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...
After two years of shooting with this camera I finally caved and bought an adapter, though it was an aftermarket adapter, hence the tape. I've been wanting to play with filters for a while now, but couldn't bring myself to pay 30 bucks for a plastic adapter. I got a metal one on eBay for $14.50 with free shipping. Though it did take over a week to arrive. I then went and got some cheap filters to experiment with, most especially a circular polarizer.
The only downside of all this is while waiting for the adapter to arrive, I finally made up my mind on my next camera. I'm going to try a Canon XSi. It's a 12.2 mega pixel DSLR, that also uses SD cards, which I now have a ton of (though they might be too slow.) All told I'll be spending over $1,000 on my new camera and 2 lenses. There goes a chunk of my bonus. Technically the camera and it's kit lens aren't that expensive, but I'm getting a dedicated macro lens too, at the same time, or I would never justify $400-$600 on one lens.
I decided on it after reading many reviews, seeing test shots, holding the camera, and seeing a very funny forum post. It said someone who wanted the camera had taken 3,000 pictures with his point-and-shoot, so he thought it was time to move up. My S3 just rolled over again to 20,000 pictures, well technically it was in November. I've moved up to 21,326 as of yesterday. So if someone who took 3,ooo pictures thinks it's time to upgrade, I should probably upgrade as well.
I was going to move to the SX10, but I've been unimpressed by the photos it's been taking, and it can't use filters, which just pisses me off. I've also found I really dislike the wheel they moved to from the S3's design. It does not respond as smoothly as just clicking. That's after 4 visits to Best Buy just to hold it and mess with the settings.
I should not browse blogs. Photography blogs especially. On this one http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/ I scrolled through ten pages of posts and came across how to make shapes out of the out of unfocused lights in the background of pictures. Quick explanation is you cut a shape out of paper or card stock, set the focus on something close to the camera, and zoom in until the shape disappears on the viewer, with my camera that was about 72 mm with a 1 cm across star. You also want the largest Aperture you can get, i.e. the lowest number.
I haven't quite figured out how to focus on something closeup, but I did manage to make shapes out of some Christmas lights. I suspect it would have worked a little better if I could find lights in my house that didn't blink.
This is the first shape I cut out, notice the fuzzy bits of paper on the edges.
Made for fuzzy stars. The sharper the edges the sharper the images.
More in depth instructions than mine can be found here: http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh and here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/shaped_bokeh/discuss/72157610869813179/
This week I finally caved and bought a cheap little slave flash trigger. It was about $12 on eBay. And amazingly enough it does work with the old Vivitar flashes we stored with the Canon AE-1. It works on the principle of setting off the remote flash when it senses a flash from something else, ie the S3. I don't know how long it's going to take me to figure out how to work the S3 and the remote flash so they're firing at the same time.
My next purchase will probably be an adapter tube, and a polarizing filter, and possibly a flash bracket. I'm holding off new camera purchases until I decide if I'm getting a DSLR or not. The picture quality just keeps screaming to me. The Cokin P series of filters is intriguing me though, as I could use it on any later camera with just an adapter ring. And I recently discovered the true use of Neutral Density Filters. They easily make it so you can do very long water shots in sunlight, without overexposing, so I might have to try some of those too.
The helpful tutorials that led me to these ideas can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon_s3_is_how_to/discuss/72157603671169448/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon_s3_is_how_to/discuss/72157603671619056/
Some pics from Moose Hill from October 30th, the last time it was really cold here.
I'm getting a bit better. Waning Gibbous 97% of FULL 10/15/08 11/:27 pm. 1/250 sec. F/3.5 67 mm.
It got cloudy last night, but I got to play with the full moon a little with long exposures.
Waxing Gibbous 96% full 10/12/08 11:52 pm
Took a number of pictures. Turns out an almost full moon is pretty bright. Ended up at 1/250 sec. Anything much longer turned into a white blob. This was handheld on the S3, Focus set to infinity, Image Stabilization set to off...
I just wish there were easier places to get to for cloud pics if you want to avoid utility lines, and signs. Both natural places I know of require 45 minutes or so to get up to, and you don't really want to be stuck there if it starts to rain. Lighting would be a real problem. I mostly stop in parking lots, but then there's the electrical line problem. Ikea's upper level parking garage works for east clouds, but not really for sunsets. And I still have to crop out trees and light poles.
I'll admit I did some light Photoshop tweaking to get the levels out of that medium gray color they like to add to cloud pics.
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.
This post actually created on September 07, 2008. Inserted here for continuity.
