Monday 22 December 2014

It's good, it's good, oh no it isn't

First off many thanks to everyone who's sent us season's greetings by various means. I hope and believe that we've replied to you all individually, but just in case, thanks again!

The day started well with my new camera arriving early. What's more, it was undamaged, though the packing was a little haphazard. Mind you, the manual was all in Japanese, but I soon found the English language version online and downloaded it.

Similarly, the power adaptor was a two pin type but, as Sheila's camera is also a Panasonic Lumix and a quick check of the rating plates of the two adaptors showed that they had the same outputs, I soon had the new one on charge.

It had been shipped with the battery stone cold flat, so it was over three hours before I could start playing with the new toy.

To discover that the on-screen menus were all in Japanese...

No matter, working with the downloaded manual let me navigate through the setup menu to the language selection option.

Which wasn't there...

Some more Googling brought up the very unwelcome news that cameras sold into the Japanese domestic market only have Japanese on-screen menus and there is nothing that can be done about it. There had been absolutely nothing about this in the seller's info on Amazon. With a simple camera, I might have managed, but the whole point of this one is that it has GPS and WiFi capability, as well as a wide range of shooting options, so not being able to understand the on-screen prompts for the settings makes it unusable.

I've requested a refund and I'm sure that Amazon will make sure that I get one, but I bet it doesn't include the import duty I've paid, nor yet the postage to send it back to Japan.

Moral: don't buy stuff online from overseas unless it's foolproof stuff like USB connectors.

Ironically, looking away from Amazon, I've found the identical camera from another retailer in the UK, all menus and manuals in English and cheaper if you take into account the import costs. It's too close to Christmas to start ordering it now, so my unChristmas present will have to wait until the New Year after all.

Heigh ho, that's how it goes, I guess, we live and learn.

Have a great holiday season, one and all, and I'll be back when I come round.

;))

3 comments:

Jo said...

What a bummer. The best laid plans an' a' that ... Wynne's coat (my present to him) was a size too small - he ordered it against my advice. I reminded him of a well-known bit of wisdom for men .. "If at first you don't succeed, do what your wife told you in the first place"! Have a great Christmas ...love from us

Tom and Jan said...

Brace yourself to also lose some money over the exchange rate during the refund! Happened to me... :-(

KevinTOO said...

Happy Christmas Bruce & Sheila... how about a learn Japanese DVD as a stocking filler. ;)