I’m going to preface this blog by saying, I’m tired. So if I start to ramble, please excuse my brain which is running on about 3 1/2 hours of sleep, though if I actually calculated, I’m sure would be much less. I had attempted a nap against my better judgment, however Robby decided to jump in bed with me, which effectively became my alarm clock, because Angel + snoring man bear does not equate to sleeping Angel. Oh well. Let’s hope that tonight I can crawl into bed at a decent hour despite my impromptu non-nap (though I have heard that power naps are actually quite good for you).

In any event, the events of the last few days have ranged from quite eventful to painfully drab, though I don’t suppose you can expect excitement each day right? One can hope. This weekend I picked up a new dSLR, after selling my beloved Canon Rebel XTi. Why the upgrade? Well, despite the fact that I’d lost all inspiration for awhile there, I decided (for some unknown reason) to crack open a book I’d purchased, The Digital Photography Book which inspired me to jump back into it. Secondly we had a $485ish credit with Best Buy, a $20 Reward Zone certificate and a gift card, so I only had to sale my camera for at least $350 to ensure that I had very minimal out of pocket cost (which turned out to be no out of pocket cost and $28 left over) to get the camera I had been lusting over for quite some time: the Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i.

I’m not quite ready to upgrade to a more professional camera so to speak, therefore I decided that it was best just to upgrade within the same class. The specifications of the T1i are as follows:

15.1 MP CMOS sensor, up from 10 in my XTi
Full HD (1080p) movies (arguably not really, only shoots in 20fps in this mode)
High ISO up to 12800 for low-light conditions
3″ LCD, same as 5D
3.4fps with burst shooting up to (170 JPEGs max)
3.0” Clear View LCD with Live View mode
9-point AF system
DIGIC 4 image processor, makes for better noise reduction
EOS Integrated Cleaning System
EF/EF-S and EX Speedlite compatibility

Compared to my XTi, this was a considerably upgrade and it also meant no more running to grab my camera whenever I wanted to take video of the animals because they were doing something unbelievably cute. In any event I’m really pleased with the purchase and quite happy that the members of Ecstasy¹ seem to be quite happy with our recent addition of the photography forums. I think I’m going to find good use for it and I hope that eventually, I’ll be much more confident and creative when it comes to my photography, specifically portraits because admittedly that’s where I am the weakest (the book is helping though!).

This week marks the last week of my class from hell. Right now I have an 80%, however my instructor has yet to grade the assignment I completed on Sunday, so it can either go up or down, depending on how well or how terribly I did. Robby is going to sit down and help me with my final to ensure that I will at the very least pass my class, because we all know I cannot afford to shell out $1,035 to retake it; ironically that would probably result in the selling of my new camera, lol. In any event the Ecstastians² and I have planned a member chat for Saturday in which we are all going to get hammered on web cam (we’re celebrating the end of my perdition). It’ll be pretty amusing to say the least, I’m sure… though now that I’m thinking about it, AIM may not be feasible because I don’t think it allows video chat rooms. LAME. Ecstastians, quick help need suggestions fast! I’m sure I’ll think of something.

And to end this on a more uplifting note, there is talk of a Ecstasy meet up here at my place, late fall. Everything is still tentative, however people are actually considering it and this pleases me greatly. I think we’ll have a kick ass time and the best part? It’ll all be on video, thanks to my spiffy new camera. What’s that? What happens at Angel’s stays at Angel’s? Hmm, I think not.

1. Oh come on really, you knew that shameless plug was coming.
2. A member or rather in this case members of Ecstasy

Current Mood:  creative