After a few weeks of using the Kodak point-and-shoot, I realized that a camera upgrade was needed so I ordered a Canon Digital Rebel and it arrived during Finals time in December. Once I was done with Finals I decided to test it out with Lyndsey, one of my friends. I really had no idea how to use a DSLR so I skimmed through the manual and got to shooting.
Date: December 15, 2006
This photo is a little bit off focus. Sometimes it’s hard to tell until it’s too late. I’ve come up with a way to mitigate that risk of making such a mistake, and at some point I’ll blog about that.
The Rebel only came with the factory lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6). Those cameras came equipped with pop-up flash, so I wanted to test that out to see how photos would turn out.
After reviewing the photos that night I realized that there wasn’t much of a difference in photo with the Rebel vs. my old Kodak when the flash was used. Conversely, there was a huge difference when I was able to capture enough light with the factory lens so I wouldn’t have to use flash. Of course I wasn’t aware of the technical details of why this was taking place at the time but it was definitely something different about the quality of the image.
This brings up another important point that I will touch on in a future blog post — working within design limits. I believe that anyone can get quality photos with the camera they are using IFF (if and only if) they operate within those limitations. Now of course my 5D Mark II will give out a better quality photo than your iPhone or Galaxy IV, but I’m strictly talking about maximizing the potential of what you’re using.
Until next time…
– Jerren
