Christmas Wishlist

Well, it is almost Christmas. The last couple of years have been a new exercise in 'frugal' for us. Starting a new business right before the global economy goes up in flames is a pretty tough deal. If you keep up with our blog, you know that we are OK with whatever comes our way. Overall, the shop is barely holding its own. Tracy's compensation for all of her hard work is a brand new Honda CRV, leased through the Nemo's business, and whatever she gets in tips. My salary as a Project Engineer pays the bills on the domestic side of things. My earnings on the side for photo and video projects is filling the gap for some major purchases including our new lighted sign and making up for any budget shortfalls. We are making it, and we hope to continue to make it. It is in God's hands, and Tracy and I are both OK with that.

Now, if I were to use my imagination a little, what would I like to buy with my photo/video earnings, if they were available to spend? My biggest want/need/desire is a new camera body. I am currently operating with two Canon EOS 20D bodies. I would love to upgrade, but the 30D was not much of an upgrade when it came out. The 40D was tempting, but not worth spending the money at the time. The new 50D is an impressive camera, but I am ready to step up to something better than the higher end pro-sumer models. Megan left her Canon 5D with me while she was in Italy. She took my Canon G9 with her for that trip. I did a couple of photo shoots with the 5D and I loved it. Canon recently released the Canon 5D MkII. It lists for $3999, but can be purchased from a reputable dealer for $2700. It is a full frame sensor, 21 Mega-pixel still camera, and it also shoots HD video! Here are a couple of images to slobber on:





Hopefully I'll be able to grab one of these in 2009. The only thing good about waiting on technology products is that the price drops as more time goes by. The original 5D is selling for $1500 now. If things don't pan out for a MkII, I may go ahead and grab a 5D first generation body. Either way, they are great cameras and I'm looking forward to eventually having one in my gear bag.

As for Christmas this year, I'll take my lumps of coal and be happy. I have too many blessings to count, and it is not really about presents anyway.

Take care,
JD