leave on our journey across the ocean to Barcelona, Spain.
The idiom, “the devil is in the details” prevails in our lives. We had no delusions that traveling the world would consist of lounging on a veranda, reading a book, looking up only to dreamily stare at the sea or to say hello to a passerby.
Moving every two to three months and the journey to get there is daunting as well as learning a new location and its cultures, maintaining our financial health, paying bills (insurance and paying off credit cards every few weeks to keep them clear for future use to avoid paying exchange fees), keeping tax records, continually updating our budget by entering every dollar spent, printing tickets/boarding passes, registering for upcoming cruises, checking airfare, booking air travel and…the most dreaded task…packing and unpacking.
Life traveling the world is glorious but as we all know, there’s no “free lunch.” There’s always a price we must pay whether its in time, monetarily, emotionally, or physically. We’ve chosen to “pay the price” with our time and our attention to detail, with a passionate desire to get the hard parts accomplished as painlessly, efficiently, and quickly as possible.
With only eight days remaining until we get back on the scary Hummingbird Highway for the four-hour drive back to Belize City to board our ship, the Carnival Liberty (yikes, Carnival! Hope the toilets don’t overflow), today is the day we begin to pack.
The three large bags that we’ll send to my dear sister in Los Angeles, must be packed and ready to ship on April 13th. Today, we’ll begin to make the final decisions on clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous for which we’re willing to “say goodbye.”
Photos (on the old camera) will follow as we weave through this process. Check back if you can.
We hope you had a memorable Easter. The recipe for the Zucchini casserole is not worth sharing after all.