My New Toy!

I love my Canon Powershot G5 dig camera. I have thoroughly enjoyed the great photos it puts out. But I have recently gone through a creative growth spurt, wishing I could do more and had the device that allowed me to do it. So after a few weeks of searching, study, comparing, talking to photographers with nicer cameras, asking how-do-you-do-that kinds of questions, I finally realized it was going to take much more camera than I currently have.

Back to research, study, more questions, etc. I finally decided yesterday and ordered the camera. A brand new Nikon D80 digital SLR camera. Wow! I also ordered two lenses with it--an 18-55mm DX VR lens and a 55-200mm DX VR lens. What a match up. Oh I wanted more camera but at some point you have to weigh your budget with your level of sophistication. Will I see a big difference between the D90 and the D80 for an example?

So my D80 is a 10.2 megapixel machine with lots of cool bells and whistles. More than twice the megapixel megatonnage than my current camera. The Nikkor lenses will also far surpass the ability of my little Canon. The D80 also allows me to bracket shots easily, takes up to 3 frames per second in rapid fire, has a much brighter LCD screen for looking at taken photos and to make adjustments for a shot. But the what you see is what you get through the lens eyepiece is one thing I am really looking forward to. Just like my first 35mm SLR camera from back in the late 70's, only on steroids!

The two lenses cover just about anything I could imagine needing from upclose shots of bugs and flowers to distant objects and with the VR (vibration reduction) device built into the lenses the shaking on zoomed in objects should be greatly minimized.

The D80 isn't a pro model but it is a huge step up for me and should give me years of enjoyment, especially as I near retirement.