YesBut that was the fourth week of August

One word sums up this week - blur.

The week started with Mr & Mrs YesBut visiting Holland. We returned by overnight coach on Tuesday. Ten hours in a coach is enough to scramble anybody’s mind.

I did learn, or rather one thing was confirmed while I was in Holland - my dear old camera which I love dearly, while being adequate for taking shots of mountains that haven’t moved for millions of years, or buildings that remain relatively stationary, is wilfully inadequate when trying to photograph a one year old granddaughter.

I always knew it was slow. When I say slow, I mean positively sluggish. When photographing a tortoise, if the shutter button is pressed just as the tortoises head appears in the viewfinder, the shutter opens just as the tortoises tail is disappearing out of view.

So at my granddaughters first birthday party, she’d give me a broad smile - press shutter button >>>>> click. Look at photo, she’s either turned her head or has disappeared out of view completely.

So when I got back to London, I invested in a new camera. According to the reviews its “ace”.

I cannot understand people who enjoy shopping, I hate doing it intensely. I can’t just wander around shops, I need to know what I want before leaving the house. So before buying a camera, I had to spend hours on the internet researching cameras. That’s where the trouble started. First, there are all those model numbers. Not only is there a Fujuo A600, there’s the Fujuo A600x and the Fujuo A600x - fd. All very confusing.

I’d read a glowing report on a camera; think, “this is the one for me”. Do a quick check, and find another review if not rubbishing it, doesn’t rate it highly. Finally, I selected the make and model I wanted. Went to London’s Tottenham Court Road, (the location of all the camera and computer shops), only to be told that the camera has been superseded by a new model. OK, you might think, newer hence better, no it doesn’t work like that. The new model doesn’t have the same features the older model had. Which should I buy the old model with all the glowing reviews, or the new model, which hasn’t been tested yet? YesBut’s brain couldn’t take the stress and strain - went for the old model.

Looking forward to trying it out, once I’ve finished reading the 150-page instruction manual. But at least it looks as if it’s written in English. I think the manual for the last camera was written in Japanese and translated into English by someone who knew neither Japanese nor English - total gibberish.

What’s EV and White Balance?

Did you know that “When the amount of light striking the CCD doubles, the EV increases by 1”? I think this is going to be a struggle.