Yay, New Camera!
It was pretty obvious after the last wedding I did that my little 4.1 megapixel Sony wasn’t going to cut it anymore. The pictures I had taken of the photographer taking pictures of the wedding party (something I try to do for the person who never gets photographed) came out fuzzy and all of my evening shots of the set up I had done were flooded by a horrible flash.
It’s a nice little point and shot, but if I wanted any indoor shots of my set ups, which most receptions are, I needed to step it up. Sorry Santa, I couldn’t wait.
I hadn’t purchased a new camera since 2005, so I felt a little lost. I had a budget, but that was about it. Thankfully, my guy has a photographer friend in Lacey who is nuts about cameras. Some of his photos are amazing….and hilarious (check out this angry squirrel). So, I did what any smart shopper would do; I picked his brain.
He asked me the vital questions:
- What are you looking to do with your camera (take photos of my work: involves evening and candle lit shots)
- What’s your budget ($1,000)
- What do you like (small and light weight)
- What don’t you like (looking like a tourist and having to take time to set up)
Basically, I needed the ease of a point and shoot with the capability of an SLR. So that’s where we started. He came back with a list of 6 cameras that he thought would work for me and from there I pared the list down to 3.
The best bit of advice he gave me about finding a new camera was to get my hands on them. It doesn’t matter how cool they look, what functions they might have, or how inexpensive they seem….if they don’t feel right or fit well, then keep looking. So, with this in mind, we headed off to Kitz (Ritz) Cameras in the Bellis Fair Mall.
The kid (as in old enough to work, but younger than me) there was cool and let me go to town. They had the Nikon and the Pentax, but I guess after Black Friday they were completely sold out of the Canon. I was glad to be the only customer in there because I got to really try them out. I brought a glass pedant necklace and attempted different shots: white background, black background, in shadow, up close, far away etc. Now you have to figure that the lighting in these places is not like the lighting your going to find in your home. Basically, the stores are set up to take great pictures, so find a dark corner or even crouchdown to take a picture of something under a shelf…anything to get as close to a real life situation as you can.
The guy there was pretty impressed. He said most people just came in and pointed to a camera (most often the Canon) and purchase it without trying it out. My thought is if I’m plunking down a grand, I wanted to be dang sure I was getting the right one.
At first I was getting better shots with the Pentax. It felt pretty good in my hand, but it was heavy and noisy (motors in the camera instead of the lens). Then I tried the Nikon. It felt great and was light weight, but I wasn’t getting the pictures I wanted from it. After some trial and error, I figured out that it was because I was use to having a point and shoot. When I tried the Nikon again, it took awesome pictures. After an hour and a half in the store, the Nikon was my clear favorite. The Pentax was too feature rich for my amateur abilities. Still, I had to try out the Canon. So off to Best Buy we went.
One of the managers there helped us out, and I ran through the same tests with the Canon. I wasn’t as impressed though. It was noisy like the Pentax and the casing looked cheaply made. It also had one less function (kid) than the Nikon. It was still light weight though, so I made sure to look at everything. When I told the manager what I thought of the ones I looked at and that I really liked the Nikon, he said that was the camera he bought six months ago, and he loves it.
I was sure about the Nikon at that point, but it was too late to go back to the mall (Kitz had specials going on). That’s okay, for big purchases it’s best to sit on the idea for a day anyway. When we did go buy the camera, we went to Kitz (Ritz) Cameras in Everett and met with Cat. I asked to try out the Nikon again just to be sure, and it was still as awesome as I remembered. Turns out they were having a sale and I made out like a bandit: Nikon D40x body, Nikon 18-55mm zoom lens, Nikon 55-200mm zoom lens, 2-pack 1 GB SD memory cards, Nikon D-SLR deluxe case, 2 DVDs: Great Digital Pictures and Understanding Digital Photography, 20 free digital prints, 18 free digital photography classes at Ritz University, 1 free 12-page personalized photo book, 20 free prints and CD, and 1 Epson 8×10 photo printer with software and sample pack of photo paper ($0.82 after rebate) for $1031.67 (or $932.49 after rebate). On top of everything else, they gave me a $50 gift card. So, I went back and bought an extra Nikon EN-EL9 Li-ion battery, 2 52mm UV-polar lense filters, 1 52mm circular polarizer filter, and 2 picture frames. The gift card took care of half of it.
Grand total: $989.97 (Yay…I made it under the thousand mark!)
So if you’re thinking about getting a new camera, here’s a recap:
- Figure out your budget
- Pick a photographer’s brain (offer bribery in the way of baked goods if need be)
- Narrow choices down using pictures, specs and reviews
- Tell photographer friend what you picked and why for more comments
- Visit a store and try them out
- Sit on the decision for a day
- Buy it and go picture crazy!
Happy picture taking!
Congratulations on the new camera! I just bought my Canon in October as a birthday present from me, my mother, and a friend. And for Christmas my parents gave me a 75mm-300mm zoom lens! Weeee! Isn’t it fun?!
I got an incredible (slick) deal on my camera, but I didn’t get the digital photography classes. I should look around for something in my area. I can certainly use some pointers.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:34 pmYay, It’s the new camera year! I haven’t watched the DVDs they sent with it, but if they’re any good, maybe I can pass them along to you. And heck, if there’s a Kitz or Ritz Cameras in your area, I can pass along a few class tickets. They gave me quite a few, and my location only has a limited amount of classes.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:58 pmOooh, that would be lovely if you could! I’m sure there is a Ritz in Little Rock, though I’ve never actually looked for it. I’ll check around.
I’ll email the rest of my message.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:27 amI got my Nikon D40 and 18-200 Nikon lens with VR last year and love them! Three friends of mine have ended up buying the same camera after seeing mine.
You can see some of the pictures I’ve taken in our honeymoon album on my blog:
http://theartofengineering.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/theyre-finally-here-part-2/
Have fun with your new camera!
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pmThat’s a great deal you got there - very well done!
I understand the D40x will only take lenses that have an AF motor in them - do you know if that’s true?
If so, then it makes for a cheap body but could result in the need to spend more on lenses. Not in itself a bad thing as spending extra on a lens is always worth doing, but if you buy a D40x because of a limited budget it might be a bit of a nasty suprise.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:27 amI teally makes sense to shop around either on eba or store, best not be duped by sales men - do the homework - word of mouth is often the best policy.
Enjoy your camera - Happy Snapping!
March 13th, 2008 at 2:01 pm