Making a Big Step in Photos... Maybe

So, like any good amateur photographer, I've started figuring out the types of photographs that I enjoy taking, the equipment necessary to take those photos (in the style/manner I choose), and the fact that I have not become independently wealthy overnight. I love my D3100. I've taken it a lot of places, beaten it up a bit, but it's never complained or failed. In fact, it's almost encouraged me to take photos in places that I might not have. I took this thing into the Rockies for skiing, padding it with sweatshirts, and, when I look at those photos, I can't regret that decision at all. I even took some pretty good sized falls, and the camera came back with nary a scratch (I wasn't quite that unscathed).

But, as you can probably see with my last two posts, I'm starting to enjoy nature photography and sports photography. I'm not deluded. I won't be setting up blinds for 12 hour days with an 800mm lens. I don't have the money, time, or the desire to do that! I'm not going to have a set of super fast 300mm and 400mm lenses for sports. But I am going to try and take better and more interesting photos of these things. And, when cropping down my photos from the two baseball games and my time in the park, I realized - I either needed better lenses, or a camera that could handle an ISO above 200.

So, off I went to my local camera shop, hoping to just shoot some test shots - the D3100 with a nice fancy lens, and a D7100 with my 55-200mm f/4-5.6. No go. They suggested doing online rental for that. But, I did check one fact on the D7100 - did it have an internal focus motor? The answer? Yes.


For a limited budget amateur photographer, that was music to my ears. Search on 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses made by Nikon. No focus motor in the lens? There's a $1,400 savings. Older lenses just became nearly as good as their modern versions. That was it. I had to make the plunge.

So, I ordered up a D7100. I felt terribly not going back to the local camera chain store - but they couldn't offer the extra memory card and battery that an online retailer did. The extra battery was the deal breaker. Online it was. Hey, if I do get a higher end lens, it'll definitely be at the store (and probably a filter or two). That's my justification.


I had been toying around with this idea for several months, but I really hadn't outgrown the D3100 in any obvious manner. Three weeks of shooting and enjoying that shooting opened my eyes. Will I toss my D3100? Heck no. It's still amazing for 60-70% of the shots I'll take, in all likelihood. Slap that 35mm f/1.8, and it will do amazing things. But at distance where cropping has to happen/ The D7100 was the logical step.

I know - the gear doesn't make the photographer. And I'm still going to work on basic exercises around town. But I also want to explore what I'm capable of capturing, and I don't want to limit myself. So, the next couple of posts will be my first impressions as an "advanced beginner" photographer using a true pro-sumer body. I'll give you a hint - I love this thing.