Today was quite a day. My little “new camera savings fund” filled up and with my wife’s blessing, I headed to the camera store to make a purchase. But, to keep you guessing, here’s a little history.
For several years I used Minolta equipment. I started photography with my parent’s SRT-101. I wore it out and moved to my Grandmother’s SRT-101. I wore it out and moved to a Minolta X-700. I had many lenses with this camera, including a 100-500mm zoom. All the while knowing one day… One day I would own a Canon camera. I knew all the pros used Canon. I heard ad nauseum how great Canon lenses were. I heard everything I needed to hear to know that Canon was in my future. Well, one day it happened. The day I brought home my first Canon film camera (an Elan 7N) I had a smile on my face from ear to ear! Yes, I had achieved what few other people could say. I owned a Canon camera! (With a 50mm f/1.8 lens.) No one could stop me now! Move over Superman! Out of the way Batman! What? You need a photograph of the underside of thick blackberries under a forest canopy taken at noon on a 90 degree blue sky day at 300′ elevation and everything needs to be perfectly exposed? No sweat. I’ll just grab my Canon (did I say, Canon?) camera and get to work.
Fast forward to 2007 and I bit on a Canon 40D. I’ll bet 90 percent of the images I now put on my website (www.robpleasphotography.com) for display are from the Canon 40D. With an ‘L’ series lens it has produced some great 16 x 24 images for one of my clients. My 40D was pretty quick too at 6.5 frames per second (FPS). I changed the focusing screen to a grid pattern, had custom functions set and had quite a setup. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t that happy with it. Don’t get me wrong, the 40D is such a great camera that it is still considered an industry standard. Many current cameras are judged against the 40D. Remember from previous posts that I packed around a 4×5 for years and shot Fuji Velvia ISO 50 on both the 4×5 and 35mm. The 40D was pretty grainy above ISO 200. I always shot at ISO 100, sometimes ISO 200, rarely ISO 400, and never ISO 800 or 1600. It was just to grainy for fine art prints. Crop cameras aren’t my favorite either. I loved it for wildlife. The magnification factor gave my lenses a little edge that I didn’t have on film. For scenics, it drove me up the wall. And the 40D just didn’t stand a chance against Velvia or Provia 400X. I found I was carrying two cameras when hiking. My camera bag alone weighed in at 23 lbs. After six hours of hiking, I would hurt for several days. It was just too heavy for my small frame.
If you’ve stuck with me this far, I know you are saying “Ok Rob. That’s great. You like film and you like the 40D, but then you don’t like the 40D. Get to the point. What did you buy?”
Tell ‘ya in a second. 
I sold my Canon 40D earlier this year and went back to film. I printed out spec. sheets for all of the Canon models, new and old. The 1ds Mark II, the 1D Mark III and Mark IV, the 7D, the 50D, the 5D and 5D Mark II and even the 1V film camera. I wanted a full-frame sensor with a high FPS and lots of auto focus points. With Canon I had to compromise. I could get a fast frame rate and crop sensor or full-frame with few auto focus points and low FPS.
It was then that I discovered Nikon. I checked out the D3 specifications and was surprised at how everything I wanted was included in the camera.. Two weeks later I was actually convinced that I should leave Canon and go the Nikon route. I was then told to look at Nikon’s D700 since it was basically a newer D3. I was so concerned about making the switch I gave myself a headache on the way to the camera store. An hour and a half later, I did it. I brought home a Nikon D700 with a couple accessories.
Do I like it? Yes. Here’s a sample picture with a Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens. 
How you find ideas for articles, I am always lack of new ideas for articles. Some tips would be great
Well, for starters, since mine is a photography blog, I simply write about whatever equipment I have that I think readers would find interesting. If I was on an interesting adventure, I’ll talk about it. Sometimes I’ll look through old photographs for ideas.