The "big girl" camera...

I finally did it. I took the plunge and purchased a full frame camera for my business. It's business, not personal. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I've been shooting with a Nikon D50 for the past four years, breaking my solemn vow to never go digital and always remain faithful to my trusty Minolta 35mm. Sadly, the poor Minolta has been gathering dust in its bag ever since that fateful day years ago. It's a keeper, even if I never shoot with it again. It did get a nice little reprieve when Mindy took a photography course last year.

Anyway, as you might have gathered from recent comments, I have really had it with my D50's limitations. In optimum lighting, it rocks. With its little 50mm prime, it really rocks. I've gotten some amazing photos with it. But if you ask it to shoot with natural light, say, in a house...or any structure with four walls...well, forget it. It gags. It chokes. It fails. Almost every time. So.

Last February, I left my ministry position of the last thirteen years. It was a difficult transition into unemployment, to say the least. I'd been dabbling in photography for years, doing a few shoots here and there, not really getting anywhere. When I found myself unemployed, I really needed to make a decision and step up my game. The only problem was that my confidence level was in the can. I really didn't feel like I had what it took. But, over the last year, I've spent countless hours on the computer, researching equipment and business strategies, taking online classes and studying video tutorials. I've upped my game a bit, and I've quickly realized that if I want to run with the big dogs, I need a little longer leash. Cue the D700.

I chose the D700 because, for the money, it kicks some serious behind. With my old camera, I could shoot at a maximum of 1600 ISO, with enough grain for a slice of bread. And a lot of blur. The D700 shoots at a maximum ISO of 6400 (with some tweaking, you can go higher) and leaves my little D50 in the dirt. That will give me so much more flexibility in shooting indoor sessions. And my kids' birthdays. Shhhh.

Don't get me wrong. I still have a great love for my D50. I've hauled that puppy everywhere and banged and dropped the crap out of it. It's been very forgiving of my faults. It will still be my back-up and go with me places I don't want to bang and drag the new one. For example, I chaperoned the guard trip yesterday, and Jon absolutely forbade me to even entertain the thought of test driving it that day. So I took the old camera. And got the same blurry gymnasium shots as last year. But I have a feeling that as time goes on, it will gather more and more dust of its own.

Now, about this new camera. It has more settings than a 747 turbo jet. It is way smarter than I am. And it'll take me a while to really get in the groove with it. I have two new lenses to get to know, as well, and I'm shooting with a much larger file size and a new memory format. As old as my little brain is, it will take some time to wrap my mind around all this new information. Guess I'd better put on my "big girl" pants and grab that "big girl" camera and get busy, eh?