It should have happened earlier this year except that I got snookered by the economy, anyway it finally happened last week, I now have my paws on a brand-new Nikon D90, also took the plunge on a new lens (Tamron 17 - 50 F/2.8) since I've always wanted a wide-angle lens anyway.

For those bored with the technical speak, here are some sampler photos from this past weekend, still trying to work out some issues with camera settings and use of a new lens, but otherwise...



*Ack!* Blew the focus here, the background should be out of focus and she's a little softer than I want but I still like this one...



How to take a car photo...



A little Halloween street photography, again focus issues but...




One last photo, part of my Remembrance Day photography, speaking of which, never buy a new camera just before a major project, as I haven't really had time to learn it properly and man it's a complex camera...

Tomorrow night is the first test of the camera at an event (the main reason I purchased this one), as it has great low light ability and better dynamics for that kind of thing...

I love my D90 Nikon! It is very versatile.
Tip: remove the battery before any long down time as the
camera will slowly drain the battery even if the camera is off.
Nothing worse than grabbing the camera and the battery is dead.
BTDT

Big congrats!

With your passion, you deserve a nice, high-end camera!

We bought a D40 last year and love it. We have the standard 18-55 lens plus a Nikon VR 55-200 (for longer motorsports shots, of course). We use a monopod with the big lens.

I'm just using Gimp open-source software for most photo editing (plus, sometimes the Windows viewer for just simple cropping).

I prefer to compose pictures properly so that they need no editing, if possible.
But sometimes it's fun to just shoot dozens of shots and see if you can get a good "accidental" photo.

~This One~ , taken by Linda while she was in a new MINI pace car at the Watkins Glen "boot" is my example of a decent "accident".
It was found in many unframed shots that she took by simply sticking the camera out the window and firing away.

I shot ~This One~ as more or less an accident too.

Congratulations, James! I know you've been waiting for this for a while.

I love my Konica Minolta. Still trying to decipher all the doo-dads and widgets on it, but it is a joy to use.

Mickey

Nice grab shot, Nial.

As for the D90, congrats, James. Good tool.

Does it make a fake F3 shutter noise?!?

...and I'll say again: What's so ~wrong~ with a points-and-condenser iggy?!?

Thanks everyone and thanks for that tip David, as I often hang up the camera for a few days between weekends, but then I do have a spare battery anyway, very important!

And nice photos Nial, any of the dSLR's these days produce nice photos, just that some have varying levels of performance.

Sherlock....do you know about http://www.garageglamour.com?

Sherlock,
Wonderful news on your great acquisition. I learned the hard way about buying a new camera right before an important event I wanted to photograph. Keep the great photos coming and keep having fun too!

Tony... I'm on enough different websites for all sorts of things, I don't need anymore... LOL

Dave... I'm sure I'm not the first person to do that either, I know it will all work out

Well, I think that photo you're using in your signature is great!

Thanks Tony...

If only you saw that photo at the larger size, but then maybe it's just me...

Well, where can I find a larger size?

If you insist Tony...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2518/4066779662_34aa4d4f05_b.jpg

Let's see... The background in behind should be out of focus more, and she isn't as sharply in focus as I'd like, I know the moment is fun but some of the technical stuff is lacking here... Or am I being too much of a perfectionist?

To me the photo (and the young lady) look great. It looks bad to you James because you know what you were going for. The person viewing the photo doesn't have that info so it looks great to them. You are being too hard on yourself my friend.

Sometimes it's best not to know too much = it might dampen your enjoyment of a photo!

Okay... I give in... I still say that photo isn't what I want it to be, but I'll keep it to myself...