Canon Rebel XTi - [Crazies]

Posted by Chubbypanda at 5/01/2007 11:34:00 PM

I went temporarily insane this weekend and dropped way too much money on the Canon Rebel XTi. The straw that broke the camel's back was being unable to book a room for my annual vacation with Cat. Since our wedding will be taking place a few days after we would have been scheduled to get back, Cat and I decided to cancel the trip this year. The money I'd already saved up for the hotel and what I'd started saving for the camera put me over the top, so I went for it.

Here are some photos I took at the Irvine Spectrum Sunday afternoon. Click on any of the thumbnails to see the full image. I think the saturation might be too high on some of them. I'm still getting a feel for the camera.













It's like a disease. I still need to buy a carry case and I'm already looking at telephoto lenses. This camera isn't really practical for restaurant food blogging, but I'll be using it for my recipes at home and hobby photography. Since I've got a pretty big backlog of material for articles, most of the pics on this blog will still be ones taken with my Canon PowerShot SD100. I'm hoping to upgrade to a Canon PowerShot SD1000 sometime around the end of the year. Alternatively, does anyone have any thoughts on the Canon PowerShot G7? Elonweis just picked one up for food blogging. I'm waiting to hear what she thinks.

BTW, I blame Ben from Chowtimes and Rasa Malaysia for inspiring camera lust within me.

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12 comments:

  1. Cindy. Lo. said... 5/02/2007 12:29:00 AM

    You're a pretty good cook I guess!  

  2. Cindy. Lo. said... 5/02/2007 12:30:00 AM

    You're a pretty good cook!  

  3. nikkipolani said... 5/02/2007 01:42:00 PM

    Nice pics - I have the same model camera coming in the mail today - looking forward to trying it out.  

  4. KT said... 5/03/2007 09:45:00 AM

    I never thought I'd say this, but I like that American flag picture. My favorite is the palm trees though.

    I still love my Panasonic Lumix. The anti-shake feature and the Leica lens are a killer combination. I haven't used a flash since I got that camera. Love.

    Thanks for all the comments on my Japan trip! Some of them have been very educational for me and I now understand some things I didn't before.  

  5. MessyJessy said... 5/04/2007 08:17:00 AM

    Ah, good ol' camera lust. My husband encountered a case of this...Its been downhill since then.
    First it was the Nikon D80 purchase...then came the accessories...

    1 - Nikon Nikkor AF 28 -80mm lens
    1 - Nikon Nikkor DX 55 - 200mm lens

    then multiple storage options
    1 - SanDisk 1gig SD Card
    2 - PNY 2gig SD Card

    the most recent purchase was a flash for studio shots
    1 - Nikon SB-600 Flash

    He's been eyeballing more stuff...I hate Nikon.  

  6. Chubbypanda said... 5/04/2007 11:48:00 AM

    Cindy,

    Thanks! I appreciate the compliment.

    Nikkipolani,

    You're going to love it, although you'll immediately want a better lens.

    KT,

    You're very welcome. I love the kookiness of Japan. I'm going again at the end of the year. Also hitting Taiwan and maybe Hong Kong.

    Messyjessy,

    Lol. You sound like Cat.

    - Chubbypanda  

  7. Rasa Malaysia said... 5/07/2007 12:30:00 PM

    LOL, I bought a new lens too, lucky it's cheap (about $70).

    I still missed my point-and-shoot SD450 because it was so easy and it took great shots. With DSLR, it's a lot of post processing. If you shoot the pictures with the kit lens without processing, they look worse than my SD450, but if you shoot in RAW mode and use the Canon software to adjust the brigthness, White Balance, they turn out awesome! So, there, that's my secrets (and I promise I won't charge!). LOL.  

  8. Chubbypanda said... 5/07/2007 12:52:00 PM

    Rasa Malaysia,

    Thanks! I'm going to try that. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about dSLR photography. Hopefully, I'll be able to master my XTi soon, like I have my SD100.

    I can't wait to upgrade to the SD800is for my restaurant blogging. In terms of form factor and performance, the PowerShot SD series is still the best everyday camera. It's hard lugging around a dSLR.

    - Chubbypanda  

  9. Rasa Malaysia said... 5/08/2007 11:55:00 PM

    Good luck....actually a professional photographer told me to shoot in RAW mode because there is soooo much you can do with post processing. I look forward to seeing more of your new pictures.

    Yep hands down, Canon SD series is the best point-and-shoot camera. Just change the setting to Macro and you are set for restaurant food photography. :)  

  10. Chubbypanda said... 5/11/2007 02:11:00 AM

    Rasa Malaysia,

    So far, they're still pretty shoddy. Once I can take a break from wedding stuff, a photographer friend of mine has promised to take me out photo shooting with him. He uses a Rebel XT, so he's going to try teaching me a few tricks. I hope processing RAWs is part of it.

    - Chubbypanda  

  11. Ben said... 5/12/2007 08:50:00 AM

    Hey CPanda: Congrats on the purchase of the XTi! It's a great camera for its price. After you have used this for a few months, I suggest you do some shoots with "L" lenses. I am sorry for Cat ... you're hooked for life! Oh yeah, the kit lens is really nothing to shout about. For your food shots, I suggest you get a prime lens ... its cheaper and very nice. One of my fav sites is dpreview.com. Check out the forum and you can learn quite a lot from them. Also, check out HDR (search chowtimes for 'HDR') ... do night shots and you'll be awed.
    Enjoy!
    Ben  

  12. Ben said... 5/12/2007 08:52:00 AM

    Hi RasaM:
    I've stopped shooting in RAW because like you said takes too much time! They are more versatile but the software to process them are so slow. I do RAW only for very special occasions/shots but normally for the blog it is only JPG.
    Ben  

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