My first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix, the model number of which I cannot recall, but it was one of those swivel-body jobs, purchased in 2000 prior to our first trip to the Hawaiian Islands. This was later sold to a friend when, a few months prior to the birth of our son, I got a Canon PowerShot G3. The G3 died last week, its sensor having given up the ghost. (Though apparently not entirely giving up the ghost; what you get on the LCD and in photos is an ethereal quality, something like a film negative only much more otherworldly. I'm sure there's a horror movie plot in there somewhere.) I had been wanting to step up in to the digital SLR (dSLR) world for a while, and knew I would make the leap with Canon's 400D (the Digital Rebel XTi in the U.S., but 400D sounds much better, is easier to say, and definitely easier to type). Yesterday, my 400D arrived from B & H Photo, and after charging the battery, I set the lens and camera on auto and took some test shots in the backyard.

Click on the photo to see the entire set.

I have a lot to learn, but I'm looking forward to it. Ever since my parents got a Kodak Disc Camera for me during middle school, photography has held a certain fascination, much more so than video has. (Which explains why we have a ton more photos of our son than we do video.) I inherited my dad's old 35mm, which saw a ton of use shooting black-and-white rolls when I was on the yearbook staff as a high school senior. A Minolta 35mm, which we still have and sits in a closet, went with us to the United Kingdom in '95, and elsewhere, until the Nikon came along. Since then, with a few exceptions, I've shot entirely on digital, and I'm happy to be back in the SLR world with the 400D.