Those of you who either know me or have ready my previous photography blog entries know that I have recently purchased a very nice DSLR camera. After using this camera for about three weeks, I began noticing some issues that were somewhat disconcerting. I realized that from time to time, I would fire up the camera, frame my shot, focus and listen to the camera and lens make a strange clicking and whirring sound, almost as if the gears of the body and lens weren’t focusing properly. Then, when I would shoot the picture, the camera would error out on me (yes, I mean actually blank out the user display panel with -Err- and screech at me), and I would have to shut everything down, remount the battery to get things to fully reset and fire it back up again.

After this type of treatment, things would usually go back into place and work for a while, so I didn’t think much of the issue, but when you spend this much on a tool, you don’t want to have to “make do” with it. So, when a friend informed me that another retail store had the exact same camera kit I had purchased with an added 75-200mm lens and a bag to boot for only $100 more, I saw my signal to return the one that was having a few issues and try again. Since I was still well within my 60 day return time, I simply took the kit back to the store and purchased the nicer kit from the other store, and boy, am I ever glad that I did.
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Those of you who have known me for a while are also aware that I have had an interest in photography for some time. My dad sparked the interest in me as a child, and I have never really had the capacity to pursue anything in that field. I have expressed some interest in really pursuing some photography in order to get some nice shots of the kids since they have been coming along, and last week, my wife surprised me with an early Christmas present: a brand new Nikon D90 DSLR with a Nikkor 18-105mm zoom lens. Needless to say, in the last 5 days, I have spent a good bit of time behind it, and of the 350+ pictures I have already taken, I have come up with a small collection of images of which I am very proud. Read more