Photography

For many years, actually, since 2009 - I remember because it was when I went to visit a friend of mine to the US - I've been debating with myself if I should get a DSLR or not. At the time I even thought about getting the Canon G1 which had just come out and would have been cheaper there. I have always looked at the pros and cons, think how much they weigh and cost, hesitate, think about it a bit more and get too afraid of spending too much money on something I then won't use because I don't know how to use it and/or have the patience to carry it around. I have to admit that the appearance of the G1 and the likes have not really helped because it meant I now had another variant I could consider.

So until now I've only had point and shoots and I've been really happy and very impressed with my current camera, Olympus SZ-30MR. The zoom and quality are fantastic, I get great pictures in landscape (South Africa), macro (Keukenhoff) and also in low light situations. I've also started being a bit more careful with not just having it in auto as it has a massive impact and often try to us macro mode and other trick to focus or unfocus part of the picture. I honestly recommend this if you want a great point and shoot. The only this is that with the big zoom, the battery goes pretty quickly!

And once again the doubts were appearing, which usually this happens around holidays, I decided to set myself a budget and look into entry level second hand Nikon DSLRS (big debate, Nikon or Cannon, I know!). I started realizing that between a D60, D3000 or a D3100 it would be a question of time and patience as they all go roughly for the same prices even though they have relatively different specs. Given I am quite a starter and not in a panic to get it I decided I would stick to th budget but really look for a good D3100. A couple of days ago I found a great second hand package of D3100 body+18-55mm lens+rucksack+tripod+filter+super wide panoramic lens+lens hood with little use (less than 2000 shutter counts) in Amsterdam. Yesterday I went and got it. So now I am just reading and watching Youtube tutorials before I go out to Amsterdam and start taking pictures. Wish me luck!!