Keep it coming

I want more

Besides the Camera you need other stuff When I got my D3200, I got a "bundle" with it that included an SD card, an instructional DVD, and a camera bag. There may have been another thing or two as well. The reason I don't remember is because with the exception of the SD card I really didn't need the other things and don't use them. It wasn't money well spent. In fact, for the extra $40 or so I could have got a faster SD card and I would have been better off. My lesson learned here, and one that I've learned in my music equipment purchases but failed to apply to photography purchases in the excitement of the moment, is to NOT buy anything until and/or unless you're sure you need it.

I knew I'd need a camera bag or case of some sort, as well as a memory card, but I ended up with less than stellar units by purchasing the bundle. The camera bag held the camera and lens and maybe a few other items, but as I found out later, it wasn't big enough for everything. At this point, I have a different camera bag that I mostly like. I got the AmazonBasics DSLR Backpack and think it is a very good backpack type of camera bag, and an excellent value compared to other bags.

However, now I wish I had a different case solution. I don't use the backpack bag as a backpack. Now I prefer to use a small waist bag to carry one extra lens, a spare battery, memory cards, cleaning gear, and some other small things like a strap for my eyeglasses and an infra-red remote shutter release.

I carry the camera on a sling type strap (for hand held shooting) or on my tripod (I know, it's risky). I have a separate pouch I use to carry a few filters (polarizer and a couple of ND's for each lens - they're different sizes).

What I want now is more of a suitcase style case to carry my camera gear in the car. When I get somewhere that I'm going to take pictures I'll load up what I want into my waist bag and go shoot. When I'm shooting, if I need something that I don't have with me, I'll have to go back to the car but I won't be carrying my whole collection of supplies every step of the way.

My backpack holds most of my stuff, but not all, and it has the straps, etc., necessary or desirable for a backpack, but I don't use them and they get in the way. I didn't spend a lot of money on the backpack bag (it's currently less than $30) so I'm not out a lot, but between the bundle and this bag, I'm out maybe $70 for stuff I don't use. And I'm sure that's not everything I've lost money on...

My failing memory

The SD card I got in the bundle was a 16G SanDisk Ultra. At the time I didn't even know that SD cards have different speed ratings or that it was important. It is important - if you do burst shots or perhaps video. Now I have a 32G Extreme and plan to get another, faster card.

When I got my camera they had a special going on lenses. I could add a 55-200mm zoom for $150, a savings of $100. They also offered a similar deal on their 55-300mm lens but I don't remember the details. Even though I thought I'd try to keep the camera purchase at about $500, I was pretty sure I'd want a longer lens so I added it to my purchase. Fast forward from August to November or so. I'd tried shooting animals at a local wildlife park. I found that the 200mm lens was NOT good enough for that, even with animals in cages they were far enough away that I could not fill the frame with the animal, and it was hard to see details through the view finder when the animal was so small (like, were their eyes open?). So I started looking for a longer lens.

I ended up getting the 55-300mm lens that I passed on when I got the camera. In addition, since the new lens covered the full range of the 55-200mm lens, that 200mm lens was not useful. But if I sold the 200mm lens I'd get maybe $60 or so (Adorama sells that lens used for about $110).

I decided to just keep the 200mm, at least for now. If I drop the 300mm at least I'll have some level of back up. But now I'm actually looking for an even longer lens.

I took pictures this last weekend of some wildlife and again faced the problem that my 300mm lens was not long enough. But, what I'm going to look for is something with a longer minimum length. Nikon has a lens in the 200mm to 400mm range, so at least if I can get something like that it won't completely duplicate the range of my other lenses.

There are lots of goodies you can get to go with your camera and I've only touched on a few. I'm constantly re-learning my own advice: wait until you really need something before you get it. When you decide you need something, research it. Again, I recommend the Tony Northrup book on buying equipment, at least as a good source of info to go along with any other research you do (it's only $10 or less and can save you a lot of other money).

I already knew I was really interested in landscape photography. The other things I've shot pictures of have been inspired by seeing other people's pictures or reading books (e.g. levitation pictures). But I still don't really do portraits of people, pets, or ???. Consequently I don't have a lot of money in backdrops, lighting, or other props. All of my purchases since I bought my camera have been because I had a need for the item. That doesn't mean all of them have worked out, but it does mean that I haven't regreted any of them!