I have always thought that the goofy case that came with my camera was just to make me feel like I got something for my money, that it made the camera bulky and a pain to get out. It turns out, that it in fact serves a useful purpose! I have owned several Sony cybershots but all have at some point or another developed the same problem that when I zoomed all the way in “junk” came in to focus on the lens. This was so frequent a problem that I even added a flickr keyword dirtylens to sort out the problem photos.

I could stand it no more, so I got to know Panama city a little bit by visiting 6 different camera shops til I could find somebody to diagnose and fix the problem. Upon opening my camera he reported that it was “totally full of dust”. $68.00 later, my camera seems much improved and they even gave me a random case so I can prevent the problem in the future. I’ll be a loyal case user from now on.

In the states this would have been a tedious errand, but in Panama it was kind of fun to have a purpose, a reason to go places and a mission to accomplish. Also I can feel my Spanish returning as I use it more, which is nice.