Vagabond’s Caravan

After months of consideration (here and here) and research, I finally decided to go with Nikon D40 (instead of Canon EOS 400D, or the higher-end Nikon D80) due to:

1. price (man, it’s a real bang for the buck, B$800 for the body and the awesome kit lens)
2. ergonomic design (as mentioned before, I really like it’s ergonomic design, at least it feels really good in my hand)
3. great Nikkor lenses (I don’t really give a damn about Canon’s L @ Pro lenses, they’re way over my budget. Canon doesn’t have many/any good, cheap consumer lenses, which Nikon has. 55-200mm VR is my next buy.)
4. It’s a Nikon (I felt in love with it, not sure why but bet that it has something to do with “I am impressed by all the Nikons I came across”.)
5. Simple (it’s so easy to use that I can just put it into auto mode and hand it over to someone else. And if, one day I plan to upgrade, I can always give it to my family members, it serves well as a very good point-and-shoot.)

Initially, I was counting on my cousin in Singapore to buy it, and bring it back for me in December. While waiting for December to come, I looked around for people who can help me get it by now (right after my last AS paper, Thinking Skills 2, which I screwed up), and don’t really have any luck. One day, a net friend of mine told me he can help me bring it, but sheeling offered me a hand at the same time, too. I was really happy, and less than 1 week later, I got my D40 (just now, around 5pm) and kit lens.

Thanks a million, Sheeling and SoonTiong (yea, he’s the actual guy behind this, erm, actually it’s his relatives, haha). =)

Yesterday was my birthday, I received a lot of birthday wishes via all sorts of mediums (SMSes, MSN, Friendster, Facebook, in person and etc) and this is the year which I received the most wishes ever (more than a hundred I guess, usually it’s around 20 person who greet me, tho). It was great, then me and my family had a small dinner celebration at night, that’s it. Thought it would be really cool if I receive the D40 yesterday, a gift I bought for myself, haha. And I received supports (ie. cash) for a telephoto lens from bro, sis and mom, thanks! =D

P.S: Yes, I paid for it using the salary I made last year. And yes, the money is suppose to go into travelling, but ahh… xD

It was quite funny tho, as I used to refer my first d-SLR as my wife (while the one CheaXin’s dad borrowed me is just my girl friend, since it’s temporary, HAHA!), I actually ‘organized’ a ‘wedding’ just now. I invited PikShien, ChiHo, WeiDeng, CheeTa/WeiHon and Derick to view my webcam, and play with my D40 for the first time ever (ie. screw on the lens, set the date/time, snap a few test shots, read manuals and etc). They’re the witness of my ‘wedding’, HAHA, and well, I guess I was too happy, WeiDeng said he wanted to record down my happy faces, haha.

Now, straight to the point. As usual, I was totally impressed by the ergonomic design and awesome kit lens, it’s so much better than Canon’s, and the feel is very solid. It’s small (compared with other d-SLR) as we all know, and quite light (mom’s comment). I really like the strap with the word Nikon printed over it (call me a fanboy), HAHA, and the photos taken with it looks great. Anyway, I can’t comment much on the image quality (and other stuffs like the controls and etc) since I haven’t really test it out much yet. I think I’ll bring it out for some testing tomorrow (without tripod, fast lens and good flash, things just aren’t that fun at night). And after some extensive use (for a couple weeks), maybe I can come out with a better review. Be patient ChiHo! =D Oh yea, I did juggle around with the menus and controls for awhile, I must say it’s really easy to navigate around, fast and easy. =p

P.S: There would be a couple events in the coming weekend, so yea, promise you’ll see some photos real soon, hehe. =D

Oh yea, something notable is the macro-capability of the kit lens, it’s really good. =) I took a couple close-up on the lens cap, and it’s enough to fill the frame with the 52mm lens cap. =)

P.S: All the photos are not processed, only resized. Did adjust a bit of level and contrast for the vain shot, tho. Out-of-camera result of D40 is impressive, as reviewed. =)

Lastly, you can never go wrong with a D40! =) Anyway, there’s still a lot for me to learn, and I am quite sure that I’ll dig through the manual book, page by page, for the next couple of weeks! Must be ready for all the coming events in December and next spring (err, Chinese New Year, blehz). =)

That’s all for now, erm, leave a comment to congratulate me, will ya? =D

P.S: I haven’t implement Lightbox into this new Wordpress installation yet, sorry about that. =)