Some of the parts are prefab. I did a fair bit of modding and fabrication as well. Ive never really messed with electronics much. So doing all the wiring, soldering, calculating resistors, etc. was a bit of an undertaking.
As far as a DSLR goes, unless your wife is a (very) serious amateur I would suggest looking at the "all in one" style cameras. The quality is negligible when printing up to 8x10 or similar. Once you get a DSLR you enter a whole other world of "now I need this". For the typical shooter, just being able to grab a camera and go is money better spent.
She wants something where she can slowly buy different lenses. I was thinking one of the Nikon dslr cameras.
Have her hold a Canon and Nikon. They both have buttons set up in different places. Most people prefer the feel of one or the other. Besides that, pick a price range. Both companies offer similar performance at equal prices. I prefer Nikon since Ive been using their stuff since way back.
Here are a few WIP images of teh saber electronics.
Here is a recharge port and a battery level indicator I wired into the pommel insert.
Here is a sound/LED driver board chassis Im working on. It sits in the back section. Its made of polycarbonate blade tubing I had left over. Kind of hard to see the board with the piece of tape holding it in place atm.
Have her hold a Canon and Nikon. They both have buttons set up in different places. Most people prefer the feel of one or the other. Besides that, pick a price range. Both companies offer similar performance at equal prices. I prefer Nikon since Ive been using their stuff since way back.
I bought the wife a Nikon D3200 tonight. We looked at Canon and we looked at the D5200, but the camera store we went to explained the differences in the 3200 & the 5200 and it didn't seem worth getting the 5200. We bought a package bundle of all the accessories probably wasn't worth it but nice for convenience sake. They threw in some coupons for some free classes. That will be nice to get the wife started.
Originally posted by psiborg: Don't get one...I relate buying an AKA product to trying Crack. Sure it's fun at the start but then you just want more and more until you're ready to sell your family to a shady guy in a zoot suit for that FSP/Tarantula/Halfmill/Fullmill/Bonebrake etc. Damn now I've gone and soiled myself."
