One of the features of lockdown has, of course, been extensive use of Zoom and similar tools for video chat. One of the key things that has enabled this is that I brought the entire contents of my desk from work, including a webcam. Said webcam has been doing double duty as a webcam for our home PC. This has been a major boon, but of course there will come a time when I have to return to the office, and the webcam will go with me.
It is my expectation that even after things return to normal, the use of video chat will remain something of a feature - it's just much easier to get people together online than in person. Consequently, I knew fairly early on in lockdown that I would want to invest in a webcam of my own. (Additionally, if I do end up doing more extensive work from home in the new normal, having a camera here would just mean one less thing to have to cart back and forward.)
So I did what I usually do with this sort of thing and spent some time researching the market, narrowed my choices down to a few solid options from reputable suppliers, and then picked an item. And having made my choice, that was it - I try really hard not to agonise over these choices once they're made - even if they're not the best choice, they're typically good enough... and certainly good enough to render any further stress not worthwhile.
The chosen camera was out of stock everywhere, of course. And then, when it did come in stock, there was a Coronavirus premium applied, such that it was way more than it 'should' have been, and certainly way more than I was set to pay when there was no pressing need for it.
Still, it was a pain constantly looking to see if it had come back into stock at any decent price, or being tempted with alternatives at lower prices - most of which, I'm sure, were perfectly adequate for the job I wanted done... they just weren't the chosen item.
Well, the good news is that the item in question finally came back into stock, from a source I hadn't really considered (but am happy to use). So it should arrive later this week. I'll then look to set it up on both PCs, in preparation for returning the current camera back to the office.
#31: "The Broken Sword", by Poul Anderson
#32: "Sharpe's Sword", by Bernard Cornwell
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