Ring-necked Duck

1/7/2012 Ring-necked Duck,  1/250, f5.6

I wandered over to Agua Caliente Park in NE Tucson this morning to start the long process of getting acquainted with my new Canon 7d camera.  I don't have much telephoto reach with my current zoom lens, so I had to concentrate on some relatively close by birds.  Nice morning out -- brought back memories of when I used to go birding out here quite often.

I'll still be taking a lot of pictures with my Canon G12 compact fixed lens camera that I've shot many of my past blog pictures with -- its a very convenient to carry camera with full manual controls when desired.  However the G12 has weak spots when it comes to situations where I need to shoot in low light without flash, and/or need faster focus, and/or want more creative control. 

That's where my new 7d comes into the mix: larger sensor, faster, better low light performance, more control over settings, ability to swap lenses.  That all comes at the expense of a bulkier and much heavier camera, which is somewhat offset by having a much lighter wallet.

Many, many years ago, I used to shoot with a film SLR camera and then shifted to compact cameras when I found I would often not have my camera with me due to size/weight and found that smaller cameras could easily do 90% of the shots I wanted to do for photo albums, web, email.  But I've been feeling the itch for a couple of years to make the jump again...   Its simply amazing how photographic technology is growing by leaps and bounds.   And no such thing as a perfect camera either...  Comparing my iPhone camera, my compact G12, and now the 7d, each has strengths over the others.  

And so much of taking a good photo has to do more with setting up the shot than the camera -- for example, its amazing how good the photos coming out of Kodak box cameras were (anyone remember threading 120 or 220 film across the back of a box camera, winding by hand until the exposure number on the backing showed through the rear window?). 

I sometimes miss the smell of film.  But I sure don't miss the cost of film or processing film.  It makes me think that it could be a good exercise to go out occasionally with a self imposed limit of a 12 or 24 or 36 exposure "roll" -- allowing myself only that many shots total, no "do overs", focus on setup.

But equipment helps, and since equipment is getting so complex, it should provide a creative challenge too?  Right?  Ok, we'll see...

[new to me:  started shooting pictures with a digital SLR (#7), first time owning or using one other than occasionally pressing the shutter button on friend's cameras.]