You get extra credit if you noticed—we have a new camera. We bought it ourselves (no freebies or sponsorships) and I’ll explain why.
We went with a Nikon D3200 purchased on Amazon. It’s essentially the next step up from our old Nikon D3000 that we picked up back in early 2010. Why upgrade? Because the resident klutz (that would be me) managed to push our previous camera just a little too far.
The incident happened while I was working on the deck. I set the camera on the far end of a 2×10 while cutting stair stringers. In a sawdust-and-heat haze I didn’t realize the vibrations were slowly inching the camera toward the edge. Next thing I knew it slid off and hit the concrete. Not my proudest moment—right up there with the time I failed inspection and had to own up to it.
This wasn’t the first drop for that camera. After two-plus years of heavy use—roughly 300 photos a week, which adds up to over 39,000 shots—it had endured bumps, paint splatters, dirt and sawdust. But this fall apparently did it in: the autofocus failed and it would only shoot in manual focus. For us, autofocus is essential since we grab a lot of candid action shots of Clara and Burger and don’t have time to refocus every shot.
I called the local camera shop and learned they’d need to send it to Nikon for repair. The estimate was reasonable—up to about $150 if it was fixable—but the turnaround would be 6–8 weeks. We quickly realized we couldn’t keep the blog going without a reliable camera for that long, so we weighed our options:
- Renting a camera for two months (which turned out to be more expensive than simply buying a new one)
- Buying an inexpensive point-and-shoot to tide us over (but that felt like wasted money compared with investing in an upgraded DSLR we actually wanted)
In the end we decided to buy a new DSLR. We’ll still get the old one repaired and keep it as a backup so we won’t be forced into another emergency purchase if something ever happens to the new camera.
We stuck with Nikon and stayed in the D3000 family so our 50mm lens would still be compatible. The D3200 cost more than our previous model—about $699 on Amazon—but it offered clear advantages: better low-light performance, improved auto white balance, and HD video. The upgraded video capability is especially noticeable in our recent clips.
That screenshot above is from a video, not a still photo—an improvement over our old Flip cam. Suffice to say, the new camera has been a welcome upgrade.
We’re still learning its controls, but overall we’re very pleased. Below are a few sample photos taken straight out of the camera without heavy white-balancing or lighting adjustments:
The D3200 has simplified our workflow—less time fiddling with white balance or struggling in low light, and better wide-angle video—while also serving our family needs since we take so many photos and videos of Clara and Burger. As much as I hate to admit it, my clumsy moment led to a worthwhile upgrade. Right, Sherry?
P.S. Sherry also wants to talk about the finale of Bachelor Pad—if you watched it, what did you think? I’d love to hear your reactions.