souping up my nikon d3100.

Now that the holidays are wrapping up (phew!) I am finally getting some time to play with the new toys Santa generously left under the tree for me.  I will admit to sending him a rather detailed letter as to what I would like, down to the website link.  As it turns out, I'm not a big one for surprises so it all worked out perfectly.

The d3100 I got this Fall came with an 18-55 VR F3.5-5.6, which is a good all around lens.  I still use it for the majority of photos I shoot.  My west coast Santa (mom) got me the 50MM/1.8 AF D lens for taking portraits.  It doesn't have the auto focus feature of the 18-55, so it will take some getting used to and experimenting with.  Also, I think I need a lesson in changing lenses back and forth because I find it extremely frustrating.

My central Santa (Scott) got me a flash for my camera.  Yes, the d3100 comes with one that works just fine, but after taking a few classes with Michael Willems at Henry's, I felt like I needed an external flash, in the worst way.  I could not have been happier when I opened up the fancy gold Nikon box to find the SB-600 flash!  As an aside, I'll point out that I know I'm growing up because I didn't mind only getting one (very nice) present from my central Santa.

Now that we have checked out the accessories that will help me make my photos look good, lets look at the accessories that will help make me look good.  While I normally love the colour black, I find the sea of black bags and neck straps in the camera shop to be very boring.   My west coast Santa came through and the following items appeared under the tree for me.  I love this Crumpler camera bag.  My laptop bag is from Crumpler as well.  They have fun colours and are a sturdy product as well.  This bag is the perfect size for going to an event where you know you will only need one lens (which for me, is most of the time).  I ended up ordering a larger one for storing all my camera gear with a Henry's gift card I got from another generous Santa.

Finally, the pièce de résistance, a funky Boho Blossom neck strap from phat straps.  Wow did my west coast Santa ever come through for me or what?!

Of course, Santa Scott also made sure to tuck another 4G memory card into my stocking (along with Step up 3 and a quilting magazine!!). I got spoiled for sure!  I'm looking forward to learning how to use all this stuff and maybe taking a few more classes from Michael to get the most out of this flash!  Merry Christmas to me!