After weeks of reading reviews and going back and forth over my requirements I got a new camera. I bought a Canon Rebel XSi, a 18-55 mm IS lens, a 55-250 IS lens, and a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens (this one was my Christmas gift from my parents.) I'm ridiculously excited, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. I've had it since Wednesday and so far only played around inside. I just got a bag last night, so hopefully tomorrow will go out and give it a workout.
It takes huge pictures compared to my S3, or the A470. And the flash is high enough that I'm having less of a horrible red eye problem. Lots of reviews I read complained of a focusing issue, which there might be, but I'm not seeing one. It does however want to focus on whatever is closest to the camera, if you leave it on default, which some new users might see as an error.
In truth the only sad thing is this camera is, after my car, the single most expensive thing I own. The computer might have cost more, but resale value is nil. None of the critters got this expensive. The fish tanks would have to be combined with all their accessories, and they might not even get that high. Time to actually get that renter's insurance I guess. sigh...
Anyone who's not a snake fan will probably want to skip the following post, though I didn't put any pictures in there or anything.
So, in my town there is a nice local pet store. I can get almost everything for all my critters there without having to go to a big box pet store. A huge draw for me was their frozen reptile food selection. In a PC move big box stores put any frozen rodents in opaque sealed bags, so they don't have to answer any questions. Of course that makes it mighty hard to tell if they're a good size for what you're feeding. For a few years I was getting mice about once a month at my local pet store.
About 3 months ago, right after I went to a reptile show and didn't stock up, my favorite store stopped getting large mice. I have I think one of the pickiest ball pythons imaginable. He will not move up to rats, so I have to get big mice. My corns can be fed numerous smaller mice, but not the ball. For two months I put up with tiny mice at 2 bucks a pop. I had to feed 2 or 3 of them, so 4-5 dollars a feeding.
In December I did some googling after buying some hopper mice at the price of adults. I discovered RodentPro.com. Even with 30 dollars worth of shipping the xxl mice came to less than $.80 each. I bought 75, enough to last me through till the April NH Reptile Show, where hopefully I'll buy some more. ( It did take me three days to talk myself into spending that much at one time on mice, even if overall they were much cheaper.) They were packed excellent, and would have stayed frozen even if the shipment had been delayed. Awesome deal.
Even better, my ball python hasn't refused one yet. He's normally a little moodier in the winter, and had been off feed for a while due to the tiny offerings. Not a problem with these mice. I haven't even had to leave him overnight to think about it. Wonderful.
What you don't see is the brown and white dog obsessively chases shadows, so just getting her to look at me in bright sunlight is a miracle. Normally she moves so fast I don't get anything. I have to play with my back facing the sun, so she chases the ball instead of the shadow of the ball.
These are out of 56 pics.
I like my snow very white.
In truth the only sad thing is this camera is, after my car, the single most expensive thing I own. The computer might have cost more, but resale value is nil. None of the critters got this expensive. The fish tanks would have to be combined with all their accessories, and they might not even get that high. Time to actually get that renter's insurance I guess. sigh...
