Author: admin

Many of you have asked about my new camera.

It is a Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black). I bought it from Amazon. I paid $699 for the camera and $19 for an 8 gig memory card. Amazon was not the cheapest, but I felt they were the most reputable online dealer and the price difference was about $20 between them and the cheapest store.

I have been looking at digital SLR camera’s for months. Over the past month I had narrowed it down to 4 cameras, the Nikon D60, D90 and the Canon XSi and 40D. I was actually leaning towards the Nikon until I went to the store and held the Canons and the Nikons. The Canon just felt “right” in my hands. I really don’t know how else to explain it. The Canon also had a few features that the Nikon didn’t have, but the decision was made after I held the cameras. Once I decided on a Canon I looked at the XSi and the 40D and decided that the 40D was really more camera than I needed. It is an awesome camera, but I wouldn’t get my money’s worth because although I am not a beginning photographer, I am no MckMama.

It is too early for me to write any sort of meaningful review about the camera, but I will say that I was taking the pictures you see below less than 15 minutes after I opened the box. It is set up so that if you just want to point and shoot, you can do that and get great pictures. It also has a fat manual and lots of options that I have yet to explore.

Now, the big question… how does The Happy Housewife get away with spending over $700 on a camera? I saved my money. Every month my husband and I each get “blow” money. That money is ours to spend however we would like. Dave Ramsey recommends budgeting blow money and I completely agree. It gives each person freedom to have a little (or a lot depending on your budget) of spending money that is not controlled by the other person.

In our budget we each get $50 a month to spend. I have been saving my money since last August. All you math majors will quickly see that $50 a month x 10 months does not equal $700. The other $200 came from Swagbuck’s gift cards and blog money.

As I am sure you have noticed, many blogs run ads on their sidebars. I decided to run ads to help pay for the site, since before December any costs related to the site were paid for out of the family budget and I didn’t think that was fair to my family. Since ads are paid based on traffic and my blog has grown over the past several month the ads on the sidebar have paid for all site costs and brought in a little extra.

I decided (and my husband was in agreement) that the extra money would go towards the camera since I take a lot of pictures for the blog. I also take a lot of pictures for my family. In fact I would guess that less than 5% of the photos I take end up on the site. I love taking photographs and most of the pictures on the walls of our house are pictures I have taken of my family. It is what I love!

So, there you have it. I plan to write an in depth review of the camera later this summer once I have a chance to explore more of its features, but I hope that answers your questions for now.

Oh, one final point. You don’t need a $700 camera to take great pictures. There are many great photo blogs that share all sorts of tricks and techniques to help you create beautiful photos. Some of my favorite pictures were taken with my $150 digital Fuji camera. Also, photo editing software can turn so-so photos in beautiful photos. Picnik is a great program and it is free!

A few pics from my new camera.

What are your favorite photo sites? Share them in the comments below.

A note to Katie: No, I have not figured out Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 yet. I have only owned it for 24 hours though. I plan on checking Photoshop Elements 6: The Missing Manual out from my library and trying to figure it out.