Oh, Joy!

My good camera -- the Nikon D5300 -- has been at the camera repair shop shop since before Thanksgiving, waiting on a part for a broken thingamajig inside the lens.  I was delighted finally to be reunited with it yesterday and immediately started taking pictures right there in the parking lot. Which just happens to have a clear view of the iconic Mt. Pisgah and The Rat. 

I've made do with the little Sony but it's limited. It couldn't have caught the magical shimmer of this little beech glowing amid the dark bare trunks.

Or the sun and shadow on these rooftops.

It could surely have done justice to this pink mailbox that always makes me smile when I pass it, but yesterday was the first time I had had a clear road to stop on the perilous curve where it's perched.

Shapes and snow and shadows . . .

And despite my bitching and moaning about the deer that eat my garden, after the epidemic that killed so many this past summer, I was tickled to see not just one in our pasture . . .

 but two more!

One little orphan has been hanging around for months now and I've felt so sorry to see it lonely. Now, at least, it seems to have some friends. 

And I'll probably be bitching and moaning about what they're doing to my shrubbery all winter long.

Still, I'm glad to see them.

I'm Back and the New Camera Is Here!

It was waiting for me when I arrived home from Wildacres but I resisted even opening the package till I'd unpacked, done my laundry, watered some plants, looked at my email and Facebook,  made granola, and gone to the garden to pick stuff for dinner. 

Then I opened the package, only to discover there was no user's manual (my friend Cory says probably they've quit printing manuals because no one reads them.) There were a couple of CDs. but my laptop won't take them. So I found a manual online and proceeded to follow the directions. 

I got as far as charging the battery, removing the lens from my old camera and putting it on the new one, and attaching the strap (not as easy as it sounds, at least for me.)

After dinner I managed to switch the readouts from Japanese to English (whew!) set the date and time, and a few other minor adjustments. Then I took a picture. It was dark by now and I just snapped this from where I was sitting and reading the manual.

Hoorah! A picture!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this camera. It has a lot of  things that are an improvement over the old one but essentially much of it is familiar. I was working my way through the manual when I discovered the Special Effects! 

My old camera didn't have this feature -- a feature that I expect most smartphones have. But I am easily amused. I played with this Color Sketch mode for a bit. . .

Josie will be with me Sunday --  I'll explore the setting designed for photographing children. Maybe I can get down to the garden early and capture the butterflies on the zinnias.

Wildacres was wonderful, as usual. I'll post something about it tomorrow. 

Biting the Bullet

The D90 continues with its intermittent functioning problem. The above and some of yesterday's pics were taken with my  little pocket camera because the D90 refused to function just when Josie was being extra funny. 

I had downloaded and printed out the packing slip  to send the D90 it off to Nikon repair when my friend Cory (a professional photographer) suggested that rather than invest in repair I should think about a new camera  because "technology has come a long way."

Wow. It's been not quite nine years. But no doubt he's right. And I thought to myself, if the D90's card reader is worn out, what part will be next? I've used it hard these past eight plus years . . .

My normal procedure for any gratuitous expenditure over $100 is to agonize for days. I'm normally pretty frugal. But somehow, the decision happened almost immediately.

I've ordered, per Cory's suggestion, a Nikon D5300. He says it's basically a new, upgraded version of the D90 and my big lens will fit it just fine. 

Done. It will arrive Monday. Unfortunately, I'll be at Wildacres and won't get to use it till I get back on the 14th.

And after pressing SEND on the order, I went out and took pictures with the D90 which had suddenly shaped up at the news of a replacement. . .

Addendum: I received an email from Cory telling me, in the nicest way, when the new camera comes to "read the f---ing manual!" Along with some other good advice. I have been guilty of always shooting in Programed mode and ignoring all the niceties that would make for a better picture. 

Bur I've promised to do better.