Last year, I sold my Canon 20D and lenses, and instead bought a Nikon P1 as a pocket camera.

The Nikon was a disappointment from Day 1 .. utterly junk .. while some other people I know that use it love it, I just think it’s not good enough to please my eye.

Now I am back on the hunt for a new camera … I decided I do not want a DSLR .. I need something smaller .. but not as small as a P1 .. as the smaller optics will never please me.

At the moment I am torn between the following

• Canon Pro1
• Canon S3 IS
• Canon G7

The S3 & G7 have no RAW .. and the Pro1 has much better lenses .. but it’s a 3 year old camera .. older technology, not as good on higher ISO

I have done countless searches and research .. I just cant find one that will please me .. if the S3IS has RAW & the Lenses starter at 28 like the Pro1 .. it would be the perfect match .. then again it would be called the Pro2 .. but damm Canon is so focused on the DSLR’s that I dont think we will ever see a Pro2 :/

Decisions … Decisions … darn it …

Technorati Tags: Canon

Popularity: 27% [?]

I’m going North on the M6 this morning, when the traffic starts to slow down, after a while of 20MPH speed I notice that for the past mile or two there has been no cars on the southbound lanes, it was quite eery .. a few minutes later I discover why, this car/trailer was overturned in the middle of the Motorway and the cops were not allowing any traffic by

What amazed me is that the car and trailer are pointing North in the Southbound lane, so not only the trailer overturned, it skid around 180 degrees.

I was swearing for not having my camera with me, when I remembered the phone also takes pictures
The people from the car were on the side of the road and looked unhurt.

Technorati Tags: Accident, M6, Motorway, RV

Popularity: 35% [?]

For the past 2 months I been buying a new photography setup, at the moment I ended up with:

Canon 20D
Canon 550EX
Sigma 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 DC
Sigma APO 150mm F/2.8 Macro EX DG HSM
Epson P-2000
Feisol CM-1401 Monopod
Manfrotto 190MF4 + 460MG
Soften Omnibounce

And virtually, no time to use it .. so on the spur of the moment I put it all up for sale on the POTN forums, got a few people interested and then had to hold myself back.

I had to remind myself why I was even buying photography gear .. I need an outlet .. and the outlet is not shopping/selling stuff.

My career is very demanding, and can be stressful, so I must find something that I can do that is completely unrelated to computers, internet, sll, etc etc .. nothing technical .. something creative as a past time, and photography was one of my big passions as a kid, so it was a natural choice for an outlet/past time .. when I didn’t find the time I was about to give up and sell it all .. NO

What I must force myself to to is to find the time, get away from it all and just go outdoors, take candid or nature photos, forget about work ..

I am a workaholic .. and I need to stop being one 24×7x365 and enjoy life a little more, it’s been over 5 years since I took a vacation, in 7 weeks we are off to Paris for a much needed one, and I intent to record it all on my over budgeted camera

Technorati Tags: Photography, Work

Popularity: 27% [?]

I was playing around ith my Macro lenses and different exposures/shuter speeds and I end up with this

this photo is completely untouched, straight form the camera (except for a resize)

it’s a “Duff Beer” water cooler can (can is actually red) .. and the longuer exposure made it gold due to the light hitting it.

I liked it because it’s the sort of image one can do in a snap with using a ton of Photoshop filters, but quite lucky to do it without post processing aid.

my only fault is too bad one can see fingertips on the “R”

Technorati Tags: 20D, Macro, Photo

Popularity: 29% [?]

My new Sigma 150mm F2.8 APO Macro DG arrived today from Hong Kong.

I’m still learning to use it (heck, I am still learning to use the camera) .. but already see amazing results, the lenses is a little on the heavy site (especially when compared to the featherweight 18-200) but not too much to get uncomfortable, I find the pictures it takes are brighter and sharper than the 18-200 also, but then again, it’s a Prime lens ..
I definitely need to get a monopod.

this is a picture of a 1/2″ icon on my 24″ Dell .. you can clearly see each of the 2,304,000 pixels

a half inch globe

Technorati Tags: 20D, Canon, Macro

Popularity: 26% [?]

Ok, So I am still sick, and every joint on my body hakes, but that didn’t stop me from ordering the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX APO HSM Macro Lens (thank you Chris ) today.

I’m hoping they will arrive sometime this week (the website said 2-3 days) .. so I can start Bug Hunting for some nice macro shots.

Technorati Tags: 20D, Canon, whoohoo, Photography

Popularity: 23% [?]

So I got the Canon 20D a few days ago, on a great deal that saved me 160£ off list price, and with a free 4Gb Card (20D list price is £999, with no memory).

And content I was, until a friend of mine (Chris) made a very good point, why keep the 4GB card ? very unlikely one will take close to 1000 shots all at once, and they are set to come down in price soon, why not sell the 4GB card now at a premium, get some cheap 512’s or 1GB’s and buy a portable storage device with 20 or 40GB.

That got me thinking, so after looking around for a nice portable device, I found the Epson P-2000 .. with a great 3.5″ TFT, 40GB,, and the most important off all, RAW support.

There are others who are cheaper, but I cant view my RAW images on them, the RRP is about 350£, but I found it on Fotosence for 299£.

SO I put the card for sale … and sold it in .. 10 minutes .. £230

Initially I was asking (on the canon forums) for 250£, but this was a local chap, so cash on collection will save me any shipping and Paypal fee’s ..

So, doing the Math again, 20D RRP is £999 (no memory), I got it for £840, deduct the £230 .. and it means I got the camera for £610 .. WOW
I’ve ordered a Scandisk Extreme II (512MB) to get me going, that only costed £17 (1/2 price special) and will order the Epson P-2000 this week ..

Yes,, I am putting in another £90 on top of the sale, but I am getting 40GB of portable space.

Not bad at all

Technorati Tags: 20D, Canon, whoohoo, Photography

Popularity: 27% [?]

Yesterday I went by Jessops and bough the Sigma 18-200,, they did the pricematch of £254 … so that was all set.

This morning the Parcelforce currier arrived at about 8:00 AM .. I was all excited and ready to start using the camera when I realized .. it was not my package,, it was something the wife had ordered .. not happy.

I had then to wait till about 11:00 when the Royal Mail Parcel deliveries usually come, and sure enough, 11 Am and they were at the door.

I quickly ripped the package apart, took the camera, fitted the Lenses and the 4GB card and started to shoot away

It took me a few hours to get aquatinted with all the options, but by late afternoon I was taking shots like a wanna-be pro
It’s simply a great Camera, and now it will take me a few good months of fun training to take full advantage of it.

Technorati Tags: 20D, Canon, whoohoo

Popularity: 26% [?]

After allot of research for my next camera, I was still undecided if I should buy the Canon 350D, 20D or the Nikon D70s

SO yesterday I went down to Jessops in the Trafford Center and asked to take a look at them.

I had already skipped the Nikon, the extra 2 MP of the Canon and some review I read gave the clear advantage t the Canon cameras, but I was still unsure was if the 20D was worth about 250£ extra than the 350D.

As soon as I picked both of them up I knew .. yes, it was

Technorati Tags: 20D, Canon, eBay

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Popularity: 28% [?]