My Canon 40D

This will be my first review of gear I have gotten and probably the most important piece of gear in my eyes. I was able to get it online for a really good deal right as the Canon 50d (it's replacement) was announced. I have been wanting a good DSLR for so long that I don't mind at all getting a good deal to pick up the older model. Quite frankly this camera has more capability than I even know what to do with right now.

Things I like about my camera:

• It's a Canon. The main reason I picked this over the Nikon equivalent is because I picked Canon as a company. They have been very innovative as a company in the past and I expect many more great things to come.
• The picture quality is superb and it had very good low light sensitivity. The picture I am posting are taken at the lowest quality jpeg setting. I also take Raw's and anticipate being able to blow images up to 20x30 or something bigger than I would ever need.
• These button placement and especially the click wheel on the back. It makes it very easy to adjust exposure settings very quickly.
• It will shoot 6.5 frames per second which is amazing.
• It has a live view mode instead of just using the view finder which will be nice when using on a tripod or when trying to take pictures with the camera not raised to my face.

Dislikes

• All my other close relatives have Nikon's so our gear will not be compatible :(
  But I new this before I bought mine.
• It is a bit heavier than some of the other models.
• The Raw CR2 files are not windows compatible so I must use Adobe Photo Shop to view / work with my picture. For this reason I have my camera record a Raw file and a small jpeg which I use for viewing and posting online.
• There is not auto focus in the live view mode.
• Built in flash give of a very harsh light. I would probably need to get a more advanced flash if I ever intended to use it enough.

All in all I am very pleased with it and hope to get my skills to a level that match the cameras abilities. I would recommend it and would go the 40D instead of the 50D route to save some cash. Who really need 15 mega pixels?

Twin Lakes 9/26/2008

First I would like to say welcome to my blog. I am very excited to be blogging and plan to share experiences from some of my adventures, (which I hope are many). I also think this will be a good way to share my photographs I have taken. It is a life goal of mine to become a good photographer and I would appreciate any feedback anyone may have. I also am kind of a gear head so you may see me talking about gear I use or have tried. Especially if I havn't been able to get out and need something to blog about. Anyway, Thankyou for sharing with me and enjoy.

Today Melissa and I went for a hike up to silver lake. This was very exciting for me as it was the first chance I had to truly test my new camera. I am happy to say that I am very pleased with it and look forward to lots of pictures to come. It was very beautiful today. The leaves are just starting to turn and the sun just lit up the canopy of yellow leaves over our
heads as we walked underneath them. We are planning to spend time in the canyons for the next two weekends while the leaves change. I expect the season will peak in about two weeks so it might be worth finding time for a hike or drive in the mountains somewhere. Oh also the picture of the yellow fall leaves is Melissa's. I can't take credit for it.