Trusty Companion

In May 2007, my wife was pregnant, we had moved out of our apartment but our house wasn't ready so we were homeless (living with her parents), we were trying (and succeeded) in becoming debt free before our daughter was born, and we had just taken a "vacation" to see my brother-in-law's fiance graduate from college.  But when I saw a Nikon D50 for $499, I couldn't let it go.  The D40 had just been introduced as the D50's replacement, and Walmart was selling the D50 for almost 40% off of retail.

Shannon and I talked about our finances extensively that night.  We planned and planned and replanned so that we could get an extra $525 purchase into our budget...

I bought that D50 on May 9th; today I took the 20,000th image.  I really think that purchasing the D50 is one of the wisest uses of "fun money" that I've ever made, and the D50 itself is a joy to use - I love it's size and the quality of the low-light images that it takes...incredible for $500. 

If you account for all the purchases that I've made to support my habit (70-300mm lens - $135; spare battery - $50; tripod and pistol grip - $250; external flash - $35; Aperture 2 - $199; SD cardreader - $30), each photo has cost me roughly $.06  ...

But really, can you put a value on shots like this one:

 
BTW:  "Trusty companion" is in reference to my D50, not to Cynthia; she's my "Quarter Size" buddy.  :)