Friday, January 26, 2007

genius of love

My alternate title for this post was "I'm... in... heaaaaaaven... (with my camera, my laughing camera)." As you can see from this shot of our Aussie, I am no pro photographer (or even a talented amateur, for that matter), but bear in mind that this is one of my first attempts at shooting with this thing right out of box (in crappy light, with a moving target, etc.).

And I think I'm in love.

I won't bore you with all the details, but basically my research took me from deciding on the Canon EOS Rebel xTi (you know, the one that's all over the glossy mags), to the Pentax K10D (because, heck, it's a Pentax!), to the Sony A100 (because love it or hate it, it's a pretty screaming deal for the money), to the Nikon D80 (because, ultimately, the images I saw from this thing blew everything else in its price range out of the water (for me) when it came to the incredible detail and colors that pop right out at you).

This was a substantial (bordering on painful) investment for me, one that I've been saving up for and researching for several months now, so don't think I post my acquisition of this new toy in any kind of a "neener-neener, I got a cool new camera just 'cause I wanted one" kind of way. I've bought cameras for myself before - notably, my Canon EOS Rebel 35 mm that I got in the early 90's, when a deadhead in Santa Cruz walked up to me and said, "Hey, man, I need tickets to the Dead show. You want this camera for forty bucks?"

"Is it stolen?" I asked him.

"No way, man."

"Okay then. Good enough for me."

But I've never bought a camera quite like this, and I'm a little intimidated by the steep granite face of the learning curve looming before me. All I can say is it's a good thing the place where I bought it threw in a bunch of photography lessons. So, you know where to find me at 10 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning.

2 comments:

  1. I could tell from your mystical state that you had bought a D80. It really is fun, isn't it. Which lens?

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  2. Ken, do you have this camera, too? It's awesome, and I know it's just going to get more awesome as I learn how to actually exploit its capabilities. Right now I only have the lens that came with it (Nikkor 18-55 mm), but don't think I haven't started my accessory wish list. I checked out a nice zoom today which, while not a Nikkor, was very reasonably priced and compatible with the D80. Someday... :-)

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