New Camera!

I finally became so frustrated with my old camera, that I decided to step up to a DSLR. I read and studied and narrowed it down to the Nikon D40 or the Pentax K100D. I was leaning toward the Pentax, but decided at the last minute that I liked the Nikon better. So we headed off to the camera store, where I asked to see the D40. I loved the "feel" of the D40 and had just about decided to buy it until I found out that the zoom lens I wanted cost almost as much as the Camera!!

SO... I am now the proud owner of a Pentax K100D camera!

I had two complaints about my previous camera -- A lot of my pictures were blurry (OK, I know that's most likely ME), but worse, the camera took so long to take a picture, that I missed a lot of shots.

The Pentax K100D is MUCH faster at taking shots. Some are still blurry, but the camera has shake reduction so that should help. It's also a lot heavier with the 300mm zoom lens! I'm still shooting on AutoFocus -- but that will change soon. I need to do a bit more reading to set things up properly.

So here's a few samples:



This was taken on the day I came home with the camera -- with the standard lens. It was very late in the afternoon -- getting on toward dusk. I had to stand on my tip-toes and shoot down on this leaf to get the focus right.

Here are some shots from today of my more common subjects:


OK, I don't usually take pictures of vultures -- but you have to admit they are pretty awesome gliders. This one was flying over the house.


There is a yaupon right at the side of our porch where a lot of the birds like to perch before checking out the feeders, or perhaps they also look for bugs there (as Robins aren't feeder birds).



The picture above, is the way I usually take pictures of hawks. This one's still a little blurry, but it's much better than most I've gotten (I'll credit the fast shutter for that!). This one is a Red Tail.


And this one is not... I haven't looked it up -- but I'm guessing it's a Red Shouldered Hawk -- see the buff color of the tummy?



And of course, it's Goldfinch time! I didn't notice until I was reviewing this shot, that this little guy is injured. Ouch! That has to hurt. Goldfinches, like humming birds, are pretty aggressive. I didn't think they had the "weaponry" to do that kind of damage, but those beaks do look pretty sharp!