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How about it runneth over?

Monday, October 18, 2010

...and is puddling up all over the place... WOO!
I am big believer in shooting for the moon.Why? Because as Les Brown says; "...even if you miss, you'll land among the stars". Speaking of missing, in case anyone missed the digital drama of last week's post, it's here (you'll want the background to keep confusion to a minimum :o) Re-researching cameras led me to discover my digital dream; the Canon SX30 IS. The reason this camera caught my Googling eye is because it boasts a 35x optical zoom; virtually unheard of in a mid-range camera. Translation? Not only could I have photographed the cowboys more closely at the rodeo last weekend, I probably could have brought their nose hair into focus... cooool. Well eew actually, but you get the idea, right? The "IS" stands for Image Stabilization, and is something that Canon excels at. It's a definite selling point for someone like me who has unsteady hands (and a large part of the reason I'm such a diehard Canon fan). So, armed with my list of covered holidays I went off to plead my case to DH.
One thing you should know is that my husband is so tight, he squeaks. While I find this generally annoying, I will admit he is the perfect counter-balance for me. Because I funnel most of my paycheck straight into the non-profit, without his financial frugality we would probably be living in a tent in the middle of the pasture with the horses by now (and is that actually a bad thing?). Anyway, in spite of my campaign readiness I fully expected him to laugh himself silly over my high-end technological request. All I can say is that he must have felt far sorrier for me than I thought; would you believe he said yes? While I admit that my justification speech would have done any [cheesing up for their own car] teenager proud, I didn't even get to finish reciting the full list of covered holidays before he told me to just go ahead and get it. Really? Do you mean it??? Hot DAWG! I shot out the door faster than you could say 35x Optical ZOOM, (on the off chance he thought about it some more and changed his mind).
Of course post purchase, I realized that my alter ego (Techno-Twit) was likely to become a major factor as I struggled to understand what the heck all this hi-tech mumbo jumbo stuff meant. Things like bracketing, aperture, AWB, ISO, M, Tv, Av, and MF (I was pretty sure that last one was not what popped into my head; although I suppose if you get frustrated enough... well, never mind). I decided to just play around with it and see what we got; and quickly too, before I ran out of daylight. I thought I'd start with something simple, like the zoom. Of course first I needed a willing victim. Aha! Found one...
Let's see what this 35x bad boy can do, shall we? I did not crop these either; the first shot shows you where I was standing before I zoomed in...
Holy cow! I can even see the strands on the wire. Awesome :oD Let's see what else we can blow up *grin*...
My apologies for shooting into the sun (I know it's a picture taking no-no, but I kind of forgot about that in all the excitement). Woo!

Since I had such great [albeit amateur] success with the zoom, I thought I try out  the sports setting for some action shots...that part didn't work out so well:
Hmmmm, man that's bad; YUCK. Would have been a nice action shot if I knew what I was doing *sigh*. I kept tweaking and shooting, but when you don't have a clue it doesn't do you much good. I have to tell you a funny, though. Bella is my protector; if any horseplay gets too close to me, she will put herself between me and whoever gets too near  (I have some video of her "running interference" that I will share when I get a chance to edit it). Anyway, when this particular exuberant episode started, Bella was at the top of the hill. She came flying down (running to the rescue - that's my girl :o) and I belatedly thought to raise the camera and get a shot of her charging towards me, but wasn't quite quick enough. I snapped her picture right about the time she slammed on the brakes and gave me a rather frantic "Are you okay?" look. So this is what I got: Equus Dementius Ha.
Needless to say, the rest of my action shots were terrible too, though they all sported the official Bella safety theme...I sure do love those Arabians; they're SO cool!
Well, I guess it's time to check out the manual that came with this cool - yet complicated - technological toy. Here's hoping I can finally find my focus! :o)

14 comments:

  1. I would love for my wife to get a camera like that. For she has a really good eye for pictures, but she has never had a really good camera to work with.

    Speaking of such, could a really good digital camcorder work for taking great action shots? For I would think that one could isolate the frames if they knew how to edit them right. Of course, I have no idea how that could be done, nor even if it could be.

    Now, to Arabians. I absolutely hate them because they love me too much. For an Arabian has invariably tried to take a chunk out whatever part of my body is the most convenient every time I have been around one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that it is not their fault that I am so sweet.

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  2. Hooray! Congratulations on your new camera!

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  3. Wow, that is some camera - zoom, zoom!

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  4. HOLY MF, that's some zoom. I'm jealous. Sorry I had to put the MF in there I just couldn't resist :)
    I've never had much luck with the sports setting on my camera. I've tried using it when Duke is extra energetic and no matter what I do I still get the white blur.
    I cracked up over the Bella in your face shot. That was just too good

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  5. FishHawk: This is my first serious camera - it makes a great Christmas present too (hint-hint :o)
    I don't think the camcorders take very good stills; even the HD setting (high definition) is WAY below the resolution for pictures. I can happily tell you though, that it works pretty well the other way around; this camera shoots video clips in HD (I think it's up to 29 minutes at one go). My old camera did too - you've seen some of the clips posted on here, I'm sure.
    As for the Arabians? I'm thinking it's some kind of miscommunication error between species. I'm sure they all see you as a hunk. It's just so terribly close to chunk you see; such an easy mistake to make...
    *grin*

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  6. Daisy: Thank you; I was bouncing off the walls for at least two whole days :o)
    Grace: *Laugh* Yes it is. I am pretty sure I have blown up just about everything around here.
    Ann: Try cranking up your shutter speed and aperature; can you tell I read something? Ha. I think my shutter speed is on 1/2500 and the aperature at 8.0 (maxed out). That will give you the "freeze frame" you're looking for, hopefully. The sports setting really just gets rid of the pause between shots; no display so you can quickly take another photo. It's aperature and shutter speed that reduce and/or eliminate the blur that comes with motion.

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  7. well now that's a real cool camera... hmmm....

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  8. Jeni: Definitely - I'm now having a hard time seeing that rodeo disaster as a bad thing *grin*. Christmas isn't all that far off you know. I'm just sayin'...

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  9. Great camera. I have a Canon Digital power shot something or other. It has all that stuff on it too, but by the time I learn all that techno stuff it will more than likely be broken. I'm a point and shoot and sometimes zoom so it's perfect for me, cause it takes great pictures. Good luck and happy picture taking. Love the shots of Bella the Bouncer/Protector!

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  10. GreyHorse: Hopefully, this camera will last me a WHOLE lot longer than the last one did *grin*. I don't know that I'll ever figure it all the way out, but it has some really neat features and I'm trying to learn how to use at least some of them.
    Bella is fiercely loyal and so smart it's scary (she's awesome ;o)

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  11. Oh you lucky lucky girl!! How much fun are you going to have with that? Don't worry ~ you will figure out all the buttons soon enough. Just keep playing.

    I am a Canon fan as well. :)

    Your post made me laugh out loud this morning. Love it that hubby is squeaky tight with the money!

    Hope you have lots of fun Jen and I look forward to your photos!

    xo Catherine

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  12. Catherine: Thank you. I am having a great time with it, although I think I have an awfully long way to go before I catch up to you (if I ever do, that is ;o)
    I'm so glad to know you started your morning here with a smile. I'll admit I always wonder if anyone finds my posts funny (you know how sometimes stuff you think is funny can be woefully unappreciated by the rest of the world? *giggle*)

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  13. AAAIEEEEEE!!! Woo HOO!! You got a new camera!!! WOW! It looks SO good~ I am bouncing in my seat a little, though I stopped to have a hearty chuckle at the demented horse photos, LOL!
    Have FUN with the camera, though I know you already are (Sorry for being so darn slow lately, lol).
    Hugs!
    Meg

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  14. Meghann: Isn't it phenomenal? I still can't believe DH actually told me to go get it (not that I argued or anything).
    I didn't realize just how alarming that photo of Bella was until I slapped it on the computer and saw it up close and personal - of course then I thought it was pretty funny looking and decided I just had to share *grin*. You are quite right, I'm already having a ball (and of course you are totally excused for being "slow", since I know exactly what you've been up to ;o)

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