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Should I stay or should I go

Having used my D200 over the last wedding season, Id have to say that we didnt exactly bond together. Why? I dont know. Cant explain it at all really. We should have gotten along swimmingly (as they say), since its very similar to the D300 - and I loved the D300. But the D200 and I ... - not so much.

Maybe it was too much of a change after the disappointment of drowning my Canon 5D? Maybe it just wasnt quite up to the standard of the D300? Or maybe it was just one of those seasons? There were good weddings, but there were no really great weddings (except maybe one). And thats my fault as much as anyone elses, but there it is. The D200 and me just didnt hit it off.

So what to do? Well, I havent shot a wedding in a few months, the new season isnt starting for a few months, and so its that time of year again. The time of year when I review my gear, and decide what stays and what goes.

And not surprisingly, the D200 is going.

But then again, so is a lot of the gear that I bought, not that long ago. Tokina 12-24mm f2.8 - gone. Nikkor 60mm Micro - gone. Nikkor 70-300mm ED - gone. Rokinon 85mm f1.4 - gone. Yonguo 565EX flash - gone (and good ridance!).

Blimey! What exactly am I keeping? Well, not much by the looks of that. Im keeping the Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5/4.5 lens and SB600 flashgun. And thats it. So yes, Im sticking with Nikon.

Although sticking with Nikon wasnt an easy decision, and I was only swayed in the end by a too-good-to-miss kind of a deal on Trademe.

Ive been considering finishing up the wedding photography, and have found this decision (although not yet made completely) actually quite freeing. It made me stop and ask myself, "If i wasnt having to turn up to shoot such and such a client, to take such and such a shot, then what kind of gear would I be happy to shoot with?" With this question in mind, I seriously began to look at some of the Sony cameras. And in as much as they sound like whiz bang amazing bodies (10fps for crying out loud), I just couldnt quite get over the electronic viewfinder in the newer SLT series of bodies. So its a no to the Sonys.

So then I thought I might go full frame again and soot all primes. Oh how very art-school trendy of me. But I didnt want to go back to a Canon 5D (too many painful, wet memories), and cant really afford a 5D MkII or MkIII - so full frame was also out. Ive never really had a problem with cropped sensor cameras anyway. I flaunted with the Canon 40D and 50D for a while - and almost bought a 40D, but the shutter counts were pretty high on most of them.

I downloaded all of the brochures, read all of the reviews, and finally decided that if I got top dollar for my other gear, and really stretched my budget, I could get a new Nikon D7000 and Id be sorted. in many ways its a bit more camera than I actually need, but Im future-proofing myself, right? This camera will see me through for the next five or six years :-)

And then I saw it. At a price I couldnt really refuse. A Nikon D90 - the venerable D90. On Trademe, hardly used (only 1000 shots on the clock), with a 50mm f1.8 amd 18-105mm VR, for a LOT less than a D7000 was going to cost me - body only! I couldnt help myself. And I know Ive made the right decision (read my last post).

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