The quick background on my recent purchase is we just celebrated Jacob’s first birthday. Our great friends, Grant and Heather, were given a Nikon D60 as a Christmas gift and they took pictures during the party that made our Canon point & shoot photos look like garbage. Anybody that knows us is well aware of our affinity for taking photos (right, Jill?) so I was immediately 1) stoked that Grant brought his camera and took photos and 2) disgusted that the photos from the first year of Jacob’s life were just OK and not GREAT.
So my search for a bargain DSLR began. I started with the Nikon D40/60 because of Grant’s photos. The camera has everything I would need with one small exception. The autofocus motor isn’t in the body, it’s in the lens. That’s no big deal for Grant because his Christmas kit came with two lenses and he won’t buy a new lens any time soon. I couldn’t afford a big kit like that right off the bat so I would need to buy additional lenses in the future. With the autofocus motor in the lens it drives the lens prices up 3-4x. So, I settled with the Canon EOS Rebel XS because the autofocus motor is in the body and image quality is the same as the Nikon. I just got the camera Wednesday so I haven’t had a chance to get out in the sunlight and take some great outdoor shots. Here are a few shots of Jacob.