My birthday is this Wednesday. As I am an adult now and birthdays are sort of just days, long gone are the big parties with lots of gifts, I try to treat myself to something for my year of hard work. Well maybe it’s not that hard, but still work.
I’ve been without a good camera (DSLR) for about 8 months now. I sold my old Canon 300D this past summer. I had owned it for a few years and never thought I’d part with it. But I did.
Being without a DSLR for the last 8 months has kinda sucked. I’ve been stuck using a little point and shoot Lumix, which isn’t bad, but doesn’t give me the kind of control I’m after.
I found a Nikon D40 on Craigslist this week for $300 (body only) and decided to jump at it. I was really hoping to get myself into a Nikon D90 with its video abilities and all, but the money isn’t there yet. A couple of guys I know at work have a D40 and so I got to play around with theirs. Although it is the entry level Nikon DSLR, it does have some nice features and takes great pictures.
I’ve shot with pretty much every brand out there, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Nikon cameras. I just like their look and feel. But this is the first Nikon DSLR I’ve ever owned. I used to shoot film on a Nikon FE.
So far I’m really happy with it. I already had two Nikon mount lenses left over with my film camera so they’ll hold me over until I can get some new glass for this camera. Right now I can’t do any autofocusing. My 50mm has to go completely manual on the camera. In some ways this is kinda nice. It gets me back into doing things the old fashioned way, which often results in the best images.
Maybe later this year or next year I’ll get the D90, but I figure, until I can afford to lay down the coin for it, I might as well still be shooting.
This was my first craigslist purchase and it went great. I met the girl down the street from where I live and got to see and shoot a picture with the camera before paying for it. She said she only had it for 7 months and it looks like it. It’s in perfect (like new) condition.
Happy birthday to me I guess. :)
So you’ll be seeing a lot more photography on this blog in the future. Until then, here’s a couple images I shot this afternoon with the D40 and my 50mm lens.
Happy Birthday!
@lizheartshakespeare – Thanks. Although I’m not happy about the age thing. lol
@roxics – yea, its never fun after the big 21, is it?
happy birthday :) and great pics!
i got myself a canon xsi a few months back and barely use it…you’ve just inspired me to get back into my passion, thank you!
I have an old Canon Rebel XT (6 MP) and I’ve been thinking of switching to Nikon because I picked up a friend’s and loved it. Which is strange because I’ve always been a Canon person, but the Nikon seemed to take better pictures. It might just be the age of my Canon, I don’t know. But I’ve had my eyes on the D40 for a while.
Anyways, Happy Birthday!
@ithiliya – The Rebel XT is only about a year older then the D40. Higher resolution. The XT is 8 megapixels and the D40 is 6. The D40 has a bigger LCD though, but picture quality should be similar between the cameras. Canon usually has a slight technological edge.
I do prefer the look and feel of the Nikon’s myself though, so I know what you’re saying.
@roxics – Actually, and I know this is going to sound very weird (trust me, I double-checked it) but there is apparently a first-version XT and a second-version XT. My XT, swear to God, is 6 MP. Believe me, I was shocked when I saw the 8 MP Canon XT at Best Buy. I thought for sure I was wrong and my camera had more MP than I thought (which would’ve been really weird since I’d had the camera for about a year at this point), but when I got home, sure as shit, there it was… 6 MP. I know. It’s weird. Even then I didn’t believe my own eyes, so I went on the Canon website… website said 8, my camera said 6. It still confuses me to this day how that happens.
Maybe I was thinking of the D90… whichever one allows you to use the LCD screen as a viewfinder. I think it’s 8 MP. Retails for about $800-$1000 with kit lens, depending on the store. I’ve just started playing around with the idea of getting a Nikon so I haven’t done too much research.
I like the feel of the Nikon, but NOT the menus. The menus confuse me, but I’m sure after playing with it for a few weeks it’ll be just as second-nature as the Canon menus are to me now.
@ithiliya – Huh that is really strange. Well either way the image quality should be in the same ballpark as the D40.
The D90 is probably what you’re thinking of. It’s 12megapixel, has liveview and shoots 720p HD video in 5 minute clips. That’s the one I would like to pick up eventually. But until then the D40 keeps me shooting.
@roxics – Oh, no… the D90 is the one I really want, but couldn’t afford :) Must be something else.
Yeah, my XT keeps me shooting, too. It’ll probably be a while before I get my next DSLR, what with the economy being as it is, and I’m not sure yet whether or not I’ll get another Canon, or switch to Nikon. I don’t have too many Canon lenses, so I’ll probably just sell all my Canon equipment and “convert” ;)