Sunday, July 13, 2008
I love a good midnight snack. :)
Still researching. I think I figured out the flash problem: seems the flash automatically fires for certain automatic settings (ones I probably don't often use and therefore didn't notice that I have no flash options for), but all manual settings won't activate it. Neither will automatic sports setting. Excellent.
Bad news! I went back to the company website I've been lurking on the by the XT and the bundle options are now gone! Are they reading my blog?
Bad news! I went back to the company website I've been lurking on the by the XT and the bundle options are now gone! Are they reading my blog?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Decisions, decisions (and lots of research)
I've been non-stop researching the Canon Rebel this last week. After hearing nothing but sung praises for it from my professional photographer roommate, Mandy, pro camp photographer Boy Jordan, and hundreds of people in message boards worldwide, I figured out that it's kind of a kick butt camera. (Well, I already knew that, but I got it confirmed enough to satisfy knowing that it won't be a waste of money.) Finally decided I needed to have one in my hands to really play with to see if it looked like something I could catch on to.
I decided to hit up Liz for her XTI at the Wild West Show; her battery was dead.
She directed me to Boy Jordan, who gave me a whirlwind summary of all five versions of the Rebel, including his personal preference, what was so great about the XS, and how he ordered one online, they took his money, then found out they were out of stock (!), and how he still wasn't over the whole ordeal, all in the time it took to get from the WWS stage to Oak Rock. Then he handed me the camera and I proceeded to not know what to do with it in the dark, as hundreds of campers filed past, old camp staff stopped to say hey, and new camp staff who had been campers when I worked there, paused to exclaim over the fact. (That's always fun- working at camp turns everyone into a celebrity of sorts.) So short story: Didn't get a darn thing from the experience (except, of course, for Boy Jordan's vast wealth of knowledge on the subject.)
Brings us to yesterday (Friday). I found this great dealonline (the XT, a fairly good lens, extra battery, 1 gb CF card, and a pretty nice camera bag to boot, all for $469, free shipping, and no tax since it's out of state), and I've been just itching to take the leap. Fortunately my sensibility kicks into high gear when monetary amounts over $200 are involved, and I told myself I was not allowed to seal the deal until I had actually spent time with an XT and found everything online about the XT that could answer anything I'm unsure about.
So today Ryan and I headed over to Best Buy to play with the cameras. It was fun. And I'm definitely loving the Rebel, and definitely hating the lighting in Best Buy. I was able to figure out how to change all my main settings (ISO, aperture, AF-- shutter speed took awhile to figure out), except for how to turn off the bloody flash. It kept popping up for every picture, unless I set it to a specific no-flash mode on the dial, but then I got no other manual options so that just won't work. Seeing as my little point and shoot has auto flash, manual flash, and no flash settings, I'm thinking there's probably an easy way to fix this, and five minutes from now I will be poring over the XT manual online to find that answer.
So all that to say, I will most likely be making my purchase tomorrow night. And maybe, just maybe, I'll even have my brand new little Rebel by this time next week. Woo-hoo!
I'm going to need to come up with a name for that little guy now....
(Also, the 'I did it' in the previous reference refers to my hair. As in, 'I did cut it.')
I decided to hit up Liz for her XTI at the Wild West Show; her battery was dead.
She directed me to Boy Jordan, who gave me a whirlwind summary of all five versions of the Rebel, including his personal preference, what was so great about the XS, and how he ordered one online, they took his money, then found out they were out of stock (!), and how he still wasn't over the whole ordeal, all in the time it took to get from the WWS stage to Oak Rock. Then he handed me the camera and I proceeded to not know what to do with it in the dark, as hundreds of campers filed past, old camp staff stopped to say hey, and new camp staff who had been campers when I worked there, paused to exclaim over the fact. (That's always fun- working at camp turns everyone into a celebrity of sorts.) So short story: Didn't get a darn thing from the experience (except, of course, for Boy Jordan's vast wealth of knowledge on the subject.)
Brings us to yesterday (Friday). I found this great dealonline (the XT, a fairly good lens, extra battery, 1 gb CF card, and a pretty nice camera bag to boot, all for $469, free shipping, and no tax since it's out of state), and I've been just itching to take the leap. Fortunately my sensibility kicks into high gear when monetary amounts over $200 are involved, and I told myself I was not allowed to seal the deal until I had actually spent time with an XT and found everything online about the XT that could answer anything I'm unsure about.
So today Ryan and I headed over to Best Buy to play with the cameras. It was fun. And I'm definitely loving the Rebel, and definitely hating the lighting in Best Buy. I was able to figure out how to change all my main settings (ISO, aperture, AF-- shutter speed took awhile to figure out), except for how to turn off the bloody flash. It kept popping up for every picture, unless I set it to a specific no-flash mode on the dial, but then I got no other manual options so that just won't work. Seeing as my little point and shoot has auto flash, manual flash, and no flash settings, I'm thinking there's probably an easy way to fix this, and five minutes from now I will be poring over the XT manual online to find that answer.
So all that to say, I will most likely be making my purchase tomorrow night. And maybe, just maybe, I'll even have my brand new little Rebel by this time next week. Woo-hoo!
I'm going to need to come up with a name for that little guy now....
(Also, the 'I did it' in the previous reference refers to my hair. As in, 'I did cut it.')
Friday, July 11, 2008
Bring in the Clowns
She's kind of cute like that, huh? And one from my clown days, back in 2001. Same pigtails and everything. I guess it's a sister thing.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
To Splurge, or to Splurge More?
Along with my moral dilemna of chopping my hair or not (today I'm on the 'totally-doing-it' side, but who knows what will happen next time I brush my hair-- less than 24 hours to decide!), my latest problem is figuring out what kind of camera to upgrade to. I love my little Canon A75 to death. It is my most treasured gift, perfectly wrapped and presented to me Christmas 2004 by the most amazing friends I'll ever have.
Sadly, at 3.2 megapixels, it's a little behind in times now. I will always, always keep it on hand as my back-up (and probably even go-to early on for quick shots I need to know how to do fast), but the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of other things. Namely, do I go for the latest and greatest A series Canon, the A590, which is basically the 2008 upgrade of my little A75, or should I forsee my photography passion growing in the next year and splurge right on up to the Rebel XT (oh, the Rebel...)?
Seeing as there is a price difference of $300 between the two, this is no easy decision. What I need is to get my hands on someone's Rebel to play with for awhile, and then figure it out.
Pro/Con list to follow.
Sadly, at 3.2 megapixels, it's a little behind in times now. I will always, always keep it on hand as my back-up (and probably even go-to early on for quick shots I need to know how to do fast), but the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of other things. Namely, do I go for the latest and greatest A series Canon, the A590, which is basically the 2008 upgrade of my little A75, or should I forsee my photography passion growing in the next year and splurge right on up to the Rebel XT (oh, the Rebel...)?
Seeing as there is a price difference of $300 between the two, this is no easy decision. What I need is to get my hands on someone's Rebel to play with for awhile, and then figure it out.
Pro/Con list to follow.
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