Puhleeze, puhleeze, folks, don't evict me!!! I will always have a fondness for Nikon and I certainly learned a lot through the years using Nikon cameras and lenses and as a result I have a sentimental attachment there, so that is the part where (now former) "Nikon Girl" feels a bit sad tonight.......
It was weird in the store, standing there at the one counter looking on as the woman examined all my offerings, my lenses, testing them, and then with a turn of my head, looking over at the next counter where the boxes containing the new camera and lenses were sitting, waiting for me to claim them..... So, yeah, I'm a little sad, but thanks, Mike, for affirming and acknowledging that this was not an easy decision and that in the end it absolutely did boil down to which camera system meets my needs, desires and future needs......
At the same time, yes, indeed, I'm really excited and thrilled and I think that I made the right choices for myself in terms of both camera body and lenses. I will put everything, including myself, to the test tomorrow! In the meantime I keep going over to look at my new goodies on the dining table.....WOW!!!!
Thanks, Richard -- I've long loved macro and abstracts and it's been a while since I have really done anything serious along those lines, so I am looking forward to getting back into it again! Once I discovered the value of focus peaking in mirrorless photography, I realized how terrific that is, especially when shooting close-ups and macro. I knew a year ago that my next camera was not going to be another DSLR, that it would be mirrorless. I had a 35mm APS-C macro lens with my NEX-7 but never went beyond that with that camera. The 90mm FF macro has been on my radar for a long, long time....... My light tent and props and other accessories have been patiently waiting for me to put them back to work, and I am hoping that by the time spring rolls around with new flowers and such blooming outdoors that I'll have figured out what I'm doing with this new gear well enough to capture some decent images!
West, thanks for that link to a Sony forum; I had figured there must be one but hadn't actually investigated. I've been casually following posts on DPR in their Sony forum and also the Talk E-Mount forum. Interestingly enough, my very first couple of SLRs way, way back in time were Minoltas...... One nice and special thing about Nikon Cafe is that here we have always been open and receptive to people using other brands and other systems in addition to or in place of Nikon.....and I hope we can remain that way! Thanks, Doug, for your reassurance that I am always welcome here. I have absolutely no plans to leave.....
Gary, thanks for your support and chances are that I will need some assistance along the way because this camera is a lot more complex than the D3 or any other camera that I have ever used -- probably I won't begin to by half exploit what all it is capable of doing..... I figure that tomorrow I'll just do the basics with the setup, delving into the menu and working with the stuff that I already am familiar with anyway thanks to my other Sony cameras, and then as I start using the camera will begin to refine and customize settings more and more.... Yes, I'm definitely anticipating that the first few outings with this camera will result in a lot of misfires as far as focus goes and/or some blur in spite of the IBIS, etc., as this thing is going to reveal every misstep I make in terms of how I focus and shoot the image! I went through that years ago with I think it was the Nikon D2X; this will be much more of a strict reminder to shoot carefully, thoughtfully and precisely.....
Thankfully, I also remembered to get a Wimberley Universal Arca-Swiss compatible plate that will work with my Gitzo tripod and RRS 55 Ballhead. The store didn't have any L-Brackets that would work, and I know from checking few weeks ago that RRS is taking preorders on them. This camera is still a pretty new model, after all. After I've had it a while and seen how much I really do use it on the tripod then I'll decide if I need to go with an L-Bracket instead of just the plate.
Yes, I did buy a couple of new SD cards today, and probably will be adding more later, as I knew I'd need them right off the bat. For the time being I won't be shooting in continuous high drive, though, will just stick to single drive mode until I get a feel for how that 61mp affects my computer and my image editing process. I've got 32 GB RAM and an i9 processor in this machine so that should be able to handle things. A year ago when I bought it I was already thinking about making a change in my photo gear.....
I can't believe I finally did this -- it has been a long, long time in coming!
