get a dSLR

photography is my fave kind of art, just wanna express my self and i cant really do that with my “idiot” from olympus FE series…

saved up and got the pentax k10d from a store with a custom lens in april last year… and still loving the camera :)
check out my photos at http://williamli.hk/photos

I got a Nikon D60, I’d recommend it to everyone out there! It’s fabulous. You can see some examples on my Flickr via my 43Things profile (:
xox

I’ve got a crappy digital point and shoot, an SLR, and a huge love of photography.
I’m just lacking money.
Why must they be so incredibly expensive?

Got the Sony A100. Tried it out, and it went back. I was dissatisfied with the quality of low light photos.

Replaced it with a Pentax K10D. I couldn’t be happier. It was more money than I wanted to spend, but it was worth it. I can see my photos improving. This lifts me out of the “untalented rank amateur” category and puts me firmly into the “untalented rank amateur with a pretty damn good camera” category.

I can see that I’m going to have to start working on white balance indoors at work, though. (Yes, taking pictures is part of my job, though they don’t expect professional quality. Whew.)

Ordered Compact Flash cards today. We may have one or two at work that I can use to try the camera out before opening the ones I ordered. Also picked up a cheap card reader for when I’m away from my home computer. Hope I’m done spending money!

Well, maybe not. My first trial pictures from http://www.mpix.com arrived today. The metallic paper is stunning, and sepia prints could be fun to play with. I won’t print everything, but I’ll be using them again soon, I hope.

My local camera store won’t match the price on their website because they’re not affiliated. Odd, I’d think a store and a website with the same name and logo would have some kind of relationship, but what do I know? And why does a camera body cost the same as a camera and lens kit?

So I’ve ordered it. The salesman at the store was such a huge help that I don’t want to have him lose the sale, but I can’t spend the extra $150.

Yea verily, this sucketh mightily.

Picked the camera—the Sony A100 will use my old Minolta lenses. Got to do some haggling over the price, but I hope to buy it tomorrow. I’ve saved for two years to get this camera, I guess waiting until tomorrow won’t kill me.


I did buy filters for my lenses, though. I’ve wanted to play with filters for a while, but when I was using film, just taking pictures and having them processed was prohibitively expensive, never mind buying filters and taking multiple photos. I passed on the blue filter, though, until I play a bit with the white balance on this camera. The polarizing filter will be fun, especially while photographing smoke.


I also bought a new tripod. I wonder how much I’ll use it, with the Sony’s image stabilization. But the old one was battered and a bit lightweight for this camera. And this one comes with a built in bubble level, so that’s one more item I don’t have to carry with me. And I know I’ll use it for low light conditions.


I hope the Sony can handle the low light conditions I shoot in. I’ve read reviews complaining about noise when shooting above ISO 400. I’m going to have to try that quickly, because it would be a dealbreaker if it turns out to be a real problem. Since my next choice is the Nikon D80, which is out of my price range, I’m seriously hoping the Sony works for me.


I swear I’m going to go back and photograph that old retaining wall when I get this camera.

I love my new baby.