If you’re a regular reader of this blog you may have noticed I didn’t publish the usual Friday Image last week. Instead, I was at a used car dealership picking up a new car. I decided after more than 6 years of excellent service, it was time to change my trusty Honda Civic for a newer car.
The Honda was now 9 years old and had 108,000 on the clock (90,000 of which is my mileage). The replacement car is a 3 year old Volvo, which I hope to run for a similar period and also hope is just as reliable. You see, I like to buy good quality used cars with Low Mileage, then run these until they start to wear out. This way, the bulk of the depreciation has already been suffered by someone else.
Taking the Honda as an example, the engine was running amazingly well and had plenty of miles left. But there were a few niggling problems starting to surface. The windscreen washer motor had sprung a leak and had to be replaced. Then the air conditioning had packed up a few weeks back. Then most worrying there was an odd mechanical clunk from the engine when setting off or slowing down which could be felt through the peddles. Time to change.
Whilst thinking about buying a low mileage quality used cars, I realised that my camera buying habits were quite different. Most of my cameras tend to be purchased new and I am the one suffering the depreciation. What I should be doing is looking for good examples of excellent used equipment that’s been well maintained. I could probably have saved myself a small fortune by now.
Changing the subject almost entirely, the image you see at the top of the screen is the one that I would have published if I had been able to shoot it in time. It’s a rock formation called The Trinnacle, found at Dovestone near to where I live. It’s one that I have tried to find a number of times in the past but often the path has been blocked by various natural and man made features. This time I was able to reach it and captured the image using my Sony RX10.
Since I had the RX10 repaired (the lens unit was replaced as it had a fungus problem – so much for being sealed) it’s performed brilliantly. The image quality definitely exceeds the previous lens and this continues to be my go to camera for walking. I wonder at what stage I will decide it needs to be traded in for a newer model.
