#99 - CHECK!

I interrupt the lack of blogging about the 30 Day Challenge to mark something off my 101 List. Number 99 on my list was to get a new camera with a big lens. It just came in the mail yesterday :) As much as I absolutely love our Cannon Powershot, when going to Africa, a once in a lifetime trip, I decided that a new purchase of a better camera was necessary. Justin and I did LOTS of research and had narrowed it down to either the Nikon D5000 or the Pentax k-x.

I had never heard of Pentax so I wanted to do some research on the reviews of it and we did that for several days. Every review we saw were people that loved it. They all said that if you're getting paid for your pictures (professional photographer) they'd get a better camera like the Nikon D90 (which we never considered because of the price tag), but all the reviews said that for someone who just wanted great quality pictures without the price tag, Pentax was the way to go. I even went on youtube and watched numerous tutorials so that I would be familiar with it.

At the end of the day, Justin and I realized that the Pentax was actually our only option because its the only DSLR that takes double A batteries. The others all have a rechargeable lithium batteries. Some people see this as a bad thing for the Pentax, but for us, it's what we need. We travel so much and you can buy batteries everywhere, but you can have an outlet around you when you need it. And in Africa, we pretty much won't have power except for the two days we're in Amsterdam and the two days we stay at our hotel in Moshi, Tanzania. The remainder of the two week period will be spent on Kilimanjaro or in the Serengeti, where there's no power outlets. So naturally, we decided to go with the Pentax.

Outside of the issues with the batteries, Pentax has just as good of specs as the Nikon D5000 has.

Pentax K-X vs. Nikon D5000:

• Mega pixels: Pentax - 12.4, Nikon 12.3
• ISO: Pentax - 6400 on kit lens, 12,800 on 300 mm lens, Nikon - 3200 on kit lens, 6,400 on expandable lens
• Monitor size: Pentax - 2.7 inches, Nikon 2.7 inches
• Viewfinder Coverage (% of your picture you can see through the viewfinder): Pentax - 96%, Nikon - 95%
• Frames per second shooting: Pentax - 4.7, Nikon - 4.0

These are just some of the comparisons I looked at. I honestly have no idea what some of this means (insert my photographer sister who is going to show me how to use it properly) but there are categories in which the Pentax beats out the Nikon! Comparison on price? The Pentax body and kit lens of 18-55mm cost us $450 before shipping and tax. The Nikon D5000 with the body and kit lens of 18-55mm costs $700 before shipping and tax, both at Sam's Club.

My sister has shared the information that being on a safari will absolutely require the additional lens of 55-300mm, so we plan on purchasing that in November before we leave. Here's pics of my new camera!!!

And yes, I got white! Why? Well, for some reason, the white one was $50 cheaper than the black one. And because I like being different, I went for it. I love it!!



This is a black one next to the 55-300mm lens. Shows you how much bigger it is. Some awesome zooming and wildlife photos will come from that bad boy! Now I just have to figure out how to use the camera. I've been literally reading the manual page by page. I'm on page 72 right now....out of 315. It may take me a while.