New Camera - the Canon 7D

I finally did it. I plucked up courage and spent a small fortune in upgrading my camera. The camera shop now has enough money to keep Lichtenstein going for several years! Not really but it feels that way. I bought the latest Canon DSLR - the Canon 7D, and so far I like it, although it took me 10 minutes to try and figure out just how to turn it on!

I took the manual to bed the first night, great reading material I know, and am wondering if I should put that manual into my booklist! It seems to be the size of a Harry Potter book with the amount of information in there. I only managed to read a few pages before falling asleep. Manuals do that to me.

So the second day I went through the manual and started learning all the settings. Technologically, it's way advanced in comparison to the Canon 20D, which isn't surprising as the 20D was one of the early DSLR's that Canon put out, and they've had plenty of customer feedback and practise since then. The difference between the two is like watching the original Lost in Space series and comparing it to the latest Matrix movies in terms of special effects!

The 7D has more buttons to press, and if you press all the right buttons, it'll take great photos. I haven't quite mastered it yet, but I'm getting there. I am getting help. David Roos bought his Nikon 300D a few weeks ago and has already mastered his new camera. He took the camera back home to Japan for a photoshoot over christmas so managed to master his camera in the Camera's county of origin! So he popped over the other day and setup some custom programs for me - birds, birds in flight, landscapes. The biggest difference in the 7D which I'm trying to learn is the metering system.

You can see David's Photo's here. It's well worth the look - full screen for best effect. Not bad for a Nikon camera either!

The only disappointment I have with my new Canon so far is the fact the battery is different to that of the 20D. Therefore I have to go out and buy another as one battery is definitely not enough. As it's an 18mp camera, I'm also going to have to get a couple of bigger compact flash cards. I'm sure there will be other things I will need over time too - a few more lenses, some overseas travel to try it out.....

The first image I took though with the camera was of a leaf. I am severely restricted at the moment because of my sprained ankle which is driving me nuts! But I was happy with the result...



I guess you'll be hearing more on the subject, and you will see more photos once my ankle gets better!