Apparently my parents were really doting, as I have developed pictures I took when I was 3 or 4. Some little fixed focus camera with lots of pics of pigeons on electrical lines, and people without heads. I can tell in the family albums that I got my hands on my mother's cameras a number of times. First camera I really remember using was a Canon AE-1. Manual everything, so no quick pictures. It wasn't till college I took an actual class, with the same elderly camera.
I upgraded to a Minolta Maxxum 5 the next year. Took a couple hundred pics with that before I got really tired of paying for developing. Apparently I still take out of focus pigeon shots. Then I bought a Canon A70 off eBay, my first digital. It was not the most up to date and only had 3.2 megapixels. Printed nice 4x6 and could be pushed to 5x7, 8x10 looked fuzzy. Next upgrade was to my current baby, a Canon S3 IS. I really like macro shots, and this one has a Super Macro setting that will focus on things touching the lens. I'm not a big fan of the flash which is manual, meaning you actually have to open it to have it go off at all. I'm talking myself out of upgrading to the S5 IS, even though it is mighty pretty, and they moved the buttons I keep hitting out of the way.
Biggest and most important part of taking macro shots in the woods, a tripod you're willing to haul everywhere just in case. If you feel frustrated about shooting and keep coming back with slightly blurred shots, suck it up and haul the tripod. If it isn't in direct sunlight I almost always need a tripod to even get a chance at a good shot without raising the ISO, or opening up the aperture.
Currently I'm trying to decide about spending money on a little backup camera I can carry around everywhere without hauling the big one, or just waiting and buying a better camera when I can afford it. I don't even want to guess about what I'll have to spend to get a really good macro camera. I really want to see the compound eyes on dragonflies, since I've figured out how to get fairly close to them already.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Cameras I have Known
Apparently my parents were really doting, as I have developed pictures I took when I was 3 or 4. Some little fixed focus camera with lots of pics of pigeons on electrical lines, and people without heads. I can tell in the family albums that I got my hands on my mother's cameras a number of times. First camera I really remember using was a Canon AE-1. Manual everything, so no quick pictures. It wasn't till college I took an actual class, with the same elderly camera.
I upgraded to a Minolta Maxxum 5 the next year. Took a couple hundred pics with that before I got really tired of paying for developing. Apparently I still take out of focus pigeon shots. Then I bought a Canon A70 off eBay, my first digital. It was not the most up to date and only had 3.2 megapixels. Printed nice 4x6 and could be pushed to 5x7, 8x10 looked fuzzy. Next upgrade was to my current baby, a Canon S3 IS. I really like macro shots, and this one has a Super Macro setting that will focus on things touching the lens. I'm not a big fan of the flash which is manual, meaning you actually have to open it to have it go off at all. I'm talking myself out of upgrading to the S5 IS, even though it is mighty pretty, and they moved the buttons I keep hitting out of the way.
Biggest and most important part of taking macro shots in the woods, a tripod you're willing to haul everywhere just in case. If you feel frustrated about shooting and keep coming back with slightly blurred shots, suck it up and haul the tripod. If it isn't in direct sunlight I almost always need a tripod to even get a chance at a good shot without raising the ISO, or opening up the aperture.
Currently I'm trying to decide about spending money on a little backup camera I can carry around everywhere without hauling the big one, or just waiting and buying a better camera when I can afford it. I don't even want to guess about what I'll have to spend to get a really good macro camera. I really want to see the compound eyes on dragonflies, since I've figured out how to get fairly close to them already.
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1 comment:
I love macro too..I always use macro mode to shoot FLOWERS~^^
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