Saturday, August 08, 2009

New camera, new photos

Well, I finally did the deed and went out and purchased a new camera. Yippee!

While guaranteed to have some people scratching their heads ["Why didn't he get something better/ bigger/ smaller/ whatever?"], the purchase was always going to be the best compromise of functionality, quality and money, and I think that I've done OK.

What I've got is a Canon EOS 450D [or click here for quick specs], twin lens kit with 18-55 IS and 55-250 IS lenses. The shop was doing a reasonable deal including a 4Gb SDHC card, camera bag and a couple of other goodies thrown in for free.

I've spent the last couple of days playing with it. The first thing I have learnt is that I have a lot to learn [!!], although even in the past few days I've become accustomed to some of the basic functions.

Today was the first day to have a decent play while pointing the camera at aircraft. I'm very happy with some of the results, although clearly I need to get a bit more comfortable with the general handling and stuff.

Anyway, on to some pictures. Here are eight of the better pictures taken today. These have been severely reduced [they expand to 19% of original size if you click on them]. Top to bottom are:

2 x Air New Zealand, Boeing B737, ZK-NGM
Cessna 172RG, ZK-NPM, registered to a New Plymouth address
Nanchang CJ6, ZK-JNA, registered to Wellington Aero Club
Piper PA28R-201, ZK-EIF, Registered to Wellington Aero Club
3 x Jetstar, Airbus A320, VH-VQD

4 comments:

zkarj said...

These photos look pretty darn good to me! The colour and exposure is excellent. Looks like you've had a bit of a play with the wide angle too. :-)

The trick with learning to use the camera is to always wonder what you could have done differently - and then try it.

Now you have the JPEG vs RAW decision to make. :-)

Rodney said...

Thanks zkarj... no decision - I can shoot both at the same time :-) Yeah, OK, I'll play with JPEG first then look at RAW in the next couple of months...

Chris Nielsen said...

Yay! Gotchaself a DSLR.. w00t :-)

Now you just need that 100-400 L and you'll be all set, right??! :-)

Rodney said...

Yeah, nice idea Chris. Got a spare one you can donate to me? :-) I won't be buying any more lenses any time soon, but it's a nice thought.

I'll just stick with my 55-250 for now :-)