New Camera, aka, “That Was Fast!”

After my experiment with my friend B’s DSLR, I knew I wanted one of my own. I did a lot of research. Canon, Nikon, Olympus? Are megapixels really that important? Kit with lens vs. body only? What about filters? What kind of lenses will I need for the type of shots I like to take?

I must have changed my mind a dozen times. After reading a lot of reviews, a lot of articles, and figuring out what kind of subjects I like to take photos of (myself, the cats, close-ups/macros, not so much landscapes and sports), I found the camera I wanted.

And it was about $200 out of my price range.

Bah.

So I had a “next best” option – an older version of the body, with an updated lens. I had it all figured out. I was doing a bunch of price comparisons, and was checking auction sites to see how many used versions people had available, and what the prices were. Then, last Thursday, in a “while I’m here, let’s just look and see” moment, I checked out my dream camera listings on eBay.

As luck would have it, someone listed my dream camera. It was less than 2 months old, and had a full warranty, along with all of the manuals, cables and software. It even came with an extra battery and an SD card.

And it was $200 less than the standard price with the Buy it Now option. Which put it right in my budget. I think the listing was up for all of about 10 minutes before I snagged it.

Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to my little friend (and my messy living room):

The Canon Digital Rebel XSi. I love, love, love it. I think originally it was a gift, and the recipient just didn’t want it, and had no idea just how much it was worth when he went to sell it. Whoops! And also, Yay!

Even Zelda loves it:

This is the first of about 100 shots I took of the cats in the first 15 minutes. Thank goodness it doesn’t cost money to delete digital photographs.

It even makes my shortcake look yummier:

Good enough to eat, right? (That may be more about the shortcake than the camera, I admit.)

Best of all, the camera has a remote sensor, so I’ll be able to take my self-portraits without having to do the 10-second timer dash:

Look at me, I took this picture from the front of the camera! Also, I need lipstick.

I plan on playing around with this a LOT as well as reading up and getting plenty of books out of the library. It’s way more camera than I know what to do with right now, but luckily it’s got a “dummy” mode that does most of the work for me.

This is going to be fun! Woo-hoo! Let’s take some pictures!