New Camera

My beloved camera, an Olympus SP-550UZ, has had a piece of dust on the lens for as long as I can remember. I never got it taken care of because I knew I'd have to send it in, and I didn't want to have to do without it. Finally, I decided to go to Fry's and have them send it in. Wouldn't it figure that Fry's said my 3-year extended warranty did not cover dust, and I'd have to pay Olympus $180 to have it fixed. I decided that a better use for this money would be to get a dSLR, as I've been wanted. After some research on the internet, I decided that the Olympus E-420 would give me the best value for my money.

I've been shooting in manual mode on my point-and-shoot for two years now, but a dSLR is still quite different. I'm slowly adjusting to it while continuing to use my other two Olympus cameras (the SP-550 UZ and the rugged 790 SW). I'm impressed with the crispness of the images. Here are two flowers blooming in my front yard (or "embankment," as Brad put it).

Edit: The E-420 is great, but I found the E-520 online for only $50 more, and it includes image stabilization, a larger battery, and a more substantial grip. I'm going to be testing out Amazon's return policy...