New Camera!

I've been bitching for a while that I didn't have a camera. What kind of person who says they have a degree in photography (okay, I don't have a degree in photography, but it's the closest thing I had to a studio major) doesn't have a camera? Well, I had my camera when I left Saskatoon on Feb 21, and when I got to Auckland on March 1, I didn't have a camera anymore. Where did it go? I don't know. It's not in Vancouver, and it's not in my stuff. I purposefully didn't take it to Fiji with us. The only thing I can think of is that it was stolen out of my bag in the Fiji Airport Luggage Storage. grrrrr. Did I claim it under some insurance policy? No. Why? Because I didn't think of it until it was too late.

Anyway, due to some unforseen circumstances, I ended up with some extra money the other day. (Thank you Grandma!) I mentioned to her what my plan was, and I said, "I need a camera, and I've been doing extensive research on cameras in the last little while, and that's what I want to do. Buy a new camera." She was so excited, she said, "Go wake up Travis right now and go buy a camera!" Well, I waited for 5 hours, but we did end up going to Camera & Camera on Queen Street.


I got a Sony A200. I was really apprehensive about buying a Sony since they're the "new kids" on the block when it comes to DSLRs. The dude who was selling it to me said, "If you want, I can just call it a Minolta, since you're more familiar with them. It's just rebranding." I am more familiar with Minolta, since my film SLR is a Minolta X9 (their last in the X series), and my Uncle Richard had two Minolta X700s that I used in my first photography class. I have quite an affinity for them.

I originally wanted to get the Nikon D60. It just felt more natural and intuitive. However, I wasn't prepared to spend an extra $400 on "intuitive." The pros of the Sony range outweighed the intuitive buttons and dials and the fact that it felt like an extension of my hand. Price was a big factor, but not the only one. Longer battery life, two kit lenses (18-70mm/75-300mm vs 18-50mm/55-200mm), image stabilization in the body of the camera, rather than in the lens (like every other system). Plus it's won awards and crap. I dunno. It was considerably cheaper than the other ones I was looking at.

While playing with it last night, it doesn't do macro very well. Maybe it was the low-light situation. I'll look into some old Minolta Maxxum lenses - see if there are any cheapish macro lenses I can find to add to my big bag o'lenses.

I think I can safely say I now collect cameras. 2 Brownies, an old Olympus from the 70s, Vivitar point and click (my very first camera), Minolta X9, my various pinhole cameras, and a new Sony DSLR. Unfortunately they're not in one convenient location. :(

When I take photos of things more interesting that cutlery and laundry soap, I might post some. ;)

In other news, I went to my first kickboxing class last Thursday. Man, that was a busy 3 hours. My class started at 6pm, the second free class started at 6:45pm, and my netball game started at 7:50pm. I left the kickboxing gym at 7:50, ran to Newmarket to netball (with my backpack on - it took about 15 minutes), and got there in time to watch the 3rd quarter, and play the 4th quarter. I jinxed the team, though. When I got there, our team was tied!! We were Tied in the 3rd quarter! Best game ever!!! But within 2 minutes of me being there, they lost that stronghold, and we ended up losing 20-something to 10-something. Booerns.

The next two weeks are going to be exciting. Our first visitors from Canada are arriving on Wednesday! We don't know where we'll put them yet, but the spare bedroom is looking good. ;) Trav and I have a list of places to take them.