Here's Hoping a very Merry Christmas to Everyone ::

And wishing everyone much photo gear under the tree. I got mine a couple of months ago, but I'm working on another right now.

I ran across a Nikon D800 on the local Craigslist offerings for $1,150 and made an appointment to check it out. As it turns out it had a focusing problem and I passed on it at that time, but the owner sent it off to Nikon to be checked out and he let me know when he got it back so we made another appointment with the understanding that the price would be bumped up a bit. As it turns out, I bought the D800, with less than 4,000 shutter actuations, along with a Nikon 20-35mm lens and a battery grip, for $1,550 and I can't be more pleased with it although I really haven't used it much yet, but I plan to remedy that this weekend.

Now I'm in the process of building a new computer. My old one, which is about 8 years old, has gotten very slow at running Photoshop. Here's what I'm putting together:

Gigabyte H170HD3 motherboard

Intel Core I7 processor

1 terrabyte C drive

3 terrabyte D drive for storing my photographs

NVidia 960 video card

32 gigs of Crucial ram (the motherboard will support 64 gigs)

I'm currently researching graphics monitors and will be picking up a new one after the first of the year after I make my decision. Stay tuned.

I'm also planning to order an Epson P800 printer next week since they have a $350 rebate offer until 12/31.

This should be a smoking hot computer for running Photoshop and I can't wait 'til I get it up and running. I also shoot film with a Holga and a Mamiya RB67 so I picked up an Epson V600 scanner about 3 months ago, but I just now got around to setting it up and I have to say that for the money, around $200, it is a great scanner. I have an Epson V850 at my real job and I very much like the results from the V600 much better.

So, here's wishing everyone the best for the New Year also!