My Camera

I am certainly no expert on the subject, but I do enjoy photography more than chocolate and that is a whole lot.

Lately, I have had many people ask me what kind of camera I have and I am flattered and surprised that anyone would want to know, but since so many have asked, I thought I would answer it here and save myself the tedious task of typing it out each time.

Many years ago I purchased a Nikon N50, which was the first SLR camera I ever owned.  I really only used it in auto mode because film was costly to develop and I was a young mom barely just getting by.  And then everything went digital and I was given a point and shoot and couldn’t justify spending money on developing, so I used the point and shoot , but was greatly dissatisfied with it’s performance.  You just can’t go from a great camera and lens to a mediocre camera and be satisfied.

Finally, after five or six years I discovered that there were digital Nikon’s that would fit my awesome lens, (don’t laugh, I’m a bit slow with technology,) and my life would once again be complete!  A bit dramatic I know, but that’s the way I feel about my camera.

So I purchased the Nikon D80 last year and had never been happier until recently when I purchased the Nikon D300.  Oh baby!

I own four lenses, but I will only tell you about the three I use.  The first is a Nikon 70-210mm f/4 – 5.6 D lens which I have owned for about 11 years.  This is a fabulous telephoto zoom lens, which focuses very quickly and is very sharp.  Unfortunately, they stopped making this lens around 2000, so I handle it ever so gently.

The other lens you will find on my camera a good part of the time is a Nikon 55 mm f/1.8D.  I absolutely love this lens, which allows me to have the aperture open very wide, so there is no need for using the flash ( I detest the flash,) in low light situations, (like every room in my house.)  This lens incredibly sharp and only about $100.00, and incredible value, which is worth every penny.

My newest lens is a Nikon AF-S VR 105 mm f/2.8 Micro that I purchased for well….macro shooting.  I have not had much experience with this lens yet, so I cannot share my opinion, but so far so good.

I have a few more lenses on my wish list at Adorama, where I shop.  B&H Photo is also a great place for your camera equipment.  I would not shop anywhere else.  A lot of places will try to sell you cameras without a US warranty.  The price may be good, but you will be in trouble if you should need the warranty.

I now shoot in RAW; the best decision I ever made and all post processing is done in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CS3.  Adobe Lightroom is a program that is designed for RAW format and processing a large number of photos, something that can only be done one photo at a time in Photoshop, which is not really efficient for that task.

Any other adjustments are made in Photoshop, which is the best thing other than my camera I have ever purchased.