Captain Hook Buys A DLSR

Arrrr, me hearties.

I spent the last hour of a wedding shoot on Saturday practising the arts of juggling and bad language. The reason was I had pinched a nerve in my left wrist with the weight of the camera and flash. I was getting shooting pains and tingly fingers as I tried to zoom the lens.

It's better now, thanks for asking, but it gave me to think about the problem for the future. The camera and flash are not particularly heavy - a Nikon D300, 18-200 lens, and SB700 flash. Oh, and the new Lightsphere diffuser - thank you Gary Fong for a great product. And eleven hours balancing it on one wrist while stabbing bridesmaids is a longish sort of stint - not like you do it every day.

But what if I could only use one hand - the right one for preference? What if I needed to do the biz with one flipper? I have spent the morning experimenting and I think the best answer would be the dear little Nikon D3100. It is light - 800 grams with a zoom lens - it is precise - it is ergonomically suited to do it all with one hand. You can switch modes, speeds, ISO's, and apertures with just fingers and you can even cradle it well enough in the hand to get a finger forward to zoom the lens. Landscape or portrait orientation are no trouble.

What if I could only use the left hand? Well, it took a little more study and ingenuity, but you can zoom it and trigger it in either orientation as well - not so fast, but definitely do-able. I didn't try the SB700 or the Lightsphere as these would have been more weight, but remember the camera has an on-board flash that would help out with close distances.

If you are dealing with arthritis or anything else that would limit your picture taking, I would strongly recommend you look at the D3100. It is a chance for DSLR quality work. And if you sling it round your neck with the strap, it leave your hand free to draw your cutlass.