IT'S HERE!

I can excitedly announce that my package has arrived! My new Nikon D80 is in my hands (and everything else that was supposed to come with it). I had said before that I was trying to decide between the Nikon or the Canon EOS 450 XTI. The Canon was tempting because it is 12 mp whereas the Nikon is only 10mp. But I gotta tell you, I went into Best Buy one day, just on a whim to look at them both close up. I held both of them and I ultimately picked the Nikon because it felt better in my hands.

I had found the 2 lens kit (18-55mm & 55-200mm) at Adorama, but it was on back order. I still ordered it from there, but after getting two emails telling me that they didn't know when it would ship, I ended up cancelling it and ordered it from Abe's of Maine instead. I was not familiar with this online retailer, but the reviews were decent and the price was comparable to Adorama. Some people had good experiences and some did not. Within an hour after I placed my order, they called to confirm my order. An hour after that, I got an email saying it was going to be shipped. And then by 6pm that night, I got an email from UPS with a tracking number. I couldn't believe it was going so smoothly.

Anyways, I am a little overwhelmed at this point. When it came, I charged the battery and then just started shooting. What a difference from my point and shoot!! I mean unbelievable. I almost feel like I have never taken a picture before. Alot of people say that they feel like their photography got better overnight....I feel exactly the opposite.

In any case, I have added two pictures to this post. The first one is of Ella looking through the deck at the birdies (taken with my p&s). And yes, that is exactly how I look when I was taking pictures of them.


The second one I actually took with the Nikon. I was just playing around with light and thought it came out kinda cool. Remember the viewfinders we used to have as kids? This is one of the disks that goes in them.



We are going on vacation this Saturday through Wednesday, so I wanted to get a feel for the camera before we left. We will be up by the Canadian border and it should be beautiful and relaxing. I plan to shoot my ass of this week and we will see what I come up with.