Bitten by the Bug

A little more than a year ago I bought my first DSLR camera – a refurbished Nikon D3200 camera body. I had been wanting one for some time, but never pulled the trigger. I was afraid I’d spend all that money on a camera, find out I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, then never touch it again. I was wrong. I’m hooked.

A camera body obviously isn’t much good without glass to go with it, so for my first lens I bought a Nikon 18-140mm. It’s a fantastic multi-purpose lens that works great for a variety of scenarios. After about a week or so, however, I noticed the quality was only so-so with indoor, lower light shots. I quickly snapped up a Nikon 50mm prime, and it’s immediately become my go-to lens. I use it for virtually everything, and I actually get mildly irritated when I have to use my 18-140mm.

The D3200 with a 50mm prime and Adobe Lightroom has been invaluable to learn from. I’m resisting the urge to immediately upgrade to a D7000, as I want to learn the limits of the D3200 and figure out exactly what I need in my next camera.

By no means am I an expert. I’m learning. Half the time I don’t know what I’m doing. I still have issues figuring out when it’s best to shoot in manual mode, aperture mode, or something else. I also still struggle with proper ISO settings and whatnot. I’m getting there, but it’s a constant learning process.

Anyhow, part of my blog will be talking about my journey in amateur photography. I take a lot of photos of many different things, such as firearms, cars, landscapes, and my family. I welcome comments and feedback. I don’t get butthurt easily, and I’m not very politically correct, so if you say my photos suck balls, well…good on you then. 🙂

Advertisement

I scream, you scream, we scream for…Hellcat

I suppose it’s fitting a Hellcat was shown to dealers in Sin City.

This past week in Las Vegas, the new Grand Cherokee Trackhawk was previewed at their annual conference. FCA saw it fitting to drop the 707-HP Hellcat V8 into an SUV, creating a 0-60-in-3.5-seconds beast with AWD and room for five. Just for reference, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo covers the same distance in 4.1 seconds.

While the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk should be a relative bargain, it won’t be cheap. With the “regular” 2015 SRT starting at $65,890, you can expect the Trackhawk to start in the $80,000-$85,000 range. Pricey, yes, but chump change when compared to the aforementioned Cayenne Turbo and the BMW X5 M.

God Bless America.