NOVEMBER 21, 2010 – Some people might say Christmas got early for me, but I would say this has been long overdue. The reason being is that I’ve been getting freelance work and I don’t have a sturdy main camera to work with.

Yup, I am one of those crazy people who pre-ordered Nikon’s new mid-range dSLR, the Nikon D7000 (it is pronounced as Nee-kon, not Nay-kon). During my stay in Toronto, Dhem and Kelvin have been bugging me to get it because of its features, but little do they know that I have pre-ordered it before they teased me about it.

So I picked it up last Sunday. I just went to the internet and see how it fares and so far it’s been getting good reviews. I haven’t used it yet (and I know gear maniacs will be mad like hell at me) mainly because:

a.) I got sick;
b.) I still haven’t read the manual;
c.) I have no time to shoot yet because of (a) and;
d.) I am not a gear maniac (like my boyfriend)

It feels really heavy compared to my beat-up (but well-loved) entry-level dSLR (my D40) and I should say it’s a huge change. However, I think jumping from an entry-level to a mid-range is just right. I don’t think my skills (or my finances) is up-to-par for me to get a professional unit. I would like to take baby steps and learn more skills as I go along instead of buying a very expensive camera and then end up having dull and lifeless photos.

What excites me is that this camera meters with all (and I mean ALL) of my Nikon and Nikkor lenses! I have 4 AF-S lenses, 1 AF-D lens, 2 E-series lenses and 1 AF-G lens (only works with my F55) AND they will all work and meter to that camera. How sweet is that? I would probably need a longer lens for most of my portrait work (though my 35mm AF-S and 50mm AF have been amazing) and a wide angle lens and I’ll be really good to go!

(And wait for my battery grip, yep.)

I noticed that my camera has a LiveView and Video function but I bought my camera to take photos so I don’t think I’ll be using those features that much.

I will be posting photos (of course!) taken with my D7000 as soon as I get better and the weather conditions here in Winnipeg calms down (which I don’t think is going to happen anytime soon).

On another note, I still don’t have a name for this camera! All my cameras have Japanese names, so I’m still stuck naming mine. Any suggestions?