I bought a new camera. Okay, so I'm not one to waste time, at least not when new electronic toys are at stake. Really once I found out how much the repair would cost and how long it would take, the decision was made and there was no reason to wait.
I got the Canon EOS Digital Rebel, which is the entry level digital SLR. It didn't make sense to spend $600 on a camera that was just like my old one (with better resolution), when for a little more I could upgrade to what I ultimately wanted. It's called "prosumer" (better than point-and-click but still not good enough for a professional) and it will be a big step up for me. And the nice thing is that it takes the same lenses as all Canon SLRs, film or digital. So you can invest in good lenses & when you're ready, upgrade to a better camera body and all your lenses will still work.
I felt weird about switching from Nikon, but I read a digital photography forum where the Nikon board had a lot of complaints about mechanical problems and bad customer service. I know that these boards tend to overemphasize the complaints because people don't post about problems they're not having. But the Canon board on the same site was mostly people sharing tips and photo galleries, not complaints. Which seemed encouraging. I wish I could have put this off another year or two, but then again I probably would have invested in a lot more accessories that I would have had to give up. As it is the only thing I feel bad about losing is the telephoto lens which I just bought recently. But I knew I was going to switch to digital SLR eventually and it wouldn't have worked with the Nikon SLRs either.
I'm sure I will be super excited once the new camera arrives and I start playing with it, but right now I'm feeling a bit of sticker shock. Also I'm bummed that I couldn't get it in time for the Chicks Rock show this Saturday, which I was supposed to shoot. Looks like Lisa B. will have to take enough photos for both of us. No pressure!
in non-camera news, this morning I solved a PDF problem that has been plaguing me ever since I upgraded Quark in the spring. Then I drove all the way to a client's home office to help them fix their internet access. The problem? An unplugged modem. They didn't check that because they didn't realize Road Runner comes with a modem. (You might be wondering why they never saw the modem sitting right next to the computer, but it's a somewhat untidy office.) That was aggravating but at least I got paid.
I'm also very annoyed at the weather. My mulch trip got postponed and I couldn't even do any planting because I was afraid the torrential downpours would damage the seedlings. Then we hardly even get any rain! It's a bit of a let-down to be all hunkered down for extreme weather, and then get nothing. And I read that it's very bad for soil to work it while it's wet, so I have to wait until everything dries out to get back to planting. On the other hand, I'm grateful for the lack of wind. Now we have time to get that tree down safely.
9 Comments
Hi Sarah--I tried to contact you through the Collage info pages but kept getting an error message. I just wanted to thank you for the valuable information. I am an artist who dabbles in collage. I guess it's a good thing the cd's I did with my now ex-husband in New Zealand never hit the charts--one of the covers is a collage with National Geographic photos:-) Anyway, I will bookmark your page for future reference.
Thanks so much,
Shawn Marie Hardy
The Spinning Goddess
I have the EOS Digital Rebel too -- I love it! (Got it this spring & new Europe pics are mostly taken with that: http://lintqueen.50megs.com)
One warning in advance: the photos out of my EOS require much more "manipulation" to get to a final state than the photos out of my Minolta Dimage X... (and this is apparently true across the board). With the Minolta, what I saw was what I got (which was both a positive and a negative, as there also wasn't a lot to be done when they weren't all that great... only so much room for cropping, for example, when the images are do small to start with).
Thank heavens I saw someone pointing this increased need for "fiddling" in one of the forums... I panicked when my first batch of EOS photos were all dark and unsaturated and ugly (while the first batch out of my Minolta was stunning).
I am reading The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers -- *great* book. You probably know most of the info from a pure PS perspective (how to adjust contrast etc.) but the info he provides about a digital workflow is invaluable (IMHO). Last I checked Overstock.com had it at much less than retail price.
congrats on the new camera! you're so into photography that i think you made the right call and it will be well worth the money to have such a good tool.
there is currently a frenzy of tree service on my block-- i think everyone is feeling like we dodged a blow but we'd better get ready for the next one...
Congrats on the new camera ... I'm envious because while I love my cybershot for everyday use, I'd rather have a better camera when it counts (like at Chicks Rock!).
Gina, I'm so glad to hear that you're happy with the Canon. Your photos are great -- I know that has more to do with you than with your equipment but still, it's good to know that you like this camera.
What kind of fiddling do you typically do to your photos? One thing I loved about the Nikon 995 was how good the colors looked. Even on the auto settings I almost never had to do anything in Photoshop. Is it something like auto levels, or a curve that you always apply, which I could save and do in a batch to all my photos? At art car events I sometimes upload over a hundred photos in one day (after spending the whole day at the event), so I'd like to automate the image manipulation as much as possible.
Other questions: how much memory do you have? I ordered a 512 Mb card, do you think that will be enough? There are occasions a few times a year -- art car events and vacations -- when I take 200 or so photos before I have a chance to download them, but usually it's more like 50-75 at a time.
have you gotten into additional lenses? I do a lot of macro photography (camera a few inches from the subject), will I need a special lens for that? If the kit lens can't handle that, I guess I can move the camera further back and then zoom in, but I'd rather have the ability to get right up close to the subject.
OK (and thanks VERY much for the kind words)
1) Color correction: at this point I mainly "fiddle around", meaning I don't have a set process and instead just try stuff until it looks right. The book I'm reading has a chapter on a standard practice (which you could "action"ize in PS); however I haven't gotten that far yet. As a quick fix, "Auto levels" (think that's what it's called) does pretty well. One thing that is more technical than I've gotten yet is shooting a "white balance" shot which can be used to create a color profile to balance an entire set of photos at once... haven't tried it tho.
2) 1 GB -- entirely depends how're you're shooting. If you're in "Program mode" (shooting RAW -- everything clockwise of the green box) you'll get about 50ish shots out of a 512MB card, I think? I get about 110ish out of my 1 GB card shooting all in program mode. If you're in any of the "auto" modes (anything anti-clockwise of the green box) you'll get more as the highest res there is a large .jpg (which is still plenty large to do 5x7 photos and maybe 8x10).
3) lenses -- I have a Tamron 28-200 that I bought for my old (non-digital) Rebel + the one tha tcame with the kit. Honestly, it's all I ever use, as 90% of my shots are landscape or architecture. The flowers in my Europe pics were taken with this lens, and they're fairly close, but def. not macro-close. I haven't experimented with the kit lens (mainly 'cause I only got the camera back in April and have used it mostly on trips, which isn't great for experimentation), so I don't know how close you'll be able to get with this.
You can get the "camera a few inches away" effect with the camera a few feet away, but fully zoomed in... it's a cheat but it seems to work. (Yes, there's something about focal length there, but I've not quite yet figured it out). A macro lens has been the one lens I've considered adding to my set, as I'm sure that being able to get really close (to, say, the jewelry I make) would be useful.
I'd love to get together, walk around and play with cameras (both point at same thing and compare settings, etc.) -- does that sound like fun?
thanks for all the advice! I think I am going to play with the kit lens a bit & see what its weaknesses are before I think about buying another. good lenses are so expensive!
yes yes, I would love to get together and do camera stuff! I'm sure I'd learn a lot from you about how to use the camera, plus it would be fun! do you have a place you like to shoot? I have gone to the Duke Gardens a couple of times & gotten some nice flower shots.
Oh wow -- cool!
I'd love to see it some time, particularly to get a sense of the shutter lag. My next camera will likely be a digital SLR (funny: I'm also moving from a swiveling CoolPix) and I'd like to know if the $600 EOS will do the trick.
Hey Phil! I'd love to show you the Canon EOS. Though you really need to talk to Gina, she has the same camera and knows a lot more about it than I do. Compared to the Nikon 995, it's amazingly fast. It's also bulkier and heavier, but I guess you can go for a small camera, or a camera with professional features, but not both.