Kodachrome

"I've got a Nikon camera and I'd love to take your photograph.
Oh Mama don't take my Kodachrome away."
Paul Simon

I've really enjoyed my Nikon D50. It's definitely a great starter camera for people who've never owned a digital SLR. I've always liked Nikon equipment because you can beat the hell out of it and it tends to keep working. This camera has been no exception. In my experiments I've done some damage to the thing, and after some simple self-repairs it has held up like a champ.

But I find myself wanting more features than a strictly amateur camera can deliver. Nikon has a Pro line, currently the D2x and soon to be the D3, which is hotly anticipated as the first Nikon Full Frame (non crop) digital camera ever. Those bodies, however, are out of my league price wise. I don't have $5-7K to drop on a camera I use purely for a hobby.

That leaves the Nikon Pro-sumer line. The D100, D200 and D300 are Nikon's Pro-sumer lineup. The D300 came out days ago, making the prices on used D200's VERY attractive.

I love the furor when a new gadget comes out. The buy/sell message boards are all covered with messages by people who "accidentally" bought more than one D300 because they were frothing at the mouth so much to be the first person on their block to get one. One person even ended up with three! "I thought I could buy one at the store and race home to cancel my online orders, but both of them already shipped!" What morons.

So I'm camping the online outlets for a D200 with the right price. I don't know if they are going to level off at the ridiculously low level they are right now, or if they are going to drop even lower as more and more of these gadget freaks get their deliveries. Perhaps all the "early-adopters" have gotten their new toys and dumped their previous "latest-and-greatest." But I doubt it. I see the prices dropping even further and people get desperate to pay for their very expensive digital hobby.

Sometimes the hunt is the most entertaining part.