I did take the advice from all of your seriously, but in the end I had to buck the peer pressure and get the Pentax K100D. I had been thinking about trying to reserve the K10, but decided that I'm too much of a beginner to take advantage of it. Also, the manager at Ritz said I wouldn't have been able to do that (I was swapping out the D50 and 28-80 that Lori had won in a raffle). It worked out even better since they had given us the body and lens as separate pieces (instead of the kit), we got $660 ($550/$110 for the body/lens) instead of the $600 the kit goes for.
Anyway, I'm picking up the 50-200 on Monday afternoon. Thanks to Chip's help, I have a nice camera bag (we decided to go with the Lowepro Orion II) and a couple of cheap UV filters. We have spent a total of $426 (eventually $576) for what I think is a pretty nice set up.
I have been looking at software - there are some things in PixelNhance and iPhoto that I can't do that I would like to. Also, I can't seem to figure out GIMP - that is an incredibly confusing application. Maybe I'll blow part of our savings on PSE, depending on how the included software plays out.
I picked up camera yesterday and have blown through my first 50 pictures. There have been a few pictures that I haven't been able to figure out how to get that I hope I will eventually understand.
If anybody has any suggestions, there is one that caused me some problems yesterday - I was trying to get the sunset as the sun was behind some clouds. I couldn't get the camera to meter/expose the image without either blowing the highlights or losing the shadows. How do I get the bright (not blown) sunset, with a clear foreground?
Anyway, I'm picking up the 50-200 on Monday afternoon. Thanks to Chip's help, I have a nice camera bag (we decided to go with the Lowepro Orion II) and a couple of cheap UV filters. We have spent a total of $426 (eventually $576) for what I think is a pretty nice set up.
I have been looking at software - there are some things in PixelNhance and iPhoto that I can't do that I would like to. Also, I can't seem to figure out GIMP - that is an incredibly confusing application. Maybe I'll blow part of our savings on PSE, depending on how the included software plays out.
I picked up camera yesterday and have blown through my first 50 pictures. There have been a few pictures that I haven't been able to figure out how to get that I hope I will eventually understand.
If anybody has any suggestions, there is one that caused me some problems yesterday - I was trying to get the sunset as the sun was behind some clouds. I couldn't get the camera to meter/expose the image without either blowing the highlights or losing the shadows. How do I get the bright (not blown) sunset, with a clear foreground?