Stuicide

The video quality on this thing is amazing. Focusing is a little tough, but I think this will definitely add some value to the camera. Here’s a quick test I did last night with Dru.

Breaking Bread from Stuicide on Vimeo.

The new camera arrived today!!!

I don’t have the unboxing photos, but they may show up on DruandStu.com sooner or later. Wanna see the first shot from my camera?

Delicious spaghetti sauce made by Dru himself.

The whole dinner was delicious!

This camera even makes soda look amazing!

I didn’t get to really put it to it’s full use but this weekend I’m going out to shoot a bunch of pictures and will have more updates for you guys then. I’m inspired by what this thing can do and I really want to take the best pictures as I can now.

The long wait is over. I’m a broke happy man.

So I just made my order this morning after close to 3 months of saving and scrunching and eating peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.

I have on order, a Canon 5D Mk 2.

I don’t have the funds to get extra batteries, a grip, or two new L lenses, but believe me, they are all coming sooner or later.

Adorama has been back and forth between in stock/backordered a few times today, let’s hope that one gets allocated my way and I have a new camera next week.

This feels better than X-mas.

What next?

Time to learn a few basics of using your camera. First off, stop using Auto mode. The Aperture Priority mode is my favorite mode to mess around with. What’s Aperture you ask?

Aperture is the Depth of Field that your lens will give you. A Large Aperture is actually the smaller number. f/2.8 is a bigger aperture than f/22 and will give you a much shallower depth of field. Sounds counterintuitive doesn’t it? It gets easier, I promise.

Next after your aperture, you should make sure your Shutter Speed is good. If you are taking handheld shots around 1/200 is a good range. If you get lower than 1/60th of a second there may be some motion blur when you take pictures in low light situations.

Aperture is how big the hole is to your sensor, shutter speed is how long the shutter will be open. After those two elements of photography, if you are taking pictures in low light situations, you can increase your ISO. ISO is how sensitive your “film” is to light. ISO 100 is the best to use, but requires the most light. A lot of DSLR cameras can go to ISO 400 or 800 and still take decent quality pictures. I’ve taken pictures at ISO 1600, but you def. take a chance at getting a lot of noise and grain in your pictures which is something you probably don’t want.

Now that you know the very basics of a DSLR, I recommend getting some new lenses. Both Canon and Nikon make a cheap 50 mm f/1.8 lens that will give you a much better aperture than the kit lens that came with the camera. Plus on a crop-censor (if you are wondering, your camera probably is a crop-censor) 50mm is a great range for portraits.

I’ll post more later about higher quality lenses but odds are if you just got a DSLR, you don’t have the $$$ to spend on thousand dollar lens.

I definitely recommend reading a lot, and posting your pictures online so others can see them. It will drive you to improve constantly, and getting a positive comment on a photo will boost your day.

Some books I recommend: Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson and The Digitial Photography Book Vol 1, by Scott Kelby

Join Flickr and post your pictures, and join some groups! It’s a lot of fun.

In the coming month I will post some “homework” assignments that will be fun to go out and exercise some photography skills.

I finally went out and made the purchase of a new Lens for my camera. My walk around lens for the last year has been the kit lens that’s 17-55mm.

I went out and bought a 17-85mm lens that’s upgraded in quality and should allow my shots to really shine.

Next thing I want to buy is a Fisheye/wide angle lens, and I hope to have one picked out and purchased by the end of July.

So as for the things I’ve been keeping busy with for the past few days…

I got a letter from the University of Memphis, and finally received notice that I was accepted to the Fall Semester of 2008 to attend Grad School. I need to meet with an advisor to see if I will get any credit from my semester in Chicago. I hope so, I worked hard up there for the grades.

Also, Thursday morning I took my MacBook Pro up to the Apple Store because the right fan was acting noisy and making a small clicking noise. They were extremely helpful and quick. I thought I was going to be out without my laptop for a few days, but they got it fixed same day and I was able to pick it up just 5 hours after I dropped it off. The new fan is working great so far.