{"id":245,"date":"2011-07-05T16:16:33","date_gmt":"2011-07-05T06:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fractalthoughts.com\/blog\/?p=245"},"modified":"2011-07-06T15:02:39","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T05:02:39","slug":"new-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fractalthoughts.com\/blog\/?p=245","title":{"rendered":"New Camera!"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some time now, my trusty Canon EOS 300D has been showing signs of aging. After all, I have had it for seven years, and while USB 1.0 was all the rage back then, the new ‘resident’ in our flat, a brand-new, raunchy, 27-inch iMac with 8GB RAM, 1TB of disk space and an uncertain number of CPUs (four? eight?) throws a wobbly every time the camera is connected, being unable to imagine such a relic even exists. Most of the pictures end up imported with Aperture’s hideously unhelpful ‘unsupported file format’ message.<\/p>\n

We tried giving it smelling salts (different USB cable, different USB port, different photo application) to no avail. Yet exactly the same pictures, from exactly the same memory card, using the same USB cable and the same application, import just fine (if extremely slowly)\u00c2\u00a0 into my older model.<\/p>\n

Clearly, there is absolutely no point in having a top-level graphics-capable computer available if I don’t use it for photography work. So, what to do? I admit, it seems like a rather large jump from “my pictures don’t download properly to state-of-the-art computer hardware” to “I need a new DSLR”. After all, this particular problem could be solved quite easily by procuring a USB2.0 card reader for roughly 1\/50th of the price of a new camera. But I have improved significantly as a photographer in the last seven years, and as a result the camera’s technical specifications have become insufficient for what I want it to do.<\/p>\n

For instance, its minimum shutter speed of 1\/4000th of a second is far<\/strong> too long. Connect my 50mm prime lens to it on a sunny day, open the aperture as wide as it’ll go (f1.4) and ask the camera to take a picture and it will blink the shutter speed furiously since a correct exposure cannot be achieved with that setting. “So, close down the aperture,” I hear you say. Well yes, that would work from an exposure perspective. Artistically, however, the\u00c2\u00a0 increased depth-of-field may not be what I want.<\/p>\n

Anyway I’ve been considering a camera upgrade for the best part of a year, and compared specifications between models for ages. This weekend I finally bit the bullet, walked into an excellent camera shop, pointed at the Canon 60D and said “May I exchange this for an exorbitant amount of beer tokens, please.” The shop was happy to oblige, and the Generous One<\/a> insisted on buying me a 16GB memory card to go with it.<\/p>\n

I’ve played with the camera a lot over the last few days, and am extremely happy with it. It’s a little heavier (read: the build quality is better) but the handling is a noticeable upgrade; it feels solid and secure in my hand. Plus, shutter speeds down to 1\/8000th of a sec, 18MP pictures, fast USB2.0 downloads, far improved sensor quality, Live View, a hinged, rotating LCD display…. I’m a happy bunny. Here are some pictures I took with it over the last few days.<\/p>\n