New Toy!
While attending a couple recent shows, The Wedding Present and The xx, I attempted to take some pictures with our Canon PowerShot SD1000.
While the shots from The xx show turned out OK (The xx Flickr set) because I was right at the front. The shots from The Wedding Present show didn't (The Wedding Present Flickr set). Partly because of my distance to the stage and partly because the Canon just wasn't cutting it in the low-light environment.
I enjoyed taking photos at the show but I knew the Canon wasn't really up to performing well in that type of environment. I have to admit I was jealous of my wife's new Canon DSLR (sorry, model escapes me). I wanted something that would perform almost as well as a DSLR but not be a burden to carry. So, I got the bug for a micro four thirds camera. I was willing to live with any image quality and manual control compromises if it meant I'd get a better performing camera that was still relatively compact.
But which one to get? At this time, I think the only candidates are either from Panasonic or Olympus. I didn't really have $800 or more to spend so I was willing to compromise on some features. Plus, I wanted a built-in flash. That left only one option, the Olympus PEN E-PL1.
(taken with my HTC Touch Pro)
Due to some good timing, Best Buy had the camera and kit lens marked down in a recent Sunday sales circular. Perfect timing! Then, on Monday, while at work, I received Micro Center's mailer that had the camera and kit lens marked down even more than Best Buy. Sold!
But, you know what? I didn't go to either place. I went to a local store that specializes in camera and video equipment, National Camera Exchange and Video. I knew they had a price matching policy so I was OK on pricing. The biggest benefit to buying from them is that any new camera purchase includes free entry into four of their photography seminars. I would get some lessons on getting the most out of my new camera that I would probably never get around to really doing on my own.
They offer 3 classes on DSLRs but my vouchers can only be used for the first two levels. Which ended up working out to my advantage again, because Shelly and I are going together. We'll both get to learn more about our respective cameras.
The first-level seminar that fit into our schedule isn't until the end of June. But, in the meantime, I've been taking any chance I can to play around with my camera. I've been doing a little bit of reading to at least understand the rudiments and just generally messing around.
It's been fun so far.
While the shots from The xx show turned out OK (The xx Flickr set) because I was right at the front. The shots from The Wedding Present show didn't (The Wedding Present Flickr set). Partly because of my distance to the stage and partly because the Canon just wasn't cutting it in the low-light environment.
I enjoyed taking photos at the show but I knew the Canon wasn't really up to performing well in that type of environment. I have to admit I was jealous of my wife's new Canon DSLR (sorry, model escapes me). I wanted something that would perform almost as well as a DSLR but not be a burden to carry. So, I got the bug for a micro four thirds camera. I was willing to live with any image quality and manual control compromises if it meant I'd get a better performing camera that was still relatively compact.
But which one to get? At this time, I think the only candidates are either from Panasonic or Olympus. I didn't really have $800 or more to spend so I was willing to compromise on some features. Plus, I wanted a built-in flash. That left only one option, the Olympus PEN E-PL1.
(taken with my HTC Touch Pro)
Due to some good timing, Best Buy had the camera and kit lens marked down in a recent Sunday sales circular. Perfect timing! Then, on Monday, while at work, I received Micro Center's mailer that had the camera and kit lens marked down even more than Best Buy. Sold!
But, you know what? I didn't go to either place. I went to a local store that specializes in camera and video equipment, National Camera Exchange and Video. I knew they had a price matching policy so I was OK on pricing. The biggest benefit to buying from them is that any new camera purchase includes free entry into four of their photography seminars. I would get some lessons on getting the most out of my new camera that I would probably never get around to really doing on my own.
They offer 3 classes on DSLRs but my vouchers can only be used for the first two levels. Which ended up working out to my advantage again, because Shelly and I are going together. We'll both get to learn more about our respective cameras.
The first-level seminar that fit into our schedule isn't until the end of June. But, in the meantime, I've been taking any chance I can to play around with my camera. I've been doing a little bit of reading to at least understand the rudiments and just generally messing around.
It's been fun so far.