With the acquisition of the Nikon D60 DSLR exactly two months ago, I have come one full circle in my photographic journey. Back in the early 1980s, I started with Dad’s fixed-lense Yashica. The camera had basic functions but it fulfilled its purpose. I saved enough in 1995 to get the Canon EOS 500 SLR. This camera had more functions but its dial was mostly set to Auto mode. With it, I took some very memorable images of Mum, Wuan and I.
I got the 80-200mm lens to supplement the 35-80mm kit lens. Unfortunately, I did not store the camera body and lenses properly. Both lenses had fungus growing inside the lens elements that cost a bomb to clean. I have never heard of a dry cabinet then. Moreover, the oily shutter which is common with EOS cameras hastened my decision to switch to a digital camera.
My first digital camera was the Nikon Coolpix 3100. It was one of the more popular models in 2003 and also one that was within my budget. I traded in the EOS 500 for RM400 and topped up another RM700 for the Coolpix 3100. The downside of the Coolpix 3100 was that it used two AA-sized batteries which provided sufficient power for 50 or so shots only on two 1800mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries. Despite its limitations, it too captured some memorable images, many of which I used for this blog.
Before I went to Japan in early-2006, I thought it would be a good idea to get a camera that guzzled less power to make sure that I do not miss any interesting shots. The Canon Powershot A610 was one of the newer models then. It is a robust camera although it hanged several times at sub-zero temperature. Other than that, I had no problems with it whatsoever. It also went to Thailand and Korea with me.
While in Korea, in a moment of carelessness, it dropped from my lap onto the road in a back alley in Itaewon – a popular shopping district in Seoul. I though that was the end of the camera as it hit the road with such a loud thud. The lens casing was dented but it worked fine otherwise. I went on to take all the memorable shots of my time in Korea with it.
William and Cynthia got themselves the Nikon D60 to photograph Emily two months ago. When I saw the clarity of the images they took, there was not a doubt in my mind that I wanted one too. In the two months that Wuan and I had the camera, we have not had the opportunity to put the camera through its paces yet. We have been busy with one thing or another. The few times that we used it, we were more than pleased with the results.