About two months ago I realized that my Canon PowerShot G9 digital camera cannot satisfy me anymore. I found out that I am interested in photography and I want to take a better picture for my life.

Then I started looking for a DSLR. I didn’t know much about it . What I only knew is that it’s more expensive than point-and-shoot cameras, we can use it to create the depth-of-field (DOF) effect, and most importantly, many professional photographers use it, though I always hear people say “the camera doesn’t matter.” But who did say that words really didn’t want a DSLR? I was wondering.

Soon, there were three candidates on my list. They were Canon EOS 500D, Sony Alpha A350, and Nikon D90, respectively. One of my classmates was a Nikon user and highly recommended to me. But D90 was also the most expensive one on my list that it was way over my budget. Canon 500D is my favorite at first. However, I also heard that there is a notorious loss-of-focus problem for Canon. So I finally made my choice and the winner was Sony Alpha A350.

I bought the A350 body from Yahoo auctions in Taiwan. The body is well-preserved. And because Sony’s DSLRs have a two-year warranty, the body still had about one year warranty. Great!

Here’s my A350 body with a Sony STP-GB1AM grip belt.

Sony’s quick autofocus live view and a tiltable LCD monitor.

Note that I also bought Gariz metal stickers for my A350 from Korea, so it looks a little different than the ones you saw elsewhere.

After deciding what DSLR body you want to buy, it always comes another question, “What lens should I buy?” I had two choices at that time, A350′s kit lens or Tamron A16. If I bought a Nikon or Canon DSLR body, there is no doubt I’ll choose the kit lens because of my budget. But since I bought a Sony’s cheaper second hand body, I chose the other one. The biggest difference between these two lens is that the Tamron A16 has a constant F/2.8 aperture, which would be very useful for shooting portraits and shooting in dark environment.

The Tamron A16 (SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF])

Looks great when mounting to the A350 body.

About two weeks later, I decided to buy a flash unit. Flash unit is very useful when shooting in low-light situations. Finally, I bought a HVL-58AM flash, which is the best Sony flash out there right now. It was not cheap, but totally worth it. Moreover, the most expensive flash is still much cheaper than a cheapest Carl Zeiss lens for Sony.

Sony HVL-58AM flash has a guild number (GN) of 58.

And it allows the flash to pivot 90 degrees left and right to maintain a proper lighting position.

Wow, looks much more professional when mounting to the A350 body.

In addition, I also bought a circular polarizer filter (CPL), which is used to reduce unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces and can darken the sky. I haven’t had many chances to use it. But I think it will be very useful when I need it in the future.

The B+W 67mm MRC CPL

So, now I have a DSLR body, a lens, and a number of accessories. I need to find a home for them and find a bag to bring them out. There is no doubt their home would be a dry box. But the bag did spend me a lot time to find a suitable one. Finally, I bought a Crumper’s bag called Six Million Dollar. It looks nice and its size did fit my needs.

The Eureka AD-66 Auto Dry Box

That’s all of my DSLR equipment right now.

I know Sony’s DSLR may not even be an option for many people. But after playing with my A350 about one month and a half. I found that A350 is really a good camera, except its high ISO and autofocus performance. But I don’t really care about that and I think it’s already good enough for me to start learning photography. I wish I could take better photos in the future. Wait for me.