Look at my toys!!! DSLR follow up. 56K warning.

[dogmush]

A while back I asked on here about some DSLR advice.  This thread right here. You guys were pretty helpful and gave me some good ideas.  I ended up going with sorta one of those ebay kits I linked to, it turns out if you call them up and talk to them you can swap stuff into and out of the kit you bought to make it more useful.

So I thought I'd give a quick rundown one of the easier ways to get into a DSLR.

For slightly less then $1400 delivered I got:

Canon XSi Body. Good stuff.
Canon 18-55 EFs IS kit lens.  works pretty well and is light to carry.
Canon 70-300 EF USM IS Telephoto. Takes nice pics, will say good stuff
Hard case with foam. Seems tough, is good stuff.
Canon backpack. Holds camera, lenses, tripod and filters. good stuff
Set of Zeikos filters for kit lens (UV, polerizer and something for indoor lights) took a bunch of pics with and without saw no quality dif.  Left UV on to protect lens.  Good stuff
Zeikos filter (UV) for telephoto. Good stuff
2 16Gb Class 6 SD cards Nice and fast, good stuff
Extra Canon extended run bat. good stuff
Bower TTl flash. Makes bigger flash then onboard pics still look "flashed". eh.
Small tripod. Holds camera with small lens, not telephoto.  Kinda wobbly, but is light. will work as long as you don't look at it. eh.
Screw on wide angle and 2x doubler. Crap. Makes pictures noticably worse.
Off brand wireless remote. Crap. Does not work.

So I was actually pretty happy.  More of the kit was usable then I thought would be, and I got it all for cheaper then most online retailers.  I have since bought a mid-range Manfrotto tripod that is MUCH nicer to use.

I got all this (minus the new tripod) in early dec and proceded to start clicking, and reading, and clicking, and staring at settings and clicking some more.  I have, quite literally 5000 or so pictures since then. Maybe 250 are worth haveing, and of those maybe 50 are actually good (in my mind).  But my ratio is improving, and I'm able to take it off automatic and actually predict what will happen in manual mode. 

Today we finally got a little sun here, and I took some (I hope) nice gun pics outside with the new 'pod.  While saving them I thought I'd come back on here and show some of my results, thank you guys for the purchase advce, and solicit some advice on actual picture taking. (and show off my toys a little :D)

So here are some pics from today, and some I took in MN on vacation in Jan.  The last one is from Christmas, about tow weeks after I figured out how to turn it on. Constructive critisism is welcomed.  But I'm pretty happy so far with how they're coming out.  I'd still like to pick up this 50mm f/1.6 lens Canon has for indoor stuff, lighting is proving to be the hardest thing to get right.

SPR Type AR



There's a rash of neon fish attacks in this part of FL


Carbine type AR




A 1911 I rebuilt




A Savage I'm going to start a project on:

Dangerous fish again.


My kitten didn't fear the fish. (this is the TTl Flash)


Some pics of night in Minneapolis:



Animals in the MN Zoo:




My buddy Ruger trying being paitent while I get the settings right.

[TMM]

cool! those are some great pics, both subject and picture-quality -wise...

i'm a big fan of the SLR, but since i've gravitated away from artistic photography a P&S digital camera makes more sense. still have my heavy-as-a-brick nikkormat though, every time the artsy bug bites me. 

TMM

[Boomhauer]

I'm enjoying my XS, just really don't have much in the way of worthwhile pics to post right now. We've been mainly focusing on stuff like close ups of textures and such in photography class.

Wait, I do have these. Converted to JPEG and sized down for emailing/posting. I prefer to work in RAW, though.






No, I'm not aiming at the dog. She's just distressed by the white stuff falling on her...doesn't know what to make of it.

Canon 18-55 EFs IS kit lens.  works pretty well and is light to carry.

I wish my lens didn't hunt in autofocusing so much. I find myself often sliding the switch to go into manual focus.

i'm a big fan of the SLR, but since i've gravitated away from artistic photography a P&S digital camera makes more sense.

I can no longer tolerate using a P&S. Particularly if it has no viewfinder. I just hate 'em now. Too small for me to hold...if manual capability is provided, the controls are often poorly laid out and cumbersome, and they seem to suck AA batteries. I'm spoiled rotten by DSLR. My XS provides an excellent compromise in size/weight (iI can hold it and it feels like a "real camera" but it doesn't blow toting it around at the end of the day) and I love the capabilities and control layout.

[sanglant]

I wish my lens didn't hunt in autofocusing so much. I find myself often sliding the switch to go into manual focus.

i had stuff i had typed, but it made no since. have a link.

[French G.]

Same camera here, very happy. Due to the miracles of photoshop I will get a bunch of photos I took published in a travel guide my wife has written. The page proofs make it look like a photographer was involved.

[KD5NRH]

Bower TTl flash. Makes bigger flash then onboard pics still look "flashed". eh.

http://www.lumiquest.com/products/softbox.htm

Not cheap, but you will want one for when you're on the go.  In the meantime, you could try this: