Life

My great plans to get out and take more photos this summer obviously hasn't worked out so well if you haven't noticed my lack of posting again for the past month. I always thought that my summer was really boring and I had lots of free time, but that isn't really accurate. I do think my summer is still pretty boring because I spend most of my time working. Then with the free time I have outside of work that I'm not spending taking a nap I've been trying to hang out with friends, visit family and do other fun cool stuff. (Like watching the Blade trilogy...greatness)

Summer has also reduced my time with my dad's DSLR. Seeing as its not my camera I have to give it up whenever he wants it back. I haven't had his camera for about three weeks now. Seeing as I designed this blog with the idea that I'd use it to motivate myself to take pictures and improve my skills I feel like I can't achieve that with my other non SLR cameras. I'll be honest, I don't like having to downgrade to those when I'm trying to be 'artsy'.

So on that note I decided, "Hey, I should probably think about getting myself a DSLR...." And so I did. It most likely won't be for a while since: A. I'm poor B. they are really expensive. So I plan to save my own money when possible and then beg my parents to consider paying the rest and counting it as my birthday/christmas present. I am trying to keep myself in the 800 to 600 dollar range. Sure I would like to spend 7,000 on the Canon Mark III and get one of the sweetest camera's available, but that would be unwise.

I've taken a look at the three major camera brands, Canon, Nikon and Olympus and picked out one from each. There is an excellent camera shop near where I work and I'm hoping they carry the three I chose so I can take a closer look at them. I have read basically everything on the sites, but reading is one thing and seeing how the functions actually work is another.

First off, my top pick: Nikon D3100 $700
Second: Canon Rebel EOS T3 $600
Third: Olympus E-620 $700

Honestly my second and and third aren't set in stone. I do really enjoy the looks of the Nikon. I like that it doesn't have all of the buttons placed on one side on the back. I also like the placement on the dials. I'm used to the dial to change aperture and shutter speed being fairly close to my thumb on the back and it looks like the Nikon is that way too. The Canon has the dials much higher up on the camera and I think when I hold that I will not like it. The Canon also doesn't come with any dust reduction features. I don't mind the Olympus, I am obviously use to using the brand, but in my opinion it is lesser known than the other two and I sometimes fear that finding quality lenses/flashes and other things would be more difficult. Also for some reason that camera has a LCD panel that flips out and I find feel like that is a feature I wouldn't find much use for.

Hopefully someday soon I will be able to make it to the camera shop after work or something and take a look at the three cameras and narrow my choice down. Until then I will be partaking in nothing but free activities and saving what spare money I can.

In the mean time I will also continue to pout while my dad keeps his camera(how rude).