Joining the Revolution (finally)

        About 2 weeks ago, I finally joined the digital photography revolution. I’ve been a film hold out, waiting for the right balance of price and quality in a DSLR. Finally, the time came to sign up for the revolution.
        My weapon of choice in this revolution is a Canon EOS 450D. My version, here in Japan, is called the Canon Kiss X2. In North America, it is known as the Digital Rebel XSi. (For a very in depth review of this camera, visit dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos450d/) My version was the double lens kit. One is an 18~55mm, and the other is a 55~250mm, providing great versatility and decent image quality. I scored a great deal on an SD memory card: 3100 yen (about $35 as of this post) for 16GB. On that card, I can hold nearly 2000 images in jpg format at 12MP. A bit less in RAW format, but still considerably more than a roll of film!
        As I said, I’ve been a film hold out. That means that I’d shoot about 24~36 images on a $5 roll of film. Then, processing (no prints) for about $6~10. Then nearly 2 hours of scanning film, followed by another 15~20 minutes per (worthy) image in Photoshop stamping out the hairlines and dust particles from the scanning. And since last August, I’ve been selling photography on several stock image sites. I had gone through my collection and “dusted off” many images to upload to these sites. Many images, good images, were rejected because of “grain” and “noise” problems, relating to the film itself and the scanning process. This labor intensive process had to come to an end.
        And so it is that this revolution is indeed leading to freedom. Already, in 2 weeks time, I’ve taken nearly 500 pictures. Most of those are of my daughter! But a few can be seen below, and more on my photography site, reeddaigle.smugmug.com, as well as on some of the stock sites. Many more will come.
        There is certainly a transition I’m going through in adjusting to digital. I’ve used a digital point and shoot from time to time before, but still mainly used my trusty Canon AE-1 35mm film camera. So I’m not only adjusting to digital, but also the new camera and learning all of its settings. My AE-1 had no auto focus! Everything was manual. I’m hoping to couple my lessons in manual focus and exposure with the freedom of auto. In later posts, I’ll talk more about my transition as it unfolds. For now, please enjoy a few of my first pictures taken with this camera.