New Camera

After many months of research (product descriptions, specifications, reviews, and forums), and watching prices and sales at Kerrisdale Cameras, Broadway Camera, London Drugs, Costco, Best Buy, Future Shop, Black’s, Lens & Shutter, Staples, and The Source), I have purchased a new camera. I always knew it would be a Nikon, having previously used a Nikon FE2 for many problem-free years.

I now have a new tool in my stable, a 2010 Nikon D3100 14.2 megapixel DX-format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera, s/n 5119118; Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18–55 mm f/3.5–5.6G VR lens, s/n 53867376, with 52-mm UV(C) filter; and Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55–200 mm f/4–5.6G VR IF-ED lens, s/n 4081625, with 52-mm UV(C) filter. I found a great deal for $589.99 plus taxes = $681.39 at Broadway Camera in Lawnsdowne Mall, Richmond, B.C., Canada on Saturday morning, June 1, 2013. The package included lens hood, EN-EL 14 rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, MH-24 battery charger, DK-5 eyepiece cap, DK-20 rubber eyecap, BS-1 accessory shoe cover, BF-18 body cap, AN-DC3 camera strap, two smaller and two bigger Ferrite cores, ViewNX 2 CD, Quick Start Guide, User’s Manual, Reference CD, and Warranty; plus added extras of one LowePro Apex 140 AW soft camera bag and two 52-mm UV(C) filters worth about another $100.00 in total. The young Chinese university student was friendly, well-mannered, and knowledgeable. In addition, I purchased a 16 G SDHC memory card and an extra EN-EL 14 rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. From the Nikon FE2, I transferred a package of Kodak lens cleaning paper, a lens pen, and a blue vintage Nikon cloth.

Cameras I have retired are:

• the camera I first learned the basics of classic photography, and still in working condition, a 1959 Kodak Retina IIIS (Type 027) rangefinder 35-mm roll film camera, s/n 86125, with Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenon 50-mm f/1.9 Synchro Compur lens, s/n 6841319
• long lost, a Rolleiflex 4x4 Baby Rolleiflex “Sport”, Model 4RF 430, TLR 127 roll film camera with Zeiss Jena Tessar 60-mm f/2.8 taking lens and Heidoscop Anastigmat 60-mm f/2.8 finder lens
• long lost, a 1971 Agfa Agfamatic 100 sensor viewfinder 126 cartridge film camera, 42.1-mm f/11 lens
• still in working condition, my ever-reliable 1984 Nikon FE2 SLR 35-mm roll film F-mount camera, s/n 1816483, with Nikkor AI 50-mm f/1.8 lens, s/n 2336591, and 52-mm polarizing filter, thoroughly cleaned a couple of times since new in July 1985, but never an issue until summer 2012 when the “A” mode no longer functioned but still usable in manual mode; with the cost of film and processing these days, plus a possibly expensive repair bill, and the need for a compatible zoom lens as I no longer have the one I had in the 1980s, I reluctantly (at first) decided to move into the realm of digital SLRs
• in recent years I used a Casio Exilim EX-Z20 point-and-shoot 8.1 MP digital camera, 38–114-mm f/3.1–5.9 lens, s/n 31002061A, until it was stolen
• then, a Nikon Coolpix L20 point-and-shoot 10 MP digital camera, Nikkor 38–136-mm f/3.1–6.7 lens, s/n 51002451, not as good as the Casio

On my two blogs, WORDS & ROADS and WORDS & WINGS, I will start to post assorted new photographs, along with more photographs from the previous cameras in my stable.