OK, I have no willpower.
About two months ago I posted about deciding to change over to a digital camera. I went into Jessops and had a look at a few. I came away really liking the Nikon D200, but open to the D80 as well. The D200 was reported as being a heavy camera, which I didn’t really find, but then I realised, most of the time recently I have been lugging my Minolta X-500 and Tamron SP60-300 with a doubler on it around, this is almost exactly the same weight as the D200 and 17-55 lens I tested. No wonder it didn’t feel heavy.
I have spent a lot of time over the intervening weeks researching the D200 and D80 cameras, and finally convinced myself that, even though I loved it, I didn’t need the couple of extra features and the additional expense of the D200. So, that was it, the D80 it would be … probably.
I had money from everyone for Christmas, and put in requests for donations for when it came to my birthday in July. I would then have the funds to buy whichever was the best choice at the time.
Then a couple of days ago, I started thinking about the D40 or D40x camera and whether it would do everything I needed. If so, then my fund already covered it with some to spare. Hmmm. All this time, as usual, I’m bouncing my thoughts off of Jo. I suggested that I went up to Jessops to look at the D40 today.
She explained to me that it would probably be a good idea for me to just get it today, as at the rate I was going, I’d have driven her nuts in a couple of weeks time, let alone 7 months. When I stepped back to look at the situation, I could see that I had become a little bit obsessive about it.
So we went up to Jessops and got a Nikon D80 and AF-S DX 18-70 f3.5-4.5 lens kit and a 2GB SD card and a UV filter for the lens. I managed to get a bit of discount on the filter, the kit was reduced slightly in the sales and Nikon are offering £50 cashback when you buy a D80 with a Nikon lens. I’ve also convinced myself that every film I don’t shoot and have to get developed and printed is saving me money against the purchase.
I haven’t had time to go out yet with it, but have played around indoors to get familiar with the controls.
I’ll try not to obsess how much I like it now.
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Nice…can’t wait to see some pics!
Well that all sounds very reasonable to me and since your wife approved how can it be wrong? I’m sure you will love this digital camera. Even a non photographer like me loves her digital although besides trimming changing the size of the image for the blog and lightening or darkening photos I have not explored the software too much.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year.
Thanks for your comments. We got out yesterday and I have put some pics up in my gallery http://gallery.ijhedges.com/gallery/Zoo_31_December_2007
Have a great New Year.
Regards,
Ian
Congrats on the camera Ian. The D80 is my dream camera, but it’s too expensive for me (I have a Nikon Coolpix E4500). And I don’t think my wife will be so understanding about acquiring a D80 at present. Great photos in the gallery. I especially liked the landscape with the tree.
Thanks Vijay,
It really is a great camera, I figured it would have to last me for some time, so there was no point in half measures. At least going digital means that its easier to go and play for a while.
Thanks, everyone seems to like that tree.
Regards,
Ian