Cultivated Nonsense » nikon

New Toys, New Hobbies

Jason — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:09:43 +0000

I have a new toy! Like I had been talking about for a week…this morning I went out and actually bought myself a DSLR. Specifically A Nikon D3000:

Nikon D3000

Had to take that picture with my point and shoot. But there it is! 70% of my tax refund! Before I get into the camera, I need to plug the place I bought it from because they’re totally awesome.

The place: Danella Photographic in New Hartford. They’re a specialty camera store, locally run. I went in there and talked to the guy at the counter, explaining what I was trying to do and what I needed the camera for. I mentioned that I was looking at the D3000 and he brought one out for me to play with. He spent the next 45 minutes to an hour showing me how to use the camera and gave me a basic lesson in the more advanced Photography, including some very helpful tips and tricks for how to get some good results. He said once I take some shots and get comfortable with the camera that I can bring some in and he’d take a look at them and give me some advice, as well as go over some of the more advanced functions. He remembered Wassy from when she was in there a couple weeks ago too.

The camera cost me $100 more than it would have if I went over to Best Buy and picked one up. But nobody at Best Buy is going to be spending an hour walking me through it.

When I got home, it turned out that I was REALLY lucky with the lighting outdoors. I went out to see what I could do and get some practice in around the apartment complex. We have this nice little section of woods behind our building with a creek running through and everything. Wassy went down there last weekend in the morning and picked up some amazing shots, so I headed down there this afternoon to see what I could find. I managed to snap a couple of decent shots, I think (out of the 75 or so pictures I took down there). It was hard to see what I was taking on the LCD screen since it was so sunny out, but I was trying to experiment with the various settings.

As it turns out, the second picture down here is almost exactly the same as one of the ones Wassy took. I managed to find the exact same bit of plant and snap a picture in the exact same way. The only difference was in the lighting the fact that hers was frost covered. Freaky. Here’s some of what I got:

Really excited to have a new hobby to pursue. Especially one that’s in more of the creative space. And I’m REALLY happy with the camera. I was hoping they would have something used, but Wassy nabbed the one used one they had in the price range I was looking for, so I went with the D3000 (the slightly upgraded version of the D60).

Looking forward to seeing where this all takes me, and I’m very thankful to Wassy for getting me to consider these sorts of activities as something I might actually be able to do (after I convinced myself that I couldn’t) last June. I’m happy that I’m learning and doing something productive with my free time. Like I said earlier in the week, it just feels satisfying.

I need to take some shots for my Digital Imaging project tomorrow, so I’ll get another chance to play around and try out various things.

Inveitability

Jason — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:05:33 +0000

So yeah, I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to pull the trigger on the DSLR purchase. The most likely suspect is a Nikon D3000 (See right), but I’m going to run over to the local specialist store this weekend to ask around, see what they might recommend. That’s where Wassy got hers and they really know what they’re doing over there it sounds like.

I’m still a bit… apprehensive, I guess would be the correct term about dropping that much money on something. But I wasn’t planning on having the money available to me anyway, and I’m tired of coming up with excuses for why I can’t pursue something that I might enjoy.

Ever since I got my little point and shoot I’ve taken an interest in photography. Even managed to get some pretty decent shots (like the one to the right). But after seeing how much of a different a DSLR makes even if you’re just a beginner…well, I’m interested and I think I could become pretty decent at it if I keep going.

It’d be a great complement to my newfound interest in graphic design and a big help in my current classes.

So I think I’m gonna go for it now that I have the resources available to me to drop the cash. I’ve just been feeling really…satisfied with how I’ve been spending my free time. More than I have been in a while, and I want to keep exploring down this road. See where it leads. I think it’s a very worthwhile investment.

I’ll post an update on how things went later.

Decisions, Decisions…

Jason — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:41:27 +0000

It’s that time of year again…tax time. Well, it’s past tax time as I’ve turned in my taxes and now I have my fat refund sitting in my account. I’m kinda torn as to what to do with it this year though.

The most responsible course, probably, would be to save it for future class expenses and the trips that are being planned later this year. This is boring, of course…but…safe.

The second option I’m considering is slightly more frivolous, but not totally wasteful. I’m thinking about picking up an entry level DSLR camera. I will fully admit that this course of action has been influenced by seeing Wassy’s new Nikon D60. But I’ve been getting more and more interested in photography as my experiments in graphic design become more and more involved. I also have to take a couple of photography heavy courses (one of which I’m taking now…which would be Digital Imaging). And after seeing Wassy’s new toy, the limitations of my little point and shoot are becoming readily apparent. I think it’d be a nice compliment to my current set of hobbies to get more into actual photography.

I hesitate though, because it’s a crapton of money spent. Probably a little more than half of my refund this year, to be exact, and I could be saving that money up now for stuff that I know is coming.

Decisions…decisions…