| | Well, it's finished. I can be a real teacher now. I'm taking a sabbatical from teaching for a semester to refocus my life. I want to start my first year of teaching on the right foot, and I've been burning the candle on all five ends for the last three years. I'm far more resilient than I ever imagined possible, but that still wasn't enough to meet my personal expectations for getting through college.
By the numbers, I got a 3.4 GPA from IU and a 3.8 GPA from Purdue. Neither knew I was taking 22 credit hours, student teaching, and held several jobs in the same semester. But hey, my GPA speaks for itself. I did it. My first year of teaching a regular job, I won't know what to do with all of my free time. Also, I got 94% of the questions correct on the Praxis II test (the big state test that covers everything you ever learned in all the years of teacher college)
If anyone is compelled to send a graduation gift, I wouldn't mind a D300.
My D50 will be going up for sale soon. I've had it for exactly two years now and it's done several weddings, senior portraits, family portraits, and a lot of just-for-fun shooting. I've taken very good care of it, and it's performed flawlessly. My favorite feature, unlike most digital cameras, is that when you push the button, the shutter fires right away. I paid around $1500 for everything. Since it is two years old, I thought I'd start around $850-$950. New kits are still going for over $1000 I haven't decided for sure though. Here's everything I'll include:
- D50 body (same resolution and technology as the D70S, but with easier to use features. This was the camera to own back in 2006 for a serious amateur. Canon couldn't touch this back then.
- Nikon DX 18-55 (1:3.5-5.6) 52mm threads, ED zoom AF Nikkor lens - name brand, not a cheap immitation. Also has a clean 52mm UV filter.
- Nikon 70-300 (1:4-5.6) 62mm threads, AF Nikkor lens - again, name brand. Not their best VR lens. You should use a fast shutter speed at 300mm, but it takes awesome portraits because it has a tight depth of field. (that means that the person being photographed is crisp, but the background is blurred. Also comes with a clean 62mm UV filter
- 1GB Sandisk SD memory card (one of the faster ones)
- 512MB SD memory card (as a backup if you fill up the other one)
- Nikon Li-Ion battery (good for around 2,000 shots per charge)
- Nikon Li-Ion battery charger
- Video cable to plug in to your TV
- 52mm to 62mm adapter ring (so you can use the bigger, badder 62mm filters)
- Promaster 62mm Cross Screen 4x filter (makes a four point starburst effect for light sources - kind of cool looking for night shots)
- Promaster 62mm CIR-PL polarizer filter (can be rotated for best angle to get rid of sun glare)
- Set of Promaster 62mm close up filters (for macro shots if you like to count spots on insects). These can be combined to multiply magnification.
- +1 magnification
- +2 magnification
- +4 magnification
- 62mm - 62mm threaded coupler (for combining both lenses for extreme macro shots)
- Nikon neck strap (never used)
- I bought an extended warranty from Nikon. The camera and lenses will still be covered for at least another 1-3 years.
- Nikon padded camera bag with lots of slots. I can store all the above listed stuff plus more in this. (missing one snap out of four, but it's been fine without it, and you can probably pick one up cheap from a fabric store.
- Original manuals and boxes
- I'll even throw in a free lesson on how to use it.
- Sorry, I'm keeping my SB-600 flash (that I paid over $400 for). The camera has a built in flash that does a really good job.
Like I said, this was taken care of very well. Not a single scratch or blemish anywhere. It looks brand new. It works flawlessly. I just need something a little faster with a few more features to shoot pro with.
Here's the latest family portrait I took this month. I'm still discovering ways to take better pictures every day.
Here are a few highlights from my D50 over the past two years:
My uncle's cat.
My cousin's daughter. (I darkened the corners for effect, but you can see how the 300mm lens blurred the background nicely)
Long exposure of myself. This is a lot of fun.
Long exposure of a summer storm at night
300mm lens with fast shutter speed. I feel sorry for the 2nd bird
If you shoot raw and use a reference card, this is what you can do
This is just a standard close up filter shot of a key ring and a key.
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| | Posted 12/28/2007 1:18 PM - 77 Views - 6 eProps - 6 comments
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