Gadgetry
Once again, we delve into my gadget-nature. Recently, I decided I needed to take up a new hobby. Going home from work and sitting on the couch depressed because my house was empty was, quite frankly, beginning to get old. I actually developed apathy about my depression: "I could watch TV, but... meh, nothing good on. I could play games, but meh... already beat'm. I could sit here depressed, but ... what's the point" and so on.
To that end, I decided on photography. I've always wanted to be at least marginally artistic, and I do think I have a good eye. I've simply never had good hands when it came to painting, or sculpture, or anything of that nature. So, since the idea the skills behind photography is merely making the camera see what you, as the photographer, see. The essence of a photographer, of course, is to see the world around him or her in a way worth capturing. It seems to me that, whether I turn out to be a horrible one or a good one, being a photographer is a hobby I could enjoy both in the "buying things" category, and in the "actually doing it" category. I'm excited about it.
As a first step, I bought a camera; the Canon SD850 IS. I had a ratty old 2MP camera, but the main reason I didn't like it was the lack of manual control. If I recall, the only control I really had was focus and turning the flash on or off. This new camera gives me access to almost all the controls, with only two major drawbacks:
So far, having a lot of fun and enjoying it immensely. After I get to the point that I feel my pictures good enough to avoid causing trauma in small children and the elderly, I'll start posting to a Flickr account. Eventually, if it turns out I continue, over the long term, to enjoy this as I am now, I'll probably upgrade to whatever is the future equivalent of the current Rebel XTi DSLR, so I can get into all the lens swapping, etc.
Also, I dislike the Zune but the geek/gadgethead in me is almost wow'd enough by the way this thing looks to buy one:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=080005
I won't, but still... it looks pretty sweet to me :P
To that end, I decided on photography. I've always wanted to be at least marginally artistic, and I do think I have a good eye. I've simply never had good hands when it came to painting, or sculpture, or anything of that nature. So, since the idea the skills behind photography is merely making the camera see what you, as the photographer, see. The essence of a photographer, of course, is to see the world around him or her in a way worth capturing. It seems to me that, whether I turn out to be a horrible one or a good one, being a photographer is a hobby I could enjoy both in the "buying things" category, and in the "actually doing it" category. I'm excited about it.
As a first step, I bought a camera; the Canon SD850 IS. I had a ratty old 2MP camera, but the main reason I didn't like it was the lack of manual control. If I recall, the only control I really had was focus and turning the flash on or off. This new camera gives me access to almost all the controls, with only two major drawbacks:
- It doesn't save pictures in the RAW format, which means it's harder to do quality post-processing later on (think Photoshop to reduce glare, etc).
- It doesn't have the capability of a remote control shutter release. This is semi-circumvented with creative use of the automatic timer, but it also means I'll never take split-second low-light jitter-free pictures.
So far, having a lot of fun and enjoying it immensely. After I get to the point that I feel my pictures good enough to avoid causing trauma in small children and the elderly, I'll start posting to a Flickr account. Eventually, if it turns out I continue, over the long term, to enjoy this as I am now, I'll probably upgrade to whatever is the future equivalent of the current Rebel XTi DSLR, so I can get into all the lens swapping, etc.
Also, I dislike the Zune but the geek/gadgethead in me is almost wow'd enough by the way this thing looks to buy one:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=080005
I won't, but still... it looks pretty sweet to me :P