You get extra credit if you noticed we have a new camera — we bought it ourselves and weren’t sponsored — and I’ll explain why.
We picked up a Nikon D3200 on Amazon — essentially an update to our old Nikon D3000 that we’ve used since early 2010. The short version: I’m a bit of a klutz and finally pushed the old camera past its limits. Long version: while working on the deck I set the camera on a 2×10 and, in a sawdust-induced haze, didn’t realize it was perched on the other end. Vibrations from the saw slowly shifted the board until the camera slid off and hit the concrete. It was one of those “womp womp” moments.
That camera had already survived a lot. We shoot frequently—roughly 300 photos a week for the last two-plus years—so it had seen bumps, drops, paint splatters, dirt, and sawdust. But this drop left the autofocus broken, which for our workflow was a real problem. We often capture action shots of Clara and Burger and don’t have time to manually focus each shot.
I called the local camera shop and learned they’d have to send it to Nikon for repair. The estimate: up to about $150 if it’s repairable, but with a turnaround of six to eight weeks. We couldn’t go two months without a camera, so we considered options: renting a camera (which would have been more expensive than buying new for two months) or buying a cheap point-and-shoot as a temporary fix (which felt like throwing money away instead of investing in a worthwhile upgrade).
So we chose to buy a new DSLR and still plan to get the old one repaired as a backup. That way if we ever damage the new camera, we won’t be stranded without a reliable camera for weeks. We stuck with Nikon and stayed in the D3000 series so our 50mm lens would remain compatible and we wouldn’t have to relearn everything. The D3200 cost about $699 on Amazon, roughly $250 more than the older model, but we consider it a necessary business expense.
The D3200 brought several improvements we appreciate: better low-light performance, more accurate auto white balance, and HD video — which explains the noticeable upgrade in our recent videos. The image below is actually a video screenshot, which is a big step up from our old Flip camera.
We’re still learning the new camera, but overall we’re very happy with it. It’s already cut down the time we spent white balancing and worrying about low-light shots, and the wider-angle video is a welcome bonus. Here are a few photos we took right away without fussing over white balance or lighting:
This upgrade benefits the blog and our family, since we take a lot of photos and videos of Clara and Burger. In hindsight, my clumsy moment led to a worthwhile improvement — though I’m still on the hook for the embarrassment. Sherry, of course, had reactions worth capturing on tape.
P.S. On a different note, Sherry wants to talk about the Bachelor Pad finale. If you watched it, what did you think? I wish I’d secretly recorded her reaction.