So I already posted a bit the other day, when I was talking about tagging photos with iTag (which is working great by the way), about my new camera. After a brief delay due to forgetting that Amazon ships expensive things signature required I have my birthday present in hand. The camera is a Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1 MP SLR. I asked for and received the EFS 60MM Macro lens to go with it as my starter lens.
I have taken about 300 pictures so far, and while I am still learning how to select the right settings and hold the camera still, I think the shots are turning out great. I have only kept about 1/3rd of what I have shot, which works out good considering the pictures are about 3MB a piece. I have uploaded most of my new snapshots, all from around the house, to my Flickr account if you are interested in taking a look.
I am very interesting in macro photography. I think this is in part due to having taken some of my favorite pictures to date of flowers, insects and other small and close up things. I have been running around the house pointing the camera at pretty much anything with a pattern and snapping a shot from 4 or 5 inches away. Many of those pictures are up on Flickr in my new macro set. I though this morning I would do a quick test of my new Canon vs. my old Casio Exilim Z4 4 MP point and shot. I have taken many great close up shots with the Casio, but I really wanted to see how the two cameras would perform side by side.
The main thing I noticed is that the Casio’s flash washes out the subject when you get into Macro mode. I pretty much have to turn the flash off and hope for enough light. The Casio seems to focus in on the object with the camera closer to it, but you can tell that it is not the very nice 1:1 ratio that the Canon has. Basically, the Casio can get “closer” but the Canon does not really need to. I took photo’s of two objects: a quarter just laying on my desk and a door on a piece of gaming terrain I have.
Example #1: The Casio shot did not have a flash. I tried to hold both camera’s the same distance off of the table. I was doing this by hand, and I think I was pretty close. Huge difference with the Canon using the flash, and the clarity of the image.
Example #2: This time I tried to frame the image the same on both camera’s. As I mentioned the Canon was much further away from the subject. Use of the flash again makes a big difference.
Looking at these and some of the other pictures I have taken I could not be happier with my choice of camera, or my choice of lens. I am in the process of trying to find the perfect camera bag now. I want a bag that will carry all of my photographic equipment with me. I guess I need a pretty large bag. I want something to carry the:
Canon Rebel XTi
60MM Macro Lens
A zoom lens I have yet to purchase
A 50mm lens which is on backorder from Amazon
The Casio Exilim in a small case
An Olympus Camedia C-3000
A Canon ZR200 Digital Video Camera
A boat load of media cards
Any suggestions?