TechCOW - The Geek Within

I'm trying to look for a camera that would perfectly be MINE this Christmas. I plan to buy myself one because I know it's going to be a long shot if I wait for somebody else to take that chance to give me one that I'd appreciate. Professional DSLR cameras these days are expensive. I know because I've seen some of my friends invest in these ones and I don't want to hear a horror story of my own later on.

A couple of things I read over reviews talk about things to consider in buying a camera. A good place to start when thinking about buying a DSLR is obviously price. DSLRs price range to some quite affordable but lower end to extremely high prices at the professional end. I saw my friend once holding an 80,000 peso camera. I mean you can already buy a second hand car for that right?! O_O We need to set a budget to purchase early on but make sure that we need to consider other costs of owning one including "Lenses". Some offer ‘kit lenses’ but you should consider upgrading in the future because as far as I know there will come a time that we would need a better performing camera and lens. I'll probably end up envying other people's cameras if I take on this hobby seriously. Batteries which all models will come with one but if you are travelling you might need a spare, and you can't order that and bring Motolite with you right?! Memory Cards which some models come with one but most are inadequate in terms of size. My phone even has one at 1 Gig but that's even proving to be too small for large pixel shooting. Camera Bags which some sellers would throw one in but of course we can't expect a high quality ‘free’ bag by Louis Vuitton, they will probably give me one that also has their name on it to some extent that it's like a walking advertisement. DSLR cams are worth protecting - so I know we I need to invest in a good bag. Extended Warranty's would also be nice so if I find something wrong with my camera as a noob then I'd be able to get that back and let them fix it right?

Last would be the BRAND... I'm not brandish but of course there are only a few that professional photographers would trust if it came to crunch time choosing their cameras. I hope I get one before the end of the year.