Shopping at Ebay: Give me some of that old time, old time technology

Look at this—a new in box, Kodak Easyshare DX-4530 digital camera.  I found it on Ebay (with a surprising number of bids) and still won with a winning bid of $27.30.

I owned this model once before, when I bought one direct from Kodak all the way back in March 2005.  It cost $250.00 then, but I think I got my money’s worth.  Took hundreds of pics and lots of videos over the years.   It never gave me a bit of trouble until February 2015, when one night it just… died.  The little whirring motor (that opens and juts the lens forward) just clack-clack-clacked, then small buzzing sounds, a whiff of smoke and nothing.

I shook it, pleaded with it, fed it fresh batteries and prayed over it but I guess it was it’s time to go.

(In a panic I jumped online & found a couple used ones on Ebay pretty cheap—only around $10.00 each.  But I discovered soon enough why they were so cheap.  They were beaten up, worn out & pretty much junk.  Pictures were awful.)  

It was time to get with the times (no, not a smartphone) and buy a new camera.

I wound up buying a Canon Power-Shot, loved the small size of it—AND ABSOLUTELY HATED THE PHOTOS. 

It came with a thousand settings, but no matter how I adjusted them, my pictures had a ‘sallow’ tinge or were too bright or too garish and I’d have to “edit them down” on my computer. 

And the camera beeped ‘blur alerts’ for not holding it perfectly steady.  I just wanted a decent point-and-shoot camera!

And then a few days ago… I was rewarded with this blast from the past. 

It includes a 128MB memory card—haha, wow!  I’ll have you know, when this camera was first introduced it got high praise for its rugged body, ease of use and automatic color settings.  I owned my first one for 11 years and never bothered wih the few settings it DID have (quality of photos or flash brightness levels)

Ah, nothing like ripping open that little yellow & black Kodak seal on the camera’s cellophane… it feels like 2005 all over again.  I need to dig up a couple AA NIMH rechargeable batteries, be right back.

Here I am!  (Found them in my toolbox, but it took a couple hours to recharge them.)  And now for my first test photo—no settings to adjust, just point & shoot.

Sweet!  AND NO PHOTO EDITING.  (I took a couple of selfies too, but don’t want to share them here, I need a shave.  Suffice it to say, my skin looks normal and not like I have Canon Power Shot malaria.)

Aw, that date at the bottom is very nostalgic.  I’ll probably get rid of that.  I can just hear the heckling I’m going to get from my friend Danielle for this retro-tech. 

I thought it was funny (and a bit sad) that the seller wrote on his listing “I paid $250.00 for this camera and never got the chance to use it even once.  The receipt is still attached to the box, so please keep that in mind when bidding!”

Sir, I realize you didn’t exactly make a profit here—but I promise you, your outdated camera has found a happy home!