Look in the mirror and proudly declare I WILL NOT BE AN IDIOT TODAY.
Realize you’re not fooling anyone.
Grab a donut.
Coo “good morning” to your computer, give it a kiss, hold your breath and logon.
When your computer boots up without pitching a hissy, exhale.
Eat your donut.
Google every single make and model of point and shoot cameras known to man, which is approximately eleventy billion.
Soon realize that eleventy billion qualifies as being more cameras than you can shake a stick at.
Ponder what the hell “shake a stick at” even means and could the phrase be any more stupid?
Remember fondly Chandler Bing and the whole Friends gang.
Go potty.
Google reviews of every single one of those cameras.
Create a spread sheet detailing the make, model, pros, cons and price of every single camera you see.
Continue googling to double and triple check your information.
Lather, rinse, repeat twenty-five times.
Decide on a camera.
Agonize.
Change your mind.
Sweat.
Change it back.
Jump in your car.
Drive yourself up the nearest wall.
Google a completely different brand of camera.
Ponder why you didn’t choose that brand in the first place.
Decide it was an omen that you didn’t choose that brand in the first place and revert back to your original choice.
Totally forget what your original choice was.
Declare all omens as stupid and google an entirely different make and model.
Stick with that make, but change the model.
Stick with that model, but change the make.
Realize you can’t do that.
Silently call yourself a moron.
Rub your eyes and discover that they hurt.
Look in the mirror and check if your eyeballs are where they are supposed to be.
Search the floor for your left retina.
Eat another donut.
Choose another make and model of camera.
Call your husband and ask his opinion.
Hang up on him when he says get whatever you want but only after you shout WAY TO BE SUPPORTIVE.
Go find a molehill.
Make it into a mountain.
Google, google, google.
Slap yourself a wake-up call and narrow your choices to two.
Congratulate yourself by eating another donut.
Throw your scale out the window.
Get back into your car and drive to Best Buy.
Test both cameras.
Decide that Google is out to get you because you hate both of them.
Discover a totally different camera you never heard of but really like.
Toy with the idea of being spontaneous and buying it right on the spot.
Remember who you are and come back to reality.
Drive home and google that particular camera until your eyes bleed.
Discover the camera is on sale at your local Target.
Realize that it’s entirely possible you may actually buy something you want before a sale expires.
Take a moment to process the enormity of this situation.
Peek out the window to make sure the world didn’t come to an end behind your back.
Decide that God might actually on your side.
Contemplate whether asking Him to turn you into Jennifer Aniston would be pushing your luck.
Decide it is.
Drive to Target and buy the camera.
Come home and deposit the camera on your kitchen counter and stare at it.
Google freaking google.
Second guess yourself.
Lather, rinse, repeat until you’ve second guessed yourself 542 times.
Sleep on it.
The figurative camera, not the actual one.
Wake up and stare at the camera.
The actual camera, not the figurative one.
Goo … ugh, I can’t even say it anymore.
Drive to Target and return the camera.
Both the figurative and actual one.
Come home and open your window.
Toss out all of your preconceived notions of personal responsibility and accountability.
Wait for your husband to buy you a point and shoot for your birthday.
Immediately upon capturing your first blurry shot, assess blame accordingly.
.
32 thoughts on “The Idiot’s Indecisive OCD Guide to Buying a Point and Shoot Camera”
Hey! Have you been watching me?!! Everything about the google, the review, the spreadsheets, the agonising is true. You left out the bit about phoning my father for advice. And the last bit is wrong – I kept my camera! Oh, and I guzzle chocolate, not donuts. 😉
*giggles* I’m not sure how one comes to that stage in life where one can be meta-hilarious about one’s OCD… but damn, you sure navigated that one successfully!!
Buying a camer is the worst. I just got a new one myself, and I think it was more work than purchasing our last car.
What did you choose? And return?
I did the same thing. I had a gazillion “compare” windows open on the Circuit City website last fall.
I ended up with a Nikon CoolPix.
But not the cool Ashton Kutcher one. That was too expensive. 🙁
I am going to have to do this same thing in the next couple of months-I know the feeling! Its all so confusing!!!!!!
http://www.sixfeetunderblog.com
I obsess about things that don’t matter that much . . . but my DSLR? I did a smidge of research and decided that I should have a Nikon. Never held one. Don’t know why I thought I should have one.
Just bought it.
Am happy.
Except when I take a picture and realize that I’m an idiot. But that’s my problem. Not the poor camera!
Point and shoot? Heck we have three! My 5 and 6 year old each have one. I should have them write up reviews to add to your spreadsheet of information!! LOL
OCD? OCD? Have you been over here at my house? I believe I have googled, and googled, and googled, so much that my computer just automatically reads my mind and just googles it for me.
Once I get information on the book agent I will pass it on.
P.S. Who wants to look like Jennifer Aniston, why not her rival Angelina Jolie, I want those lips, and her man.
I bought the kids Kodak Easy Share cameras for Christmas. I found them on Amazon for a lot less than in the store. They are great cameras. Seriously.
I did this same sort of thing when contemplating my first digital camera. I was saving money for one and had yet to decide on one. Fortunately for Christmas my mom gave me one! She did all the research and bought a good one and I always like what she gives me so it took all the OCD out of it!
Im actually very spontanious with my electronics! My husband bought my first digital camera and it was horrid.. yes so blame was assigned. My new one.. I made a snap judgement and bought it and have been inlove with it ever sence!
Sometimes GOOGLE is NOT your friend!
To much information is not a good thing!
I bought a new vacumn this week. I did NOT research it to death like we normally do. Went to one store and said that one. I swear my husband thought I was crazy. I said put it in the cart. Oh, it felt great! Living life on the edge.
LOL!! Hey least you change your mind when you still have time to take back the item! I tend to buy, like it, see something else better 6 months later then beat myself up for having to be stuck with the original purchase I made!!
Crack me up! Oh, and tell hubby to buy a Canon G10 for your birthday 😉
Oh my gosh…are we related???? Because this sounds EXACTLY like something I would do, and when I emailed your blog to my sister, she said, yep, definitely sounds like me.
Cookies, not donuts though. Mmmm…Chocolate chip cookies. Sounds like a good idea for breakfast. But I digress.
I need a new camera too, but the reason I’m not getting one yet is for all the reasons you stated! LOL
Can’t wait to hear what you end up with, cuz I know you’ve hated your camera for a while now.
that’s just way too much trouble for me. I say go to the store, pick up and try out a couple models, buy one, and then take pictures. End of story. 😉
Canon SD1100 Elph….awesome photos, no delay.
Is it too personal to say that I love you because you are so much like me?
Hubby bought me a brand new fancy camera that was way too much money and I dont even know how to work the damn thing…2 months after getting it.
Ugh.
You make me smile. Nay. I’m snorting and chuckling and giggling my way through your posts.
No, I’m not some weirdo stalker. It’s simple: I have broken through my overwhelming snarkiness to be appreciative of your skills . . . THANK YOU!
this will make it easy for you.. a panasonic lumix DMC-LX3
it is very nice..
I’m with Alli above. panasonic lumix except mine’s a DMC-LZ7.Great camera, feels good in your hands i.e not too small and not too big. Lots of features (half of which I’ve never used) nice big screen and takes a pretty good picture. Now days we’re so spoilt for choice that it makes the decision process way too hard.
I’m a Fuji fan for points & shoots. Thanks for sharing this my long lost twin sister. I’m glad we have forgiving husbands.
OMG, seriously…you have me pegged! I think I have done all of the above, and am about as indecisive as they come. Great post!
Wow, you sounded just like me.
Just over from SITS to say hello!
Wondering when you came over and observed me 😉 I am the Google queen
Ahaha!! I have the same trouble with cameras. Agonizing, fretting, and me not wanting to read the whole manual – too ADD.
Vewy funny.
LOL @ this way to start the day, “Look in the mirror and proudly declare I WILL NOT BE AN IDIOT TODAY.”
This post had me rolling! That’s why I leave all technology decisions to my husband. I second-guess myself too much and I can never make a choice!
It’s so funny that you mentioned Chandler Bing b/c that’s exactly what I was thinking when you wrote the line “could the phrase BE any more stupid?” and then I look at the next line and you had mentioned Friends!
I think that must be what my husband goes through when I say I want something or we need something and what does he think would be good? Because he has to have an opinion, and being him, it must be a well researched and footnoted opinion. He will hand me photocopies of Consumer Reports reviews and email links to online reviews, plus give me names & addresses of people he knows who own or contemplate owning said item, to back up his opinion. It’s very handy because I need never google anything myself. The downside is he is busy and it can take him weeks to gather enough info to form an opinion and if I need a washing machine NOW I don’t have time for him to write a dissertation on Maytag versus Kenmore.
I hereby insist you go out and by the Canon SD1100 IS Elph (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/542287-REG/Canon_2512B001_PowerShot_SD1100_IS_Digital.html). I bought this for my daughter for Christmas. And then again last month after the first one was stolen from her at a school dance on January 10th. It’s a *FABULOUS* little camera for $150. Trust me…I’m a DSLR camera nut and I love this little thing. And if you don’t like it, you can blame it on me! I can take it. 🙂
this is {almost} exactly what I went through when I bought my first DSLR. I walked into Best Buy to get a canon, held it and HATED the way it felt.
So, i tried on the Nikon D70, I loved it and it loved me back.
I love my Nikon so much I was able to buy the D300 on line, sight unseen..
Good luck!
I feel the need to bring order to the lives of those whose only outlet is to panic.
Here is knol I wrote on how to choose a camera.
http://knol.google.com/k/david-bennett/choosing-a-digital-camera/31ik4t593mq86/2#
Kind thoughts to all.
David
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With me it’s not cameras, but pocket knives and writing pens. When I buy a knife that I really like, I have a strong
desire to buy 1 or 2 more identical knives just as “backups”. ( these knives cost $50 dollars a pop )
With pens and pencils, it doen’t bother me to buy dozens and dozens since I love them, and they don’t cost too much.
But with the knives, I go to bed thinking of whether or not
I should buy more of a given knife or not, then I wake up
thinking the same thing. I really do try to be financially
responsible.