Inspirational moment lost

[New Shooter]

Forum members

I'm back. Suitably inspired by the support of 22, yes 22! who deemed my first missive worth responding to, I went to the coast this weekend with my new "Image Stabliser 28-135" lens. I bought two extra batteries and charged them all up before I went as the guy in the store said IS stood for "It Sucks" and I assumed he meant battery power. Anyway, 100 quid worth of battery power later I was all set.

The English seaside in July is like the English countryside. Only wetter. What you do get is dirty great big lumps of clouds which off-set the lack of sky/horrizon, add darkness to the sense of impending gloominess and general provide some added interest. I felt a bit over-dressed in my new Photographer Monthly 'pack-a-mack' and the kids did cry quite a bit when I got out of the car. Still, I thought I looked the part and headed off to the water.

The 17-40 mm L is fantastic indoors taking pictures of table tops, doorways and Canon Lens boxes (which seems to be the best way to test and "L", right?) But the breeze outside got up just before lunch.

Sand. No one warned me. There's loads of it on the beach. Not least when the wind gets up and you try and get the "kit" lens back in 300D while holding a kite and trying to prevent your 5-year old from drowning. I will post the results on this site soon. In the meantime, I am constantly staggered by how good the stuff people post here is. As soon as I can work out how to get the Dyson vacuum cleaner nozzle to clean out the 300 D insides I will be back.

Sand + kids. Not good. Any other forum members tried new kit with kids in tow?

Enjoying the Forum more and more each day. Photography. Don't you just love it.


JD

[dsze]

haha....hilarious. (not the sand part in your 300D), but I know exactly what you mean about the kids in tow. I've got a 1 yr old and a 2 yr. old. Both beautiful little girls.

Photographically speaking, they are at once great subjects to shoot and also the cause of much stress, many fingerprints, very little reading-up time, and like you I often find myself jeopordizing camera safety for child safety as I grab one from the edge of the pier or break up a little girls' scuffle. Not to mention, the critique they give me on my photos is very mild. They don't seem to like any abstract shots, in fact, they only seem to like the shots of themselves.

My 2 yr old has become interested in pictures lately though and I got her a $20 digital vivitar Friday at Wal-Mart and I must admit she looks the part when she shoots. After many shots of her finger, she now knows to shoot with one hand or to place the other one OFF of the lens. And her stance is perfect! She whips around and shoots people candidly and then moves in close for the final close ups....its hilarious. Soon she'll be taking better photos than me I fear.

-daniel

[Andy_T]

You both crack me up :lol: !

I normally have to surrender at least the lens cap of my G2 to my 1 year old before he stops trying to take the camera from me.

Most likely it will have to be more when I get a DSLR, because the camera is obviously bigger=more interesting.

I never have a chance of operating my laptop computer for more than 2 minutes in his presence ...

Best regards,
Andy

[Belmondo]

As soon as I can work out how to get the Dyson vacuum cleaner nozzle to clean out the 300 D insides I will be back.



Here's an unsolicited tip:

Before you take the Dyson vacuum to your 300D, cut the leg of a pair of pantyhose and stretch it over the nozzle on the vacuum cleaner. It will catch all the parts that get sucked out of the camera and might save some money on the repairs later.

(Dear Lord, please let all who read this know that we’re kidding about vacuuming a camera. Thank you. Amen)

[Pekka]

Before you take the Dyson vacuum to your 300D, cut the leg of a pair of pantyhose and stretch it over the nozzle on the vacuum cleaner. It will catch all the parts that get sucked out of the camera and might save some money on the repairs later.

I can see it now how guys with camera bags rush to buy some pantyhose

- "what color and size?
- "does not matter, I just need it to cover my vacuum cleaner"

[defordphoto]

"Yes. I need 'L' pantyhose please. Yeah. Those there with the red stripe. Those will do just fine."

[ejwebb]

I also recently had fun at the beach with my new DRebel. Me trying to shoot every bird that flew by, my wife wanting more pictures of the kids instead of birds, shells and waves and my kids wanting me to stop taking their pictures. Much more peaceful when I ventured out before sunrise one morning but I did miss the kids as subjects!

The best was when I closed myself in the truck to change lenses the first day and EVERYTHING fogged up, including my glasses! FRom then on I put my longest zoom (70-210) on the camera when we headed to the beach and left it on. Then I cleaned carefully and religiously when we returned. I bought the camera to take pictures after all!

[Aylwin]

HAHAHA! You guys just crack me up! :D

Any other forum members tried new kit with kids in tow?

With the kids? Oh gosh, new kit or old kit. They don't seem to care. Fortunately, no incidents yet involving any serious damage. I have a 13-month old daughter and a boy turning 5 soon.

The older used to be very "curious" about the camera but since we got him a cheap 2nd hand digicam of his own to play with he's okay now. The little one though requires a little more vigilance.

Useful tip: if you leave the camera on a table, make sure the strap isn't hanging down the side!

It's amazing how fast they learn. I used to have no problems shooting the little one. She'd just look at the camera and smile. Now, everytime she sees me pointing the camera at her she runs (yes, at 13 months she can "run") towards me. Why? She's knows she can see pictures on the LCD screen at the back of the camera. I guess she picked it up after seeing me look at the screen after every shot. If only she'd wait for the "click" before coming...

[Andy_T]

So you train your kids to chimping at 13 months ... you should be very much ashamed :lol:

Re the Dyson vacuum cleaner ... the reason to use this over 'conventional' vacuum cleaners is that it doesn't have dust bags. You just look into the dust compartment after cleaning your camera and see if there might be some minor parts there that still could be useful :lol:

Best regards,
Andy