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I’ve been wanting to get a digital SLR for a while now, and after some weighing of the options between price and need, it came down to the Canon EOS 400D and the Nikon D80. The D80 won out as everyone I’ve spoken to says the 400D, although cheaper, feels inferior to the D80. As with all big purchases I spend weeks deciding, reading reviews and opinions and just reading up on the subject matter. I used it for the first time today and I have to say, it feels and works like a dream, the reflex action and the cliclac of the mirrors inside is music at 2 beats per second.

I bought everything separately, starting off with the D80 body, a 50mm 1.4D lens, 2 gig memory card and a spare battery. I also followed Ash’s lead and got a Portable Storage Device because I’ll be making a trip overseas in January. I got all the camera gear from Discount Photographics, they have the best deals going I think because they are primarily an eBay shop operating out of an apartment. I think the next purchase would have to be a longer lens for shooting the surrounds, the 50mm is great but is best used for close range shots.

A nice effect of having an SLR in your hands is that it makes you look through the lens via the eyepiece to compose your shots, every shot I took today I automatically looked through the lens, that might be the reason my right eye is a bit achy… not use to winking ( ;

Nikon are really helpful with their online reference sites.

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