Last Saturday happened something that I’ve been afraid for the whole time while I’ve lived here in Barcelona. I was robbed. This is a bit cliché to say, but it all happened so fast. I came from watching the El Clasico. I was supposed to go to this nice small restaurant, I wanted a photo from there and took the camera with me. Something came up and we didn’t go there eventually, but I went to this local nice place I’ve been going for the whole year to watch football when Barça plays. After the game while I was walking alone with the camera in my jacket pocket, a group of young men appeared from nowhere, I didn’t even see anyone of them properly and suddenly they were gone into the crowd. During the incident I realized that I’m getting robbed. I hold my hands in jeans pockets, so they won’t take my wallet or anything. I didn’t feel that the camera was taken, but somehow I knew and it was gone. I tried to run after them, but no use. I was angry because it was a great camera, but soon I got over it , it was just a camera. I went to the police station the next day and reported this theft. I should be getting money back easily from my insurance with the police report.

Now that I didn’t have a camera. It was a time to start looking for a new one. Photography has become to be my hobby and I’d like to learn more and more all the time. I’m living in this beautiful town for only a few months anymore so I really wanted a new camera fast. I started doing the research. My last camera was 3 months old, worth around 475€ with all the accessories (Panasonic Lumix DMX-LX2). It was a very capable camera, but still only a point-and-shoot. I’ve always wanted a dSLR, but those are expensive and my idea have always been that I would get one once I have the money (meaning after I’ve graduated and paid some of my student loans). A good thing is that the price of dSLRs has dropped a lot and a basic dSLR kit starts from around 550€. That’s just a 100€ more than my last camera. I was really excited and looked for a camera for 2 days until I decided I’m going to get a Nikon D40. If I’ll order it online, it would cost me around 560-570€ and takes around a week to get here. I’m too impatient for that kind of waiting. So yesterday I went to all the close-by computer/photography stores. I found one store that sold the kit for 575€. Almost the same price and I wouldn’t have to wait. I didn’t have my passport with me to pay with my Visa so I wasn’t able buy it immediately. Today after classes I went and bought it. Nikon D40 kit, a UV filter, a case and a small tripod for 618€. That’s a lot of money and when my parents are reading this they’re most certainly going to faint.

I’ve totally fallen in love with this camera in the first 5 hours I’ve owned it. Here’s the first picture I’ve taken with it:

New camera Hosted on Zooomr