Happy Birthday Nikkor!

First up... I will confess that I am a Nikon girl. Nikon or Canon? Who is better? In my opinion, it's really a stupid question. I've seen great photos produced by people shooting with both brands. A quality paintbrush helps, but does not make the painting...

After testing at the 2012 Olympics,
Nikkor also launched their brand new
800mm, last week!

OK... now that that is out there, let's move on... as a Nikon user, I feel that I have to sing a wee verse of "Happy Birthday" to Nikkor! (He he he... I bet you are glad this is a silent medium... a singer I am NOT!) Nikkor is Nikon's brand of lenses, and 2013 marks their 80th Anniversary.

To mark the occasion, they have added another couple of nice lenses to their collection (the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR Telephoto and AF-S NIKKOR 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G ED Wide-Angle)... and for those of us without an immediate spending budget(!), they've made a wee movie to give us a wee glimpse into their production process. Pretty fascinating, and makes me feel pretty bad when I whine I have to clean just 1 or 2 lenses...

Dear Santa - Add a D600 to my list please!

Dear Santa,

How are things "up North"? Hope the missus and team are all well.

I hate to bother you right at the time when you are "ramping up" for the season, but I have a conundrum, and wanted to get my letter in before the avalanche of kids' letters arrive. (Whilst I may consider my brain to still be kid-like, I do accept that I have not legally qualified as such for approx 20 years!) I was wondering if you would ever consider giving an "advance" on Christmas Gifts... and whether I could actually take advantage of such scheme by getting a 10 year advance?

You see, Nikon keep waving all these luscious shiny trinkets in front of my face. I've always been attracted to shiny in general, but you add the word Nikon and I'm putty. I had initially planned on asking for a 5 year advance to receive a 24-70 2.8 lens - something I feel would benefit me enormously during this sudden interest and multiple requests for my work. However, now these cheeky little Nikon monkeys have added a new body to the range that has almost made my brain explode in frustration - the new D600...

Yes... the rumours have finally been put to bed, as Nikon officially announced their new full frame baby for the avid enthusiast. For me, excitement was immediately followed by frustration and disappointment, when I found out that the price tag was going to be about $500 more than the rumoured estimate. (Of course, this comes in the same year that Tamron similarly disappointed me with the price for their new 24-70)

To rub salt in the wounds, this announcement also stated the ridiculously fast availability of this camera (especially in comparison to his slightly sexier cousins, D4 & D800) - with D600's hitting store shelves within just a week... and incidentally, a week and a half before my birthday!! (Bad timing, boys! How is any already-purchased gift going to compete?!)

So... not wanting to keep you from the festive preps any longer, I would really appreciate if you could consider adding the D600 to my stocking, this year... but I am not a greedy child (and still want to stay on the "Good Girl List"), so if both is pushing it, I will just settle for the afore-mentioned 24-70 lens...

Forever Your #1 Fan
Mandy Peacock (Aged 30-something)