New Digital Camera... Really This Time!

A little while ago, I blogged about a new digital camera, a Canon SX-10 "bridge camera". Well, I sent it back, deciding that it really was the worst of both worlds rather than the best, and I replaced it with a Pentax K200d, which arrived today -- an entry-level DSLR and one of only two DSLRs on the market that take AA batteries (the other is also a Pentax). It also turns out that I could get an 18-250mm lens (field of view equal to 27-375mm on 35mm) and that I can use Erin's old-school manual focus lenses that were hand-me-downs from her dad (and plus, the image stabilization is in the body, not in the lenses as Canon and Nikon do, so the old lenses are stabilized too). Even though it's a beast at 1.2kg with the 18-250 zoom, I think it's a fit. Yay!

Here's a picture of Jess. 1/8 second, f/1.4, ISO 1600, hand-held with a Takumar SMC 50mm, one of the aforementioned old-school lenses. Given that this was taken in very poor lighting (available light at 11pm) and I'm pretty green at manual focusing, yet it's among the best pics of Jess I've ever seen, I'm pretty pleased.