And Then There Was Light
The first serious camera I owned was the Canon EOS A2-E (aka EOS 5), which I took with me to Europe during the summer after I graduated from high school, and for a couple years into college. Then I sold that outfit and decided to go all manual, investing in a pretty expansive manual focus system (though for the life of me I can't remember the manufacturer... Minolta I think). And then my last year of college, I sold that and bought the Olympus E-10 as my first foray into digital photography. Unfortunately, I needed money to finance my move to Charlottesville for law school, and had to sell it. For the first two years of law school, I made do with a little Canon S200 Digital Elph.
Right before this summer started, I decided to finally choose once and for all between Canon and Nikon systems. At some point in life you have to make the big choices, and it was time. I bought both the Nikon D-70 and the Canon Digital Rebel. No question, based on the camera body alone, I would have gone with the Nikon. I think it is a superior camera, and priced accordingly. But there was one major, major problem: it back-focused.
So I could either return it for a new one, hoping that I wouldn't get a second lemon. Or I could go with the Rebel. The Rebel had two main advantages: 1) I could buy it locally, from a pro shop that would be helpful and attentive; 2) I much prefer the Canon professional camera bodies and lenses to their Nikon counterparts. So what I decided to do was this: step-by-step, build myself a great Canon system.
For this summer, I've just toyed around with the kit lens and the 50mm f/1.8 that everyone raves about as being the best bargain in town (and it is). But now that I'm headed back to school, I thought it was time to add a substantial flash element. And here she is:
No more red-eye! No more unsightly shadows! No more evil focus assist flash strobe (by far the most heinous part of the Digital Rebel, as anyone who has been the subject of the onboard flash can tell you)! Now I will start salivating over the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0L lens (also much raved about). Yum.
UPDATE: Wow, I have to put in a plug for B&H Photo & Video (and UPS). I've bought a lot of camera equipment from them for many years, and always been pleased, but this tops it all. I ordered the flash at 11:30am yesterday morning and designated 2nd Day Air. It's 9:58am and the box was just put in my hand. That's under 23 hours, door to door. Outstanding.
