All of the photos in this post were taken with my Nikon D60, a camera I’ve had for about twelve years and have taken to at least a dozen different countries. From the very first time I held it in my hands, I’ve loved it. My camera has performed like a champ, as reliable as rain Tulip Fest weekend and ridiculously overpriced brunch on Mother’s Day, while capturing images that provided tangible evidence of life lived.
My very last day in Ireland something happened to my trusty travel chronicler. I had taken a couple of pictures without issue, but when I next tried to capture something that caught my eye, instead of hearing the click of the shutter, I instead received an error message. Hmmm.
I tried all my tricks – removing the battery, pushing a bunch of buttons, googling possible solutions…all to no avail. At my earliest opportunity, I called Cameraworks, a great camera repair shop that I had brought the Nikon to last year for some maintenance, and set up a time to bring it in for a diagnosis. But, then I started thinking, maybe it was time for a new camera body.
As I began considering the advantages of a new Nikon, I felt a combination of excitement and mild sadness. My D60 served me so well, but I know a new camera will offer all sorts of features I’ve never had before. I reached out to a professional photographer friend and he told me that my camera owes me nothing after a dozen years of dependability. He also said he’d personally be concerned that, even if the camera was repaired, something else might malfunction at any time. What if the error had occurred on my first day in Ireland rather than my last?
I guess it’s time to start camera shopping. I wouldn’t want to miss a single sunset in Greece.
