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.

The Last Refuge . . .

. . . of an inept photographer is Photoshop . . . or in my case, the Special Effects thingie on Picasa, the free for the down-loading program I use to deal with my pictures.

Day before yesterday I took my new camera for a walk along the top of the pasture and into the woods. It was early and the fog hadn't yet burned off so I hoped for lots of great shots in this misty, mysterious world.

I took close ups of flowers in the pasture and of mushrooms, leaves, lichen, and bark along the trail running through the woods.

Imagine my surprise when I downloaded 149 pictures to find that most of them were black! Fiddling with the light level thingie on Picasa showed that there were images -- but I had evidently done or not done some vital thing at the beginning of the walk.

No, I haven't read the manual through yet.

Yes, I should have been checking my monitor to see what the shots were like. (Unbelievable that I didn't!)

Yes, I'm waiting for Cory, my technical adviser to tell me where I went wrong.

Meanwhile, I play with special effects.

Wretched Excess

Well, I've been and gone and done it. After months of dithering about and trying to decide which single lens reflex digital camera and which lens and where to purchase same, I bit the bullet and made the decisions.

I'm normally a rather frugal sort and spending big money (at least, it seems big to me) isn't easy. But after pouring over info on cameras and lenses till my brain hurt and then finding myself one evening typing Vicki Lens instead of Vicki Lane, it seemed like this unfulfilled obsession was getting the better of me.

So I spent an interesting few days exchanging emails with a very patient Morris Abrams at Adorama Camera in New York till finally we spoke on the phone.

He talked fast, I talked slow, and at some point we commented on the different paces of life in our respective homes. He continued to be patient with me and took my order in a New York minute.

That was Wednesday.

To my surprise, on Friday, UPS brought me a great big box from Adorama and I began carefully unpacking and trying to figure things out. Cory, my professional photographer friend, who is usually out visiting Justin on Saturdays wasn't coming out this weekend. John, too, was away.

I was On My Own in an unknown world.

I found the instructions fairly challenging . . .

. . . but after about twenty minutes I did manage to attach the camera strap.

Find battery and charger. Charge battery. Check

I also attached the lens without hurting myself or the camera. The lens is a hulking 18-200 that will give me both close up and zoom capabilities without having to switch lenses. Pretty slick!

And then there was a filter. Drat, it's not the right size, I fumed, trying to screw it on upside down.

When the battery was charged, I inserted it, turned the camera on and chose ENGLISH as the language setting, EST for time zone, and set the date and time.

And then realized that camera didn't come with a card. Luckily Justin had come up to the house and he suggested that I use the card out of my little Lumix. Crisis averted!


By then, my brain had had all it could take and it was late so I went to bed.

The next morning I was ready to tackle the learning process in a hands on way.


My friend Vic emailed me some suggestions but I was too eager to figure out all those words.



I just wanted to take some pictures!













So I was out the door, new camera in hand










I'll fine tune later.


This is fun.