Hello and happy Thursday! This is the part of the week that I start to look forward to the weekend. Ok maybe I’m doing that on Monday but who’s counting? I’ve been away from the blog for a few days being completely consumed with work and house projects (sorry for leaving you guys hanging) but I do have something fun to share today!

Last weekend the Mr. and I set out to do a little camera shopping and we brought home this baby – a Nikon D5500 DSLR!

This is a little bit of a long post but for those of you in the market for a new camera like I was, I hope this information helps. There are a lot of great cameras out there and this is just the one we went with. I’d love to know what camera you use and how you like to use it.

First, a little background on our previous camera situation. I have been shooting with a Sony a330 DSLR for the past 8 years. That camera is a workhorse and definitely did the job when it came to shooting travel photos and portraits of our little fur baby. I took that camera to 19 countries plus a handful of U.S. cities and I loved it. I still do. In spite of the fact that it’s an 8 year old camera, it still does a pretty good job of taking pictures that are frame-worthy. We looked at the new Sony models thinking it would be nice if the two lenses we had could just attach to a newer camera body, only to be told they were too old. So that freed us up to explore other brands.

The thing is, in 8 years the technology has improved as it always does. You’ll never keep up with the rate at which this happens, but I think we really got our money’s worth out of that camera. Some things that I was looking for in an upgraded model included higher megapixels and wifi. I’m not a professional photographer, so I just wanted something a little newer with a few more bells and whistles. What I didn’t like about the newer Sony models is that everything was mirrorless and the viewfinders were all digital. I still like having an optical viewfinder and I wanted to stick with the traditional DSLR mirrored camera. I think the Nikon D5500 is going to serve us well.

I’ve only had it for a few days and have been playing around with some of the features. Those of you who have upgraded your camera sooner than I did may not be as overjoyed about these features as I am, but as a non-expert amateur photographer, here’s what I love so far:

+ Size and weight – It’s lighter in weight than my Sony and has a smaller grip which fits my hand very comfortably. It’s not a compact mirrorless body, but it’s still smaller than my old camera, which is a plus as I’ll be stuffing it into my Pacsafe crossbody or my purse when we travel.

+ The 24.2 megapixel image sensor

+ Swiveling touchscreen LCD display – My Sony had a swiveling display but it was not a touchscreen. What I love about the Nikon is that I can pinch and swipe to view images as I would on my iPhone. Pretty nifty!

+ Built-in WiFi® – I can connect my camera to my iPhone and view/download the photos on the Nikon through an app. This will be especially handy for doing some quick editing and uploading to social media. I use the VSCO app for that, by the way. I can also use my iPhone as a remote shutter, making it easy to set up my Nikon on a tripod and click away while being in the photo. I’m thinking this may be helpful for those times where my assistant photographer (a.k.a. my husband) isn’t around.

+ Full HD 1080/60p video recording – I want to try to capture more video when we travel. I think it would be fun to compile a little travel vlog for the blog. Hey that rhymes! Wow am I a dork…ok moving on!

+ Built-in camera filters and effects – These features seem to make the camera “dummy proof” (and I count myself as one of those dummies) and they look pretty neat. Under the “Scene” selection, you can choose from settings like the usual Portrait or Landscape but there’s also one for Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Pet Portrait, and Food. The Effects selection is interesting. You can take a silhouette or even a selective color shot, where everything is B&W except for the colors you select. There’s also a Miniature effect and Photo Illustration. It’s almost like having a little bit of Photoshop built into the camera. I’m not sure how often I will use these effects but they’re pretty fun!

I know there will be more things to discover, so I’ll try to post again about what I’ve learned.

As for lenses, the camera came with two: NIKKOR 18-55mm and NIKKOR 70-300mm. I’ll have the opportunity to really put everything to the test in a couple of days. We are headed to New Orleans with my in-laws and I cannot wait! I’ll be doing some posts about our trip so stay tuned for that and get ready for lots of food pics.

Other accessories I purchased:

+ Platinum 55mm Circular Polarizer – This will be the first time I’ve used a polarizing filter. It’s like your camera is wearing a pair of polarizing sunglasses. Glare is reduced and color saturation is improved. Plus, if any objects were to fly at the lens, the filter would take the hit preventing any damage to the lens itself. I’m really excited to test this filter out while in Greece. I really think it will make the water and beaches pop.

+ LensPen UltraPro lens cleaner – Another photographer recommended this as an easy and effective tool for cleaning the lens. It’s the size of a pen so will fit into any bag easily.

We purchased everything from Best Buy and received two free Shutterfly photo books, which was perfect because it’s my go to for preserving our travel photos!

As I mentioned, there are a lot of great options out there and I’m not an expert. But I do hope this information helps if you’re deciding on the purchase of a camera. Thanks for reading!

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My New Camera: Why I’m Loving Nikon appeared first on Cathedrals and Cafes.