Just in time for our big snow, my camera was sent home from the repair center. Apparently the pixel wasn’t actually dead – somehow a stray piece of dust sucked itself onto the pixel and refused to come off.
So the beast is home now, cleaned and spiffy and ready to go. It’s a good thing too, because now I can play around with my new lens that I got for Christmas. Since my handy little 50mm was in the process of dying, we’ve replaced it with another 50mm prime – but this one is the 1.4f version with ultrasonic stabilization. I’m not quite sure yet exactly what that does, but it sure sounds cool.
Today I went clumping around in the snow with the camera and new lens, trying to capture a few good photographs. I think I’ll have better luck with it when my fingers are less frozen!
MP Photography 
50mm f1.4 is better than 50mm f1.8 since it will give more bokeh!
Technically, no, it doesn’t give more bokeh. The bokeh is supposed to be better because the aperature has more blades than the 1.8 – eliminating the hexagonal bokeh. Honestly, it’s not a huge difference – the 1.4 is better in many ways than the 1.8, but “more” bokeh isn’t one of them.