The Construct

I always wanted to take on photography as a hobby. The problem is with the expense.

I bought a prosumer Canon S5IS about two years ago. I opted to get it  so as to curb my inkling to go with a DSLR. I knew that the moment I get a DSLR, it would open the floodgates to expense. I’m pretty obsessive as a hobbyist and I know I’d go into a GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) rampage.

It was a decent beginner’s camera. Its zoom and macro capabilities (thanks to its 6mm to 72mm lens) were enough for me to get around unlike with a DSLR where I’d probably have needed to buy lenses to fiddle around with those kinds of shots. Took quite a lot of decent pictures with it ever since having it. Learned about the basics and observed pitfalls (my tendency to use weak composition and let the horizon line slant quite a lot of times).

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I haven’t really tried using my camera for anything else than a few test shots here and there. But so far, I’ve clocked around 424 shots already and most of them are crap. Here are a few of my attempts at using this contraption. And yes, I suck. At least that means I still could get better. I hope.

Now on with the crap.

Some random vegetation from the backyard.

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After a week of GAS-ing, I gave in to my wanton desires and got me a digital camera. Call me crazy but I did spend a lot of sleepless nights thinking of whether I buy myself a camera and if I decided to, what type would I get.

I decided that a camera’s a good investment since I am solely dedicating a large part of my time to my blogging endeavors (Oh yeah, a side announcement, I am not a full-time faculty of UP anymore, though for some reason I still am operating at some capacity in the department). I have been wanting to provide more creative pictures for the blogs that I handle and getting a decent camera should do the job.

Next came the harder part – whether to get an entry-level DSLR, or a good-enough prosumer camera. That left me with two options given my budget – a Nikon D40 (the DSLR) and the Canon Powershot S5 IS (the prosumer). For many hobbyists out there who would be stumbling upon this, one ready quip would be, “I bet you went for the D40.” Probably 90% of all forum threads I’ve read would say that the decision’s a no-brainer and that the DSLR trumps the prosumer any time. But you might cringe on what you’re going to read next.

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