A little Christmas gift for myself

Three years ago I bought my first digital SLR. The d70s is a great camera; it's rugged, reliable (a couple of trips to Nikon notwithstanding) and it produces fine image files. However, it is getting a little long in the tooth. It was 3 years old when I bought it. In DSLR years, that's a couple of generations.

When I first got my d70s, it was more than I could handle. It provided more control inputs than I could manage at once. It could handle any situation I could throw at it with few exceptions. And at 6MP, I could comfortably print up 11x14 without issue.

However, as I have and learned and grown as a hobbyist photographer I've wanted a bit more out of the camera than it could give. Most notably with respect to print size and high-ISO performance. I've made a couple of prints larger than 11x14 but I had to stitch separate photos together. Additionally, I've been unable to photograph Tara and Lego when she is riding in the arena at the barn due to lack of light.

Work added a little bit to my last paycheque as a Christmas bonus so I decided to upgrade.  I picked up Nikon's new d7000 a couple of weeks ago.

I've only really taken it out a couple of times; between unpacking from Christmas travelling, house work, and taking care of a flu-ridden wife, I haven't had the time. The sun setting at 5:30 doesn't help either. A few of the photos I've taken are below. It's going to take a little while to get used to my new toy; keep an eye on this space for more photos shortly.

For better and worse the new camera comes with a larger file size. At 16MP (14 bit), my current computer is having a hard time keeping up. Changing exposure of RAW files in Nikon's ViewNX takes 60-67 seconds. Exporting the photos to JPGs can take up to 4 minutes each. I'm afraid I'm going to have to shoot in both RAW and JPG for the time being until I can scrape together some more cash to upgrade my 5 year old home computer.