Hmm.. having used Casio, Panasonic, Fuji etc etc small pocketcams or 'superzooms' for a number of years for the occasional snapshot photography wasn't really a big deal for me. Until 2011. I was getting fed up about missing shots of my dogs due to the slow responsiveness of the pocketcams.
I researched a little and found the Canon 7D matching what I was looking for pretty nicely. I had no experience with DSLR and didn't even know what the terms, aperture, focal length meant or, more importantly did.
I went to a store, tried Canons, Nikons, Sony, but the only one that felt right in my paws was the 7D, so I bought it.
My next thought was, ok, I now have a camera that I KNOW can take the shots I want, but I still really don't know how. Amazon, here I come. I ordered a whole bunch of books, about the camera, flash, post-processing and spent the next two months getting to grips with it. I figured as I invested so much in a camera, it'd be a bit embarrassing to use auto mode.

Then I went out and started taking pictures, first I did a day using only Av mode. Went back, checked the results and tried working out how and why something worked or didn't. Next stop, Tv-mode. And so on and so forth. Needless to say, my first shot in Bulb-mode was less than successful.

As I've come to realize, and many of you as well, nothing beats experience and experimenting.
This sort of then lead to trying one more thing, then another, then a third and pretty soon I found myself loving it.

I'd made myself a hobby without ever setting out to do so.
One of the things I like most is... there's always something new to learn. And now I get a bit anxious if I can't get out shooting often enough.

This turned out longer than I thought and went a bit off topic too.

As for why Canon, it just felt right, at the time that was my only justification. And I am very happy with my choice.
