Hey, I’d posted a comment, but I’m not sure if it didn’t get through, or if it just wasn’t cleared… Anyway! I was seeing your desire for a sweet SLR type (where when you look through the actual viewfinder, you see what the lens sees, not just a frame of what aboutlike your camera will take a shot of) digital camera, and my ex and best friend (gotta love keeping them!) is actually in posession of a Nikon D50 digital camera. It’s very gently used, it’s taken a total of just over 1000 (1k) shots, so it’s got a lot of life left in it (some pro folks are up over 50k and it’s still working great!). I know the camera itself is a nice rig, it’s the same camera my friend himself has been using for work, both professional shots as well as work for his job as a home insurance inspector, so it’s a good cam for whatever it is you want to do. I also know that the macro with the regular lens will go into 1.6″, and farther in with the lens which does pro macro stuff.
The one downside to the camera itself is that it has only a long-range lens, which you can either keep (if you decide to buy this camera) or sell/trade for a lens which you can take regular pictures with. I mean, sure, you could probably take pics of Mazie with it, you’d just have to be a thousand feet away

Anyway, if you’re interested, drop an email to either me at: applefaerie at gmail dot com, or to Jon, the best friend with the camera, at: j.kay.oh at gmail dot com. We live in the same house and chill on the same couch all the time (he pulls our four cats off my knitting for me ^_^), so whoever you contact we’ll just chatter between the two of us about it.

I don’t know how much he’s expecting for it, but it’s a really good camera and I know he’ll be fair in the price, and he’s a photog major so he can help you with any camera stuff, like recommending a lens for the camera to take regular shots with. He’s a cool guy

And don’t worry, I’m not just commenting to sell you a camera, I’ve been a fan for a really long time, I’m actually in the button band process of your sweater “Forecast”, which is going to be a hook-band (one of a few modifications I made to your design, I can’t wait to show you the whole thing all finished! I think you’ll like what I did ), and my mom knew I was a fan of yours and bought me your book for my birthday this past year! So yeh, I’m not just a creepy internet camera seller trying to avoid eBay fees!

Constantly inspired by your awesome work,

Amber

I have a Canon Rebel XT and I love it (and the lenses are interchangable with the Canon Rebel film camera I have (but haven’t used since we sprang for the Rebel XT). I do like our little old Canon Sureshot if I want to take a quick video of the kids, but for stills, it’s always the Rebel.

I’m heading to Kansas the first weekend in April visiting my sister and her family - I then noticed you’ll be out that way teaching - I hope to be able to stop by and see you although I won’t be able to take any classes! Have a great day! Karen