lens

Recommended Cameras

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

I get asked all the time if I have any camera recommendations.  My first questions are always: “what are you looking to get out of it?”, and “what is your price range?”.  I have some stand-by recommendations depending on what the answers are.  I threw together a product recommendation page that takes care of the recommendation part for me.  Of course I’m always willing to give advice and feedback, but those who know me might turn here first to get some info from now on.

You can buy direct from amazon right through my recommended products page for the same prices you’d get on Amazon.com.  However; if you buy from here I get a super tiny percentage.  So… If you’re looking to buy a camera and you find one on my recommendation page that you like I’d love it if you buy it here.

Thanks!

NOTE: I’ll keep the recommendation page up to date with the latest stuff as often as I can with the latest and greatest.  However; remember these are my RECOMMENDATIONS, they won’t always be the hottest new stuff, because a lot of the time I feel the new stuff is just fluff, and the older models are better for the money.

My New Photography Equipment

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Original EquipmentEven though I’ve been into Photography for quite a while, I only recently took the plunge into the realm of DSLRs.  Ever since then I’ve been making use of the 28-135mm kit lens which has worked out great.  However; due to the upcoming weddings and our upcoming trip to the Pacific Northwest I’ve been on the lookout for new equipment.

Last week I happened upon a great deal on Craigslist.  A woman was getting rid of her old Canon 35mm Film SLR along with all the lenses, flash and camera bag.  It came with a 50mm F1.8 (one of the lenses I’d been watching for, although I was more interested in the 1.4) a slide in-out 70-210mm F4 and a Speedlite 420 EZ.

The equipment isn’t the greatest, it’s rather old and fairly low-end but it will do just fine for a while.  The 50mm alone made the deal worth it.  Either way I decided to purchase it and add the stuff to my inventory.

New EquipmentI’ve also been examining wide angle lenses.  Unfortunately I haven’t found any used lenses that were wide enough for me.  Because of our upcoming trip to some of the most scenic places in the US, I decided to pursue new ones.  There have basically been 2 I was interested in (that I could afford).  The Sigma 10-20mm and the Tokina 12-24mm.  After tossing them back and forth in my head and reading lots of reviews I finally decided on the Tokina 12-24mm.  My first impression is nothing short of excellent.  It definitely seems wide enough and the build quality is superb.  I also enjoy the different type of manual focus mechanism.  I’ll probably post a review of it once I get the chance to try it out a bit more.

In just a few short days I’ve quadrupled the amount of photography equipment I have.  The only downside is now I need to find a place to keep it all.

I’m very excited to play with and learn my new toys.  I posted a few test shots in the slideshow below. Most of the shots were taken with the new Flash which requires Manual mode so some are a little overexposed as I get used to it.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649