I have shopped internationally countless times, but for some reason, I have not yet tried cargo forwarding. The idea is, basically, the forwarders give you your "own" US address (which I would guess an address of their facility) then ship them to you. Johnny Air was making a lot of noise in this industry but for this shopscapade we're doing, I'll be using My Shopping Box (MSB).

I recently found out that BDO customers can sign up for My Shopping Box and get the first year subscription for FREE (regularly priced at $25/year), so I thought, heck, let's give this a go.

Note that this shopping experience is not yet complete as of writing. I thought it's a nice idea that we run through it altogether so you can kind-of feel the experience firsthand-ish, too. Am I making sense?

Anyhoo, this is the item we are going to get:

[caption id="attachment_509" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] It's a leather case for my Sony HX60v (Review soon!) (The items says it's for HX50, but that's okay. They're of the same size.[/caption]

So we are shopping from Amazon.com (US).

Eneloop sounds like they have the best promise about rechargeable batteries I've ever heard.

In case you haven't heard, Eneloop is a product from Japan by Sanyo that consentrates on batteries and other battery associated devices.

I've got myself an Eneloop 4x AA Blister Pack which seems to be the latest ones thet have of its kind.

Here's the comparison between the old and the new one I got from their site:

 

New, improved eneloop

(HR-3UTGB & HR-4UTGB)

Up to 1800 charging cycles

Up to 90% of charge remaining
after 1 year of storage

Up to 70% of charge remaining
after 5 years of storage

Old eneloop

(HR-3UTGA & HR-4UTGA)

Up to 1500 charging cycles

Up to 75% of charge remaining
after 3 years of storage

Up to 85% of charge remaining
after 1 year of storage

It also comes pre-charged so you can use it right away just like regular disposable batteries. Just remember NOT to throw it away. ;)

I got this pack from Fujifilm for P850.00 at SM Megamall.
Be sure to get yours from stores you trust because I heard there are fake ones you'd probably find lurking around. Hint: when it's too much below the mall price, think twice.

These are the stores which carry Eneloop batteries:
- CDR-king
- Infomaxx
- Henry's
- Camerahaus
- Fujifilm

Look for the Genuine Eneloop seal!


(Let's just hope there are no fake seals.)

I'm using this pack for my bridge camera--still on the factory charge. And I will be more than happy to give dates on how long it lasts after a few uses. If it lives up to its promises, then this just might be the best rechargeable AA's I've ever had.

So do you know of any other rechargeable batteries better than this?

Using my camera phone to take snaps is the farthest my experience in photography can go.
But having to take shots indoors most of the time, it really intrigued me if it is just my phone's cam or my indoor lights are really that bad.
So I thought getting a better camera, or should I say, I real camera will do the trick.

It gets me a little interested in cameras right now, but I know myself too well this interest is easily going to pass.
So I did a few (I maybe understating) searching for good camera, a DSLR is definitely too much and then a compact point-it-shoot might be enough but I am actually looking for something more, let's say... 2013.

Here are the things I considered:
- good aesthetics (for a non photographers this might be a really big factor)
- works well in a low-lit environment
- Wi-Fi connectivity

And of course that's just among the few other things that a camera should actually do.
Here are the camera's I considered:

Pentax Efina

I'm not exactly as "kikay" as this sounds, but this is really cute and I am really a sucker for floral designs. So cute!
While it is obviously compact and beautiful, considering it's price at roughly P3,300, we wouldn't really expect this to be any better than my Xperia phone's camera.

2) PENTAX LS465

It has interchangeable skins. THAT is something you don't see everyday in a camera. It might be even one of its kind! Probably for the reason that nobody cares about no skins, but hey, I do.
Price is around P4,000 in online stores.

3) FujiFilm Finepix S2980

S2980 is the most advance among the three. What I love about it is that it looks like a DSLR--but smaller and with non-replaceable lenses. It's an advance point-and-shoot camera also called bridge cameras--advanced enough that I could not understand them. This one, I believe, is really affordable for it's kind, at around P7,000 (mall price).

I would have added Samsung WB250F in the list because I said I wanted Wi-Fi connectivity (and none of the above has it) but I discovered that it is possible for almost any digital camera to get Wi-Fi capabilities through Wi-Fi SDHC cards. (More on that soon)

Well that's a few thoughts I wanted to share. Will soon figure out which one suits me best! Enough nitpickling for today.

 

Related articles

• As Digital Camera Sales Sputter, Fujifilm Finds Its Niche (nytimes.com)
• Gizmodo Camera Buying Guide: Mirrorless Cameras Explained (gizmodo.com.au)