October 10, 2006

My New Toy

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I recently bought myself a digital camera, a Canon Digital Rebel XTi (called the EOS 400D outside North America, except in Japan where it’s the Kiss Digital X). It’s a 10.1 MP digital SLR, that can shoot 3 frames per second. I wanted to learn photography for a while, so I finally broke down and made the big purchase. I’ve been reading a few photography sites online (mostly Ken Rockwell’s), and plan to take a course here sometime soon. Until then I just have to get out and take some pictures when I can. The first three (currently only) pictures in the linked album are a few I took in Marin county the first weekend I had the camera.

Currently I have the camera (with the kit 18-55mm lens), 2G compact flash card, bag, extra battery, tripod, and UV filter. (The filter that came with my ’starter kit’ was uncoated, so I picked up a new multi-coated one–hopefully to cut down on the reflections and lens flare.) Eventually I plan on getting another lens (something with a wide aperture and around 28-30mm, which should work out to be the “standard” 50mm lens), and maybe a proper flash. But taking a class and reading a few books comes first–I’ll learn how to use what I have before I buy more stuff.

The camera has also led to me submitting a patch to UFRaw, a program and Gimp plugin for manipulating RAW files. The current CVS version now has the white balance presets for the Rebel XTi.