Fire and Art is Culture!

[ase]

Last night I gave myself a treat: lost night in DC! I decided that I needed food and art, so I took the metro to Dupont, got turned around and found the Dupont Second Story Books, then walked the opposite way on P Street and had dinner at Bua Thai. Then I took the metro to the New York Ave station and hit Artomatic. Metro; it does a body good. I like Artomatic because it's very... what's the appropriate Latin for "money"-cratic? If you pay the entrance fee and volunteer time, you get to show your art. (The occasionally-radical feminist in my soul compels me to rant about leisure time and privilege, but she went down for a Saturday afternoon nap and never made it back to consciousness.) Sculpture, bondage photographs, traditional 2D oils, less racy photography, fire dancing, it's all there. I'd planned to start at the top and do a quick pass through to get my bearings, and instead spent hours on the 12th floor. High office buildings with art where cubicles will be in a few months are a great venue for watching a cold front rip apart rain clouds as DC rolls away from the sun. Between perusing exhibits, I spent time people-watching photographers who had brought cameras and were in the process of making new art from the people looking at the installed art, and chatted up artists.

I have no camera, and I really miss it, even if my Kodak c875 had several flaws (no optical viewfinder; just small enough to make pocket-carrying seem possible, but it didn't really work; ate high-energy AA's like there was no tomorrow. And then there was the camera door that cracked, and had to be held shut with masking tape). My paycheck is burning and writhing in my pocket, a live coal, a hot potato, a glass of halcyon water in a noisy desert, but I will not be reckless. Much. (Hi, Jason Mraz! At $13 for the pair, I can totally buy both of your CDs. And hi, amazon mp3 downloads. Amazing how fast n*$0.99 = real money.) So if anyone hears about a (digital) camera sale, let me know; if you've got a camera you're trying to get rid of, likewise. Caveat: I'm not messing with film unless you're dumping an SLR - because I'll be able to afford a digital SLR about when the sun swells up, scorches the Earth, and dies - but for a stopgap camera, I'll start at "yes, please" and negotiate from there.

Comments

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

eBay.

I'd recommend (I use them personally) the Nikon Coolpix 3100 and 5400.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Do you like Nikons in general, or specifically those two? I'm replacing an 8 mpix point-and-shoot; going under about 6.0 would be an adjustment. (My money, my super-pickiness. I say "anything" I mean "anything that fits this checklist".)

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried the newer ones since the 5400. I like Nikons, I grew up with Nikons. they tend to have a decent and controllable feature set. Both of those also have an awesome macro mode.

But the reason I suggested them was both are available quite reasonably used.

Also, I don't think you'll have to wait for the heat death of the universe to get a DSLR...a decent entry level kit is only about $500.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe I've been spoiled by my D40 (which is bloody awesome considering you can get one for $479 *new*), but I would say to give a SLR a go. Pick up any Canon/Nikon body will let you do full manual (autoexposure isn't too much more if you desire some amount of laziness) and a 50/f1.8 lens. Won't hurt the bank and you'll be able to do pretty much anything under the sun on the cheap.

[wizardoffoo.livejournal.com]

Maybe I've been spoiled by my D40 (which is bloody awesome considering you can get one for $479 *new*), but I would say to give a SLR a go. Pick up any Canon/Nikon body will let you do full manual (autoexposure isn't too much more if you desire some amount of laziness) and a 50/f1.8 lens. Won't hurt the bank and you'll be able to do pretty much anything under the sun on the cheap.

[ase.livejournal.com]

I'm budgeting about $200 and I'm wondering if that's not $100 too much. Can I get a digital SLR and full kit for $200?

[wizardoffoo.livejournal.com]

DSLR, probably not unless you get real lucky with a used one - the Nikon D40 or a Canon Digital Rebel XT is about as cheap as it gets at around $450ish new and used I can't imagine it going that far down because it's simply easier to replace the darn thing at that price point. Film though you can do at $50ish for a body and the 50/f1.8 lens is about $100 putting you well under budget.

On the digital front going with compacts you could go for a Canon PowerShot series (I'd go with A series mostly because AA batteries and actually having some heft helps my hands) and use the CHDK firmware (http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page) which will get you most what us DSLR folks get with our cameras adjustment wise but you'll have to deal with whatever optics you get on the camera instead of being able to change them out. For me, that is actually really handy because I keep finding myself in the crappiest lighting.

[(Anonymous)]

If you want a 4 megapixel Canon Powershot S40, give a yell. Your post inspired me to go and dig it out of the bottom of my closet and download my last set of pictures. Apparently I haven't touched it since September of 2006 so there is no conceivable way in which I will ever use it again. On the other hand, it is ancient and kind of sucks, so no offense taken if you don't want it. It has been passed around my family in progression as we each gradually replace it and now no one wants it any more. Poor, sad little obsolete digital camera.

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

Crap, that was me.

[ase.livejournal.com]

...I am thinking very hard about this.

*googles*

My, that was a nice camera once.

Dad's also offered his old camera, but we've slacked on getting it to me - let me see if I can get his in person before you ship yours.