Well, recently a "Cyber Monday" deal brought the price down to $550. Cheap! Even the bait-and-switch price had been higher than that. Plus a Live Search cashback offer would give me back another 2%. And no taxes. And free shipping.
Additionally, I had recently discovered some things about my credit cards. For example, my MasterCards added extended warranties to my purchases automatically (Visa requires you to register your purchases with them, and only if your service agency covers it). So it would double the 1-year warranty on the HV30 at no cost to me. ALSO one of my MasterCards has a 6% interest. 6%! (Not that I often carry a balance, but still) [This is my new primary card.]
It was time to buy.
In addition to the HV30, I added a Canon DM-50 directional microphone and a Modo Steady 585 camera support, all at B&H Photo-Video, all with 2% cashback.
The only thing left to do was log in to my credit card site, make sure all of my information was up to date, and link it to my checking account (I don't like to make purchases unless I know for sure how it's going to be paid for). Ideally, there will also be an auto-pay option that I can set up so I never ever miss a payment.
Let's see, click login, put in my info, hit enter...
System UnavailableHuh. That's weird. Try again....
The system is currently unavailable. Please contact customer service.
System UnavailableHmm. :-( That's not good. I want to buy this camera (who knows how long this deal will last?) but I won't do it until I link my credit card account with my bank account. I can't.
The system is currently unavailable. Please contact customer service.
So, I wait a few hours and try again and
System UnavailableGrr. A few hours later, the same thing. Late into the evening/early morning, the same thing.
The system is currently unavailable. Please contact customer service.
Frustrated, I go to bed.
When I awoke, I immediately panicked. Was the sale over? Rushing to the computer I found, no, it was still the same price. Hey, maybe this is just the new price? It is December, after all. The new HV model should drop next month, with even BETTER features (but a higher price tag). And they're probably clearing out stock before the end of the fiscal year. I relaxed, logged in to my credit account and
System UnavailableDAMMIT! Why is this happening? I can't link my credit card to my checking accout via customer service.
The system is currently unavailable. Please contact customer service.
So I forget about it and go back to work. It's final-projects week (I'm waiting for a download to finish so I can reboot, which is why I'm writing this instead of working on that right now). Many hours later, I needed to wait for a download to finish so I could reboot (hey!) and with nothing else to do, I tried (again) to log in to my credit card account and HEY! IT WORKED! Hooray!
Time to checkout!
Oh, it's after midnight and the sale is over. The HV30 went up $40.
And there is no auto-pay.
:-(
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From a photographer's perspective: Canon 5D mark II DSLR, whilst extremely expensive (>$2000 body only), it supports HD recording, 1920 x 1200. Which means...if you get all the cool lenses, you get to use that camera to shoot HD videos! Not to mention the 23 megapixel, high-quality pictures you get to take with that one.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it's still up to the memory card to determine how long of a video you can capture, but to me, this is a better route considering me more of a photographer than a video director...
Still sad though.
Non-video cameras aren't great for taking videos. My TZ5 can shoot 'HD' video (1280x720), but the quality is not as good as a dedicated camcorder.
ReplyDeleteAlso, so far the quality of videos recorded to flash has not caught up with the quality of videos recorded to tape, for a number of reasons (not the least of which is that even with compression the flash can't [currently] record as much data as quickly as the tape).
Also also, >$2000 for the just the body? Woof. I didn't buy the HV30 because of $40, let alone >$1500.
The 5D is a nice still camera though. Just not remotely in my price range. ^_^