Flashy Gifts

I spent most of the weekend in this state of surprise:

I’m happy my fingernails were actually painted for that shot.

I spent the rest of the weekend like this:

Because that baby is NEW. I receieved the SURPRISE GIFT of a Canon EOS Rebel XS. And left me pretty much speechless. I adopted my interest in photography from my parents, who raised me with an SLR in hand and bought me my first polaroid for my 6th Birthday. Damn, that Polaroid film with only 10 shots in a cartridge was expensive.

I took the occasional photography class, but am entirely an amateur with a passion for photographing things I love. Mostly in macro, if you’ve ever checked out my personal flickr account. I’ve bought and burned through a few digital cameras since they became more affordable in the early 2000’s, although never an DSLR. My latest digital camera is even still pretty rad – It’s a Canon Powershot SD870 IS that I’ve had for about 3 years. I saved and saved for that one, watching the pricing rise and fall on Amazon until one day it was about $250 below the real list price from one seller and I hit BUY faster than ever. I’ve really enjoyed the quality and functionality the whole while. I’ll probably still use it as a point and shoot for quickie shots. I even use my iPhone 4 regularly because even it has great quality if the lighting’s right… BUT NOW…

This Rebel changes my life. Not to sound dramatic, but it does. It’s hot. And it’ll force me to really learn the nitty gritty details about becoming a great photographer and commit those details to memory, better yet, make them instinctive.

And things get better too:

That’s riiiight, Pete bought himself a new camera too, having ragged out his last one to the extremes. Meet the Canon G12, which I completely believe to be the most manly, rugged, and sexy camera I’ve ever seen. Quite the body. Hands off, ladies.

It’s a 10MP beast with all of the bells and whistles you could ever want, just a tad smaller than the DSLR you’ve grown accustomed to seeing. It’s just really slick. The specs straight from the product page on the Canon site look like this:

We gave the G12 a good test run this weekend with a trip to the Museum of Play in Rochester. Not that these photos have anything to do with the toy archives or hands-on activities, but the in-house butterfly garden is always a good place for some photography.

Pretty moth through glass:

A nice macro on butterfly chrysalises:

And the as-you-would-expect-from-me flower shot:

Additionally, the G12 also impresses with a few nice-to-have settings. The photoshop guru might not have a problem adjusting a standard photo to tilt-shift, but the setting makes it easier for amateurs to achieve the look on the spot. Yes, this is my dining room table in the midst of another project (more to come later this week), and yes, the lighting was poor since it was just last night that I was toying with these settings:

Also, not shown because I can’t decide if it creeps me out or not, the camera also has a setting that detects smiles. That’s right, it detects when a person is smiling and snaps the photo right then; I tested it with frowns, blank stares, and grins, and could not activate it unless smiling with my teeth. Fascinating technology.

Hopefully the quality of the photos on the site will improve and will be more enjoyable (although let’s face it, the iPhone will still make an appearance since it’s always on hand).

Anyone with helpful tips pertaining to the operation of either camera, be our friend.