Anticipation!

It's on its way

I did it. I ordered my Nikon D610 and it's on its way. It is scheduled to be delivered 5 days from today. It is so exciting! I used to feel this way about getting a guitar. Now its a camera that has me excited. It will certainly be an early birthday present to myself, and a present I hope to not outgrow for quite a few years (in part because the next level of camera comes with quite a price jump!).

I had been thinking that all I really needed was the camera and a new lens or two. So I had already ordered a 50mm f/1.8D prime to try out. After talking to my photography guru Jon, I realized I may want to get another LCD protector. That made me realize I also would need at least one spare battery. And then it dawned on my I'll likely want another quick release plate for my tripod. Oh, I have to have the diopter correction adapter. Before you know it, another $250 or so was added to the price of the camera.

I did order the battery and diopter. I know from experience how limiting a single battery is, even though this is a bigger battery than the D3200 uses and is supposed to deliver close to twice as many shots. I experienced running out of battery once while camping and it ruined the rest of the trip. I ordered the Nikon brand even though there are less expensive 3rd party options. I just like knowing that the battery is exactly what the camera uses.

I have to have the diopter. I can't very well use a view finder with glasses and with my eyesight I can't focus without the adapter. I went through that on my D3200, shooting a lot of pics before I realized why they were soft when I manually focused. Fortunately I knew exactly what to get; the D610 uses the same thing that the D3200 does for this purpose.
As for the quick release plate, I'm holding off for a bit. I'm not sure if I'll need one for both cameras yet. I may decide to put the plate on the D610 and use it for the landscape stuff and then use the D3200 for the hand held work. At any rate, I'm waiting another paycheck before I get the plate (my funds aren't unlimited, dang it).

And then its on to lenses. I'm anxious to see how the 50mm prime works.
On my D3200, with its 1.5x crop factor, I mainly have shot the landscape images with the 18-55mm zoom. Very rarely have I shot landscape with my bigger 55-300mm zoom. To replicate the same range of the 18-55mm zoom, I think that the 50mm will take care of the long end.

My idea currently is to get a 24mm prime to take care of the short end and see if I can make do with those 2 lenses for a while. I am considering adding a 35mm prime if need be, but may put that money towards a zoom. The thing is, the full frame lenses are a bit more spendy than the crop lenses so I really need to plan the purchases better. The "kit" lens sold with the D610 just doesn't get great reviews so I'm thinking I'll have to go up another level to a $1300 zoom. Almost as much as the camera itself!

In addition, while it's not an optimum solution, I do have the option of using my crop lenses on the D610 in crop mode. That will get me by a bit. I figure that as long as the images aren't soft, I can take panoramas.

Well, I guess that's it for now. My adventure has once again affected my pocketbook!