inahandbasket: animated gif of spider jerusalem being an angry avatar of justice (Photographing!)
[personal profile] inahandbasket

I wish I took more photos.

Why don't I? A couple of reasons.
- Because my DSLR is fairly large and it's difficult to fit nicely into my daily-carry bag. It fits great if I pop the lens off, but then it takes me a minute or two to take a picture, which is anything but quick when trying to catch something neat that I noticed. It also takes a full 3 seconds from power on to first capture, so even if I leave the lens on the body (and carry my larger bag) I often miss that short-lived moment.
- It's fairly old (first-gen Digital Rebel), and the image quality isn't good when compared to just about anything newer. I can fake it to some extent in photoshop, but when the data ain't in the pixels there's only so much you can do.
- I don't like being "that guy" who always caries an SLR around his neck and frequently stops to shoot things. Sometimes I'm ok with it, but sometimes I'm not. If [livejournal.com profile] prosicated and I are just out for a walk I have no problem with it, but walking to the drug store by myself and randomly stopping to shoot photos always rubs me the wrong way. I don't know why.

Is this just a whine to rationalize getting a new camera body? Meh. Not really. I can rationalize that to myself well enough if I really want to. It's more me mulling options.

[livejournal.com profile] coraline just got a new Canon Rebel XSi body which is quite nice, and much smaller than my existing one, which would address a lot of my above issues. From the feature-set and physical-handling perspective my selection would be the Canon 40D, but that's a much larger camera body than my current one, exacerbating the portability issue.
So if I'm going to upgrade do I go with the 40D and a decent point-shoot for constant carrying, only whipping out the big-guns when I really need it? Or do I go with the newer and smaller Rebel body and get a sort of compromise arrangement?

All a moot point until after the house is bought obviously, but it's been on my back-burner for over a year now.

Date: 2008-06-13 04:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sykii.livejournal.com
It's funny how you feel about taking pictures alone vs. in company. I'm the exact opposite. If I'm alone, I don't mind at all wandering around taking pictures. If there's someone with me, on the other hand, I start getting worried that I'm annoying or boring them.

Date: 2008-06-13 04:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sykii.livejournal.com
Ah, see, I use it to motivate myself to get out of the house and do errands.
That's why I have so many different pictures of the same things-- they're on my route to the grocery store ;)

Date: 2008-06-13 04:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blimey85.livejournal.com
How do you like Canon? I took a long hard look at several cameras before I bought mine and I ended up going with Nikon because I thought the pictures were sharper. It's funny that when I went into a local camera store, the older gentleman that I talked to there said I can't judge a camera by how photos look online, even though I had told him more than once that my only reason for wanting a camera was for posting photos online. Odd to not judge a camera by how you plan to use it.

Anyway, I have a Nikon D50 that I bought secondhand off of eBay. It doesn't get a whole lot of use because it's too big to tote around but it takes some damn fine pictures.

Date: 2008-06-13 04:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wanderyng1.livejournal.com
My experience is somewhat dated, since the last time I was heavily into photography there was no such thing as a digital camera ;)

That being said though, I found it infinitely useful to have my Nikon SLR and my Nikon point-and-shoot when I traveled, for mainly the reasons you already listed. Sometimes you want to just take a shot without worrying about shutter speed and f/stop. I personally would look at them as two separate and distinct beasts. Buy the dSLR that does what you need it to do and then analyze whether you find that you need/want the utility of a smaller camera to carry around for random photo-taking.

Date: 2008-06-13 07:39 pm (UTC)
coraline: (Default)
From: [personal profile] coraline
at what point does convenience outweigh icing? And that's purely subjective

exactly!

for me, i'm glad the answer was clear enough to avoid any sort of agonizing over it. hope you find a solution that works for you though... yay photography!

Date: 2008-06-14 01:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prosicated.livejournal.com
Does make one desire some very convenient frosting, though. (& yes, yay photography!)

Date: 2008-06-13 05:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] krues8dr.livejournal.com
My main problem with my Rebel is that it's too small and feels like a toy, especially after playing with a 40D. It really isn't portable enough to be a replacement for a point-n-shoot or my old Polaroid Impulse. I'll probably break down and buy a 40D and a Powershot or something, though; an all-in-one just won't do it.

Date: 2008-06-13 06:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] krues8dr.livejournal.com
I've got an XT, but it's still not enough camera for me.

Didn't the 40D just come out in August, so the 50D is another year off (18 month cycle)?

Date: 2008-06-13 07:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] krues8dr.livejournal.com
My ability to judge sarcasm is hampered only by my sleep-deprivation and lack of coffee.

Date: 2008-06-13 05:30 pm (UTC)
drwex: (Default)
From: [personal profile] drwex
I'm >< this close to buying my first DSLR if only I could figure out what I want and what a good price is. I'm not likely to go above the 'prosumer' level and I think Canon and Nikon glass are about equivalent in that range. I also like the feel of the Nikon bodies over the Canon bodies, which seem too large and bulky from my limited use of them.

I wish I took more photos. [...] I don't like being "that guy" who always caries an SLR around his neck and frequently stops to shoot things.

Yes. That, and that. Particularly since most of what I want to shoot is pictures of other people, it's doubly awkward. I'm often in situations of choosing between participating in the social situation and taking pictures of it.

Date: 2008-06-13 07:39 pm (UTC)
drwex: (Default)
From: [personal profile] drwex
No, I never managed to borrow Johanna's camera. We talked about it several times but it never actually passed hands.

Date: 2008-06-13 07:41 pm (UTC)
coraline: (birch)
From: [personal profile] coraline
sorry abot that :}
(but i assumed that once you'd gotten your gift that it would be moot and you'd run out and buy something... oops.)

Date: 2008-06-13 07:49 pm (UTC)
drwex: (Default)
From: [personal profile] drwex
Thanks - i do appreciate the thought. The gift was a token for "when you make up your mind we'll help you get it". I still haven't really made up my mind, though.

Date: 2008-06-13 07:42 pm (UTC)
coraline: (for you!)
From: [personal profile] coraline
i love taking photos of people, and i think i do an ok job of balancing it out... though this means i've been finding i've been taking fewer pictures and spending more time cuddling recently. which really, i can't complain about :)

Date: 2008-06-13 07:54 pm (UTC)
coraline: (personal penguin)
From: [personal profile] coraline
didn't mean to slight your multitasking. ^_^

didn't think you were, just musing to myself about how i've decided one way or the other about whether to photograph or participate or both :)

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