Good morning all. I have today off from work for MLK Day. The first time in my work career that I've had it as a holiday, but now we follow the schedule from the NY company.
Still hard for me to comprehend that as of November 13th my employment ended with one company and I was hired by another.
Speaking of which, my boss is coming to Chicago tomorrow evening. I've been given no agenda and have zero insight into what he wants to discuss over the course of 3 days.
On a perkier note, today is going to be a "me" day.
I bought a new camera for Sukie over the weekend, so I think we may play with it to learn it.
I'm also going to spend some time on the blog software, setting up my site and learning a bit more about the software.
And, lastly, I'm going to be killing me a bunch of bad guys in a video game.
All in all I would say it's a perfectly planned boy day.
I was going to get the Fuji S200EXR which is the camera I recommended to Deb. It is getting incredible reviews as a "prosumer" point and shoot camera, as close as you can get to a DSLR.
However, I joined a couple of photography forums (similar to the DIS), and explained Sukie's needs. He'll be taking a lot of photos in clubs and needs flexibility to work without a flash in low-light.
The feedback on the Fuji was excellent and I saw sample photos that were taken by people that were incredible, but for the types of needs that Sukie, especially the low light, a DSLR was recommended, because he'll ultimately have the ability to change lenses and use a "fast" "prime" lens for the clubs, allowing him to work in very low light without a flash.
That sent me into a panic because I know so little about DSLRs. I spent a fair bit of time doing research and it came down to 3 models based on our budget, the Canon XSi, Nikon D5000 and the Pentax K-x. They are all relatively new models with the Pentax being the newest.
Lot's of discussion on boards later, it was narrowed down to just 2 models, the Nikon and the Pentax. The Canon would never be able to handle light levels as low as the Nikon and Pentax could.
This past Saturday we headed down to a camera store to look at them. It was a
real camera store, geared much more towards professionals than people like me. Think of something the size of a good sized
Walmart. I didn't even know what 90% of the equipment was for.
They had a wall of refrigerator cases (the ones with doors like in the supermarket) with nothing but different types of film in them!
I had completely forgotten what it was like to shop in an old fashioned store. You know the type where the salespeople don't just work there but also understand the products and technology!
I had to hunt down a salesperson. It was sort of confusing because it was also arranged with "consultation desks," which of course you need if you have people coming in to buy professional studio film, video and digital equipment.
Our salesman was great. No pressure at all.
We ended up getting the Pentax K-x. Sukie preferred it, and after all, he's the one going to be using it the most. It was less "clunky" than the Nikon, smaller in the hands and it weighed (without a lens) 105g (about 1/4 pound) less than the Nikon.
I have to agree with him, it felt right in the hands, not awkward and was not too heavy with the lens.
The price was comparable to the online prices, and the salesman had spent so much time with us, I bought it there. Though I'm not sure how I felt about paying the sales tax.
I am not getting any other lenses right now, not until he learns how to use the camera. Also lenses are a bit of a shock! I never realized how much they cost, as much if not more than the camera!
It was a bit unexpected. I had only intended to go shopping and hadn't thought I'd be buying anything.
I'd still be interested in the Fuji as a major upgrade to our point and shoot family. It is a
very amazing camera, especially using it's EXR settings. I'll be exploring that again later in the year.
When will he start blogging?
because I only half done on Puppy Love, Toys 2, Teddy for wedding 
