Last night Jenn gave me a Canon EOS kit as part of an engagement present. It came with a camera bag, a battery grip, an extra battery, and a UV filter. Very nice, I'm very thankful, and I love her so much.


Jenn and I went out to Griesbach today to give my new camera a spin. We had hoped to capture the colours of the trees there, but alas, the wind last week was too much too soon and the trees aren't in a very photogenic state. But! We drove to the west side of the old base and found an abandoned shooting range among some other derelict buildings, and many photos were had. Jenn even modeled for me and let me take some nice portraits.


I am LOVING this camera. The first thing I really noticed about it is that it's FAST. It starts up fast when you power it on, it focuses fast (thanks to the USM lens), it shoots fast, and it saves fast. I can take more photos in just a few seconds with this thing than I could with my old Kodak in a minute.


I also love the battery grip. It has an extra shutter button (among some other controls) in a location that's more convenient for shooting in portrait.


I went though all the photos and picked them apart; I still have a lot to learn about taking photos, but I still walked away with some really good ones. I did a lot of colour adjustments and the like (very time-consuming but much easier to do on the RAW format photos), and will be uploading them to Flickr soon and posting them here.


The 50mm did pretty well for portraiture, but the depth of field was a bit awkward sometimes for anything too close up. I have higher hopes for the 100mm when it comes in.


Anyway, I had a great time and a great day. My posting here so much on this subject suddenly should be a good indicator of how excited I am to be taking the hobby to the next level. 
