The collected works of ScottyB

Those of you in the know, know that my trusty, tried and tested, Canon 300D DSLR expired some time ago.

It had a long, enjoyable and hard life.

Everywhere I went, it went. It became my third arm, my own person developing a reputation for never being seen without the camera around my neck. To the point that some people even speculated I wasn’t able to take it off. Ask anyone and they’d tell you ‘Oh yeah, the camera dude’.

So when, after 67,000 frames, the mighty 300D decided to throw a mirror pin and decide it would only let me take photos in M (manual) mode with the lens in full MF (manual focus) it all started getting a little impossible. Gone was the freedom of catching a bird taking off from the Lake and tracking its path through the sky as it meandered and floated in front of the clouds. Now, I had to make constant adjustments, cast the camera across the sky and suddenly it was overexposed, underexposed, so a quick crank of the shutter in either direction was needed. Then the subject would change direction, further away, closer up.. all needed minor adjustments to the focus ring and constantly. A perfect shot was few and far between.

Sure there were exceptions. The Hunter Valley Gardens shoot indeed netted me some of my favourite photos. Considering the horrendous weather, almost non-stop rain and conditions for shooting (extreme low light, cold, soaked-to-the-skin) I was happy - and renewed in my photo taking, with the results.

So the hunt began. I got my finger out and looked for a camera.

Enter the 400D. And a great deal to boot.

Canon EOS 400D
18-55 kit lens
75-300 enthusiast lens
SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF card
BG-E3 Battery Grip
2 x NB2LH batteries

And I was on my way.

Macro lens ordered and should be with me before the end of next week.

Stay tuned, its good to be back in the game