The Camera Story...

   Visiting new places also comes with the requirement of capturing photographs with some good camera, not necessarily with digital SLR but at least with digital camera of few mega pixels and considerable optical zoom.  I have a digital camera of 8 mega pixels and 3X optical zoom. I bought that in 2006 when I was in Japan. I was satisfied with the quality of the images I captured with it and I had no intention of replacing it in near future. During my stay in USA my friend suggested me to buy new camera but I ignored his suggestion, I was firm on my decision. But one day we were coming back from office, my friend casually said "At least you can take a look at wide variety of cameras and many other things". I nodded, there was no harm in spending some time in that giant electronic store. We parked the car and entered the store. The store was obviously huge with a wide variety of various electronic items. My friend took me to camera section, there were plenty of cameras of different companies and types. I took a look at almost every camera on display, I tried one by one and spent almost an hour. Honestly it was a tempting experience and I started feeling like to buy one Digital SLR camera. I left the store that evening with the thought of buying in my mind.

 I kept searching on the web about the different types of cameras, their features and off course the deal on it. Numerous available options created a lot of confusion in my mind. Then my friend came to my rescue and after listening to my requirement he shortlisted one camera, just a digital camera not the SLR one. I was surprised, I told him again that I need a Digital SLR one, I have digital camera with me already, I need enhanced one. He told me to look at the features of the shortlisted camera. It was camera  from SONY with 30X optical zoom and 16 mega pixels. It was having almost all the features which I needed. Powerful optical zoom, recording capability of HD movies, numerous types of modes to capture the snaps and many more. One of my American colleague gave me a directory of numerous electronic items to look at the other available options too. After referring it, I drew conclusion that SONY HX100V is far better than any other camera I was looking for, in terms features and price. My decision was finalized and that evening we visited the nearest electronic store from the office. With the utter enthusiasm I ordered my chosen model of the SONY, the assistant checked the online system and apologized in a humble voice that the model is out of stock. My friend then asked her "when can we expect the new stock"? She replied "we don't have any idea but may be in couple of days 2 models will be arriving". We asked her to check it in other stores but to our much surprise it was not available in any of the store and finally she advised us to book the one so that whenever new stock will arrive we will let you know. We agreed, registered my name and came back. I was relieved that now I have registered myself and the store authorities will notify me when the model will be in stock. Two days passed, nobody called us, we checked our emails multiple times in vein. My friend decided to call them to check out what is the status, he dialed the phone number of the store but there were 3 more customers before him, he waited for some time and then ended the call. Dialing after couple of hours, got the same response, just to wait. I was worried, I wanted that model at any cost, but my friend told me not to worry.

Next day my friend again called the store located at San Bernardino, this time the call was attended and my friend was told that next day we are getting our new stock so we will let you know as soon as possible. So this time at least we got some new information. There was no other alternative than to wait and watch. Next day in the afternoon my friend received call from store that they have one item of SONY HX100V with them and if we are interested then we can visit the store and buy it, but.. the only thing is that, this is an open item, that means it was bought by some one and it was returned to the store due to some reason. Normally these kind of items are scrutinized, get repaired if needed and sold as an open item with considerable discount. I thought for a while but then decided not to go for an open item (I prefer to buy brand new things especially when it comes to electronic items). My friend asked to the store operator about the status of new items and she told in a usual humble voice that they are no new items of the desired camera coming to the store in next 2-3 weeks. As per my schedule I was about to fly to India in one and half week. My friend then called few more stores of nearby area asking about the availability of the camera but to our surprise, none of the store was having the stock and none of them had ordered it yet. I was totally upset and decided to give up. I was wondering why this model is out of stock from almost every store? More than that, why it was not getting reordered. I searched it on web page of every store, but it was showing out of stock except on the SONY's website, there it was in stock but the price was more, it was more than $100. I was not willing to pay $100 extra to get that camera. We decided to storm the store near our office in the evening again, this was going to be our last attempt to grab this model of camera in the cheaper price. We entered the store and went directly to the 'camera section'. This time the model was not even on the display, I was loosing my hopes. Then we tried few other models of various brands but I was not in a position to accept those, I wanted only SONY HX100V and I was firm on my decsion. We contacted store assistant and put up our demand in front of her. She thought for a while and replied, "You pay now and we will order it for you, you will get it in 3-4 working days".  Finally we got some ray of hope, we immediately proceeded to pay the amount. Assistant checked her system and told us with the smiley face that we will be getting super discount on the camera and on the accessories. I selected the camera cover and external memory card. We paid the amount, picked up the empty cover and memory card wrapper and returned to home with the assurance of getting camera in 4 working days, this assurance was important for me because I was in hurry, my stay in America was about to end in one and half week.
  The last part of the story was that we were still doubtful about getting the camera  and were thinking that the store will apologize and will return the money we paid. We were more skeptical when four working days of delivery were extended by two more days. I was nervous as I was having just a few days in my hand. But fortunately the store kept the word and delivered my 'wanted' thing to me. I opened the packing excitingly, captured few snaps with it and realized its power. I became sad by thinking that I could not capture the most exciting snaps with my new camera as my stay in US was coming to end. But when I visited the office next day, I came to know that my stay in US was extended by 2 months, giving me the opportunity to use the new product....