Well there is still time! All it takes is a Hummer, health, time and money. I have two friends that recently waited too long! That is what kicked me in the rear this time.
I started early, finished early and took the cut in retirement to get to escape at age 48 and sail the Gulf for eight years and do things while I was in good shape, and get paid for it! Hell I could always be the door man at Wally World or work in the tool department at Lowe's later in life, except with gout and macular degeneration, the dry eye part and other ailments I would have to be on drugs or as my doctor buddy says, "better living thru chemistry"
I just shoot pictures and make Hummer parts for now, with some fiberglass creations for race cars and boats.
There are some great smart cameras out there. You just have to develop an eye for composition, I guess. When things line up just right I pull over and back up and find that spot that hit me as what I want in a shot. I guess I view the world thru a camera after 50 years or more. Programming these digital cameras is a matter of preference. I like to set mine up so the in camera processing gets the results I want. I don't want to mess with adjusting everyone of them. I don't use RAW. Tried that, lots of memory and you still have to mess with them all and the large files take more time to mess with. Heck I spent years in a dark room and I don't even want to spend hours trying to outsmart a properly programmed digital imaging device. I use JPEG large fine and it works for me. What I do mess with is exposure, saturation and contrast as well as watch my depth of field for the effect I want.
I carry a wide range of lenses and have found shooting digital I need to set up a profile for each one to achieve near the same results. Different focal lengths have their sweet spots. The Nikon D300 I now shoot has lots of options and the DX format gives you 1.5 times the focal length of a given lens rating. I checked out some full frame models and printed some images. They do offer higher ISO's but with the range the D300 has I shoot on stage productions and it does good with stage lighting. I chose to buy more of the high end Nikon lenses rather than go with the full frame models that have come out, for my money. I stay away from the new policy of Nikon to include "package" lenses. Heck I can still use my old metal lenses of many years ago on the Nikon.
I think of it as making memories I can view over and over when I can't go anymore. I am in the never ending process of scanning old 35mm slides before they fade away, like I will do someday! eeek
