A New Camera Bag for a New Camera!

After recently using my now sister-in-law's DSLR at her wedding about 2 weeks ago, I thought it really was about time I got myself a better camera for my blog, as my phone camera just doesn't quite cut it. Luckily, my dad gave my husband and I a $500 gift voucher for Christmas, so it seemed like the perfect thing to buy with it, as it is something we will both use.

While my sister-in-law has a Canon 1100, we decided to go for the entry level Nikon 3400, as it was slightly more affordable, and had much better specifications than the current entry level Canon. I know there are plenty of people who are very adamant about which brand is better, but for now, the Nikon is more in our price range, meaning we will be able to afford extra lenses and accessories at a later date.

My husband had a go taking a few shots as soon as we got home and charged the battery, and we are both petty impressed with it. Plus the Bluetooth capabilities means it is super easy for me to send a photo to my phone to upload to instagram. The below photo was taken while I was crocheting quite quickly, and I love how clear it is. Definitely not something a phone camera can achieve! We are also looking at taking a class with Wild Learning, to learn to use more of the manual settings on our camera.

When we purchased our camera, the only bag options were ugly backpack styles, or a Canon branded bag. So naturally I decided to make a bag to better suit our needs. Luckily I have quite a few pieces of leather, one of which was quite large, and far too shiny to use for historical re-enactment purposes, so was perfect for this project.

I started by making the padded insert, using some firm foam pieces, wadding and cotton fabric. I just measured roughly what size I needed (by measuring my camera and lens) then sewing sections of fabric and inserting the foam and wadding inside and hand stitching the pieces together. Once I had made the padded insert section, I measured it and made a simple leather bag to fit it into. I did sew a long shoulder strap for the bag, but the leather was so stiff, it kinda looked odd, so I didn't end up attaching it. The bag isn't perfect, but for a $2 piece of leather, a 50c zip from an op shop and fabric, foam and wadding scraps, it's pretty awesome.

The main thing is that it does it's job, which is to protect and carry my camera and accessories. Plus the cute kitty print fabric inside make me happy, and has space for other bits and pieces like the manual and extra SD cards.

Here's another shot of the progress of my crocheted blanket from earlier. I'm following a pattern that was made to recreate one from the "Call the Midwife" TV show, from the 2012 Christmas Special to be exact. It's super easy and very sweet, I want to make one in every colour! It's about half way done so far.

So that's a little of what I've been doing lately.
Does anyone else use a Nikon Camera?

Dixie