It may sound strange to say that you love a
camera. But in so far as it is possible to love an inanimate object (and as my
Nikon technically is not alive, that is what it is, though the term does sound
vaguely disrespectful) then I love my Nikon D3100.
You might say that I am
going over the top there. Yes, you will say, it is a fine camera, probably the
best Single-Lens Reflex entry level digital camera around, so yes, you can like
it. Saying you love it, though – isn’t that going a bit over the top?
In order to show you how
wrong you are I will have to tell you a story. Please be patient if it does not
seem to involve much in the way of the technical specifics of the Nikon D3100. You can
learn all about the CMOS sensor with 14.2 megapixels and the EXPEED2 image
processing engine, the ISOS of 3200, NIKKOR lenses for HD movies and the
auto-focus capability in other places. What I want to tell you about is the
Guide Mode, and also about something else.
I received the camera as
a present from my daughter and her boyfriend for my last birthday. With it came
a note which read: ‘You will take this on your holiday this year and you will
use to take lots of pictures, which you will show to us when you get back.’ My
daughter is a young woman of strong opinions and it does not do to ignore her
instructions, as I have learned over the last twenty odd. So, with a bit of a
sigh, when I did my packing for the holiday in question, I made sure to include
the camera with all the other stuff that I would need.
It would be true to say
that up until then I had never been a camera buff. Somehow the urge to capture
an instant never appealed to me. Yes, I have a camera in my phone but I never
use it. I sort of missed out on those developments and the idea of taking
pictures with a phone struck me as silly. You wouldn’t make a phone call with a
camera, after all.
It was a holiday to
Italy with a coach party from my local church. I had been alone for a while
then and got used to coach holidays where there was always someone to talk to.
I found myself sitting next to a nice lady of my age called Karen, who was also
alone and for the same reason as me. She noticed my camera as I practised
trying to take scenic shots of the white cliff from the Dover to Calais ferry.
‘That’s the new Nikon,
isn’t it?’ she asked. ‘The guide mode’s supposed to really good. You know,
easier to follow than in the old D3000.’
The look on my face must
have told her that she was talking to one of the uninitiated. She explained, in
simple terms what the guide mode was, and then switched in on for me. That was
the moment of revelation. Here was a camera that showed me how to take good
photographs. It explained things about focal lengths and apertures and shutter
speeds and the like, in terms that even I could understand. Within seconds I
was photographing Karen against the backdrop of the White Cliffs.
I took enough
photographs on that holiday to satisfy even my daughter. Many of them featured
Karen posing against European landmarks. I am not alone now, and neither is
she.
Author Bio:
David writes about the
changing world of how classic brands continue to offer the same range
of successful products decade after decade and survive the ever changing storm
in one of the world's most competitive and fad-focussed consumer markets.