As a passionate photographer, I just adore to take pictures notably while travelling, to capture all the great places, nice or funny or weird moments. So, before leaving, I got my camera (with a nice 18-200mm lense) repaired , as there was a problem with the lense. It was quite difficult to find a place which still actually repairs a lense of a digital camera rather than just sending it to Canon directly, but eventually it worked and the lense came back - working just fine.
After three days in Istanbul, the same problem started again and in order not to aggravate the situation, we asked around to find a camera repair shop and eventually found a kind of shopping centre with dozens of camera shops only... After initially being sent around from one shop to the next - from ground floor to first floor, from left to right (just like in Asterix, where they have to get some forms in an administrative building), we found a place that promised to repair it in one hour for quite a good price (half of what I had paid in Brussels). After an hour, we returned and they asked us for more time as it was "complicated"... (They did not speak English by the way, but we communicated - including about technical details of my lense - by each of us typing things into google translation !!!). The next day, we returned and they told me that the lense could not be repaired, but at least that had removed a non-essential part which was broken and which blocked the zoom, so that I could continue to use it... As I got scared that the lense would break completely somewhere of my trip, I bought a standard lense, just in case to have a lense at all in case of a total break down... Which later on turned out to be a mistake...
A week later, having arrived in Kayseri, the lense blocked completely and part of the inner case came loose... So, this was it.... I now had the choice to continue my trip with only a standard 50mm lense or to buy another one... I went for the latter option, but in the one million city of Kayseri, while there are lots of hospitals (see the tooth-story...), there are basically no camera shops... We asked around and were finally pointed to a MediaMarkt in a brand new shopping centre a bit outside the centre, but unfortunately, they had no choice in Canon lenses.... By coincidence we saw an advertisement in the street for a shop not too far and this is where we found a decent choice of lenses, but more expensive than I thought... But I really wanted to continue to take decent pictures throughout my trip, so I decided to make another investment in a 18-135mm lense. Of course, now I regretted that I had spent all this money for the 50mm lense and, on top of it, that I did not directly buy the 18-135 I was offered in Istanbul for a much lower price (but, as a Swabian (for those not familiar with Swabians (Southern Germans from Württemberg): we are told to be the Scottish people of Germany... ;-) ), I did not want to make an unnecessary purchase as the other lense still functioned... Regrets... Regrets... But what could I do... There I was and I had to spend even more money!! The only consolation for my poor Swabian soul was that I could negotiate quite a discount for paying cash and another one for my broken lense, parts of which they could still use as spare parts when repairing other cameras... Anyway, there was no point in carrying a heavy lense with me that could not be repaired anymore...
Now I really hope that this "investment" pays off and that the lense will stay alive for many years, but in any case at least until the end of this trip... Not only because I am photo-enthusiastic Swabian, but also in your interest so that you can see beautiful photos! :-) This is is my well-known altruistic side, which at least sometimes compensates for being Swabian. ;-) so, please, once the photos are uploaded (hopefully soon), please enjoy them FULLY!!!!
Photos Kayseri
After three days in Istanbul, the same problem started again and in order not to aggravate the situation, we asked around to find a camera repair shop and eventually found a kind of shopping centre with dozens of camera shops only... After initially being sent around from one shop to the next - from ground floor to first floor, from left to right (just like in Asterix, where they have to get some forms in an administrative building), we found a place that promised to repair it in one hour for quite a good price (half of what I had paid in Brussels). After an hour, we returned and they asked us for more time as it was "complicated"... (They did not speak English by the way, but we communicated - including about technical details of my lense - by each of us typing things into google translation !!!). The next day, we returned and they told me that the lense could not be repaired, but at least that had removed a non-essential part which was broken and which blocked the zoom, so that I could continue to use it... As I got scared that the lense would break completely somewhere of my trip, I bought a standard lense, just in case to have a lense at all in case of a total break down... Which later on turned out to be a mistake...
A week later, having arrived in Kayseri, the lense blocked completely and part of the inner case came loose... So, this was it.... I now had the choice to continue my trip with only a standard 50mm lense or to buy another one... I went for the latter option, but in the one million city of Kayseri, while there are lots of hospitals (see the tooth-story...), there are basically no camera shops... We asked around and were finally pointed to a MediaMarkt in a brand new shopping centre a bit outside the centre, but unfortunately, they had no choice in Canon lenses.... By coincidence we saw an advertisement in the street for a shop not too far and this is where we found a decent choice of lenses, but more expensive than I thought... But I really wanted to continue to take decent pictures throughout my trip, so I decided to make another investment in a 18-135mm lense. Of course, now I regretted that I had spent all this money for the 50mm lense and, on top of it, that I did not directly buy the 18-135 I was offered in Istanbul for a much lower price (but, as a Swabian (for those not familiar with Swabians (Southern Germans from Württemberg): we are told to be the Scottish people of Germany... ;-) ), I did not want to make an unnecessary purchase as the other lense still functioned... Regrets... Regrets... But what could I do... There I was and I had to spend even more money!! The only consolation for my poor Swabian soul was that I could negotiate quite a discount for paying cash and another one for my broken lense, parts of which they could still use as spare parts when repairing other cameras... Anyway, there was no point in carrying a heavy lense with me that could not be repaired anymore...
Now I really hope that this "investment" pays off and that the lense will stay alive for many years, but in any case at least until the end of this trip... Not only because I am photo-enthusiastic Swabian, but also in your interest so that you can see beautiful photos! :-) This is is my well-known altruistic side, which at least sometimes compensates for being Swabian. ;-) so, please, once the photos are uploaded (hopefully soon), please enjoy them FULLY!!!!
Photos Kayseri
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