Hooray, I have finally purchased my first DSLR camera, and what a great one it is. I've now got the Nikon D5000. I was planning on getting the D3000, which has less features than the D5000, and is also significantly cheaper, but after a little investment and advice from my economist father, I was able to gather enough funds to get the D5000.
A friend of mine, Justin, was also on the search for a new camera, and he had set his eyes on the Canon 1000D (after the Canon salesman at John Lewis had lobbied heavily in Canon's favour, pretty much saying Canon was the be all and end all of photography. Period!)
Justin called me up on a wet and overcast Wednesday afternoon, saying he lacked inspiration while writing his essay, and was prepared to buy the Canon that afternoon. Lacking inspiration myself, I considered it an inspired idea to go camera shopping. So I grabbed a jacket and put on my shoes and we went off to John Lewis to buy our respective cameras.
When we got there, we asked the saleswoman if we could handle the Nikon D5000 and the Canon 1000D respectively, she obliged, and I think she was expecting us to ask her a few questions about their functions, little did she know that we had engaged in endless research about the cameras. After about 20 seconds looking at the cameras, we looked at her and said 'We'll take em' She looked back at us, surprised. It was like we were a bunch of young millionaires, buying expensive gadgets on a whim.
She went to the backroom to get the cameras, but when she returned, she only had the Canon in tow. Alas, John Lewis was out of D5000s. She looked disappointed, I looked disappointed. She asked if I would be prepared to wait two weeks for the D5000 to arrive. "Two weeks!!" I thought, "IncreĆble!!" I needed it now!. So with sad faces we parted (well Justin had a smile on his face) and went right over to Jessops.
Walking right over to the till, I demanded to purchase the D5000, the cashier looked up at me and said, 'would you like to look at it first?' I replied, 'No, that won't be necessary, thank you' ...slightly bemused and amused she went off to get the camera.
There it was, the gold and black packaging gleaming. I was satisfied!
I have a habit of naming my cameras, and this Nikon D5000 has been named: 'Stephanie' (from the Greek: Stefanos, meaning 'Crown') a fitting name I think.
I haven't yet had the oppurtunity to take her out and take pictures of Newcastle (due to adverse weather conditions and academic commitments) but I shall show you a few pictures I took in my room, and a picture of the camera itself.
Lens cap, taken with the D5000