Life at the condo: It does make a difference

With the coming arrival of the Resident Alien we knew we'd have to upgrade the old digital camera ("old" meaning we bought it last year) and now we have. Darren got the new Nikon D40x 10.2 MP Digital SLR camera for Father's Day. I spent a lot of time reviewing articles on the differences between the Canon Rebel Series and the Nikon D Series. There isn't much. They are comparable with slight differences that don't mean much to me because I don't know anything about real photography. I did notice when viewing the various photo galleries of each camera online that I consistently gravitated toward the Nikon pics, but I also have a few friends that recommend the Rebel, which left me thinking more info was needed before making a decision. So, a few weekends ago we headed to Pro Photo Supply to check out the wares and get some assistance from one of the professionals behind the counter who actually knows 1) how to use a camera and b. what all of the photography lingo means. After a fairly lengthy discussion, we narrowed the choices to the Nikon D40x and the Nikon D80. There are a lot of similarities between the two models. For Darr and I, it came down to which camera felt better in our hands and which offered us the easy accessibility to navigate the various options and controls. We chose the D40x, the more compact and user-friendly novice photographer option. (At least, that's how I'm describing it.) We couldn't be happier. First of all, neither of us are particularly skilled when it comes to visualizing the shot and understanding angles and the like. Yet, in just a few short weeks of random shooting (approximately 550 pics), we have managed to take some shots that we're totally pleased with. Buying the body by itself and springing the extra cash (we paid the same amount for the lens that we did for the camera body) for the AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm lens was worth it. I doubt we would have been as successful as we feel we were without the vibration reduction that is built into the lens. (Apparently both Darr and I are shaky people.) The goal is to work with the camera a lot between now and the arrival of the R.A. so we'll better understand things like lighting and focusing and, well, all those other things that make pictures good. Nikon has a solid marketing campaign right now with their D Series - You can check out photos taken by regular folks using the D40 by clicking here. And here are some shots we found after downloading the first batch from our new toy.

Mabel on the cat structure in the living room at night. The light comes from the standing lamp that is inches away from where she sleeps. She so likes the heat, we often find her paws resting on the lampshade.