UPS delivered my DSLR to my house yesterday about an hour after I had sat
down to my desk at work. I was very good and resisted the temptation to
tell my boss that I was suddenly feeling under the weather in order to rush
home and play. I even set the box aside in the evening until after I'd walked
my pup. While making dinner I set the battery charging. After we'd eaten I
finally got to play a little.
First impressions of my 300D? Actually, I was prepared to be under-whelmed.
I played with a digital rebel before but that was a couple of years ago. Of
course I've seen many fellow photogs and photobloggers carrying them so the
camera seems commonplace to me, however, it's all very different when you
examine a camera knowing that you own it. The main thing that I was prepared
to hate was it being silver and plastic. Neither properties were as bad as
I'd feared. For a start off, it's way less silver than my Sony F717 - now
that's a shiny, silver camera. As for being plastic, it's obviously not as
solid as my beloved OM2s; on the other hand it is no where near as creaky
as my Minolta 600si (soon to be sold if you're looking for a good example
of this cult film camera).
By the time I got to take a couple of shots it was almost dark so I've got
nothing to show you yet. I did go through the manual and I have the basics
committed to memory at least. Things that still confuse me:
- setting a custom white balance looks way more complicated than it was
with my Sony.
- knowing what kind of light meter reading you're taking - the Sony was
simple (one of three symbols in the viewfinder let you know what you were
measuring) but the 300D seems to depend upon which mode you're in and if
the * button has been pressed.
- RAW - this is a whole new subject for me and there is a lot to learn -
I only got as far as installing Elements 3 this morning.
I can't wait to play more this weekend. |
