An upgrade…

by simplysoap

My ability to tie myself in knots over even the simplest purchases never ceases to amaze me. After three days of self inflicted complete brain overload and hours and hours of research, l have finally bitten the bullet and upgraded my camera. I’m sure l read every single review of every single Nikon DSLR on the internet, and then some. I hovered around the D700 yesterday, and was still tempted even this morning, but it’s a professional level camera with a full frame sensor and different lenses, and l regretfully decided that l just didn’t need something that full on. I was completely torn, because secretly in the back of my head was this little voice saying ‘Hey…but if you bought this camera, you could be a professional photographer, and how cool would that be’. But so many of the reviews say over and over again that it’s not the camera that gets results, but the person behind it. I read this so many times. And even more people say to spend your money on lenses instead of camera bodies. Which makes a LOT of sense. You can keep your lenses forever and often sell them for more than you bought them for, whereas the same can’t be said for camera bodies.

Having read all of that though, l knew l wanted something just a little better than my D80, and the D300s fitted the bill. My final choice was based on the following: (this might make you laugh, many of my reasons are spectacularly untechnical LOL)

• Price. The D700 while amazingly gorgeous was just way out of my budget, especially considering that l need to buy lenses as well. (toughest. decision. ever.)
• Renee at FIMBY uses a D300 (not sure if it is an ‘s’ or not) and she takes amazing photos.
• This professional photographer here uses a D300s and if l could get anything even one quarter as good as these l would be in photographic heaven. Something to aim for hey!
• It’s a good step up from my D80 but not so good that l will never be able to work out how to use it.
• It has 51 focus points, a bigger live view LCD display,  a couple more megapixels, and a weatherproof body that is not as big or heavy as the D700.
• It uses the same rechargeable batteries as the D80 so at least l get to feel like l’m saving somewhere along the line.

In the end, l had let myself get so carried away by my imagination that l was setting up a professional studio in the spare room and starting to stress about how l was going to shoot weddings properly. And suddenly l stopped and wondered…

Do l want to be a photographer who makes soap, or a soapmaker who takes photos?
And l knew my answer straight away

(thank god, because now l can empty my head and get back to making soap)
and researching lenses LOL!

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