Well...I took the plunge....

[Walczak Photo]

Hey Folks,
After a very successful weekend of selling things (chainsaws, chipper/shredder, etc), I went ahead yesterday and ordered my new camera! Woo-hoo! I really wanted to go with a Canon 5D but just couldn't come up with enough money and my lawyer is still waffling on the workman's comp check so after a long talk with my ever-insiteful wife, I went ahead and ordered a 40D instead.

-If- the comp check comes in and -if- it's as much as I hope it's going to be, I may still look at getting the 5D later or I may simply put it into some better glass and think about the 5D next year...we'll have to see how well the 40D performs between now and then and go from there. My biggest concern is the low light issue really. I -know- the 5D will out perform the 40D in this area but I know the 40D is going to be a substantial improvement over my Rebel XT so we'll have to see how things go.

I am going to hang on to the Rebel as a backup and again after talking to the wife I'm going to go ahead and sell the old Sony H1...I hate to part with her as she was such a great little camera but I simply don't use it any more so I guess it's time.

Also on the note of "good news", my exhibit at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center starts tomorrow!!! The one at Wellington came down this afternoon and it goes right back up again with about a dozen new shots (including a couple of the herons recently posted). Since "LENSC" is sort of my home turf any more and since we get a lot more traffic than the other two nature centers where I've done exhibits, I'm hoping to generate some sales off this one and it will be some great exposure either way.

Anyways, I just wanted to share the news! The new camera should be here sometime this week and I'll get some pics up as soon as I can give it a good workout!

Peace,
Jim

[gldiana]

Congratulations on your new camera and the exhibit, Jim.
It's always nice to have a new toy, huh? I'm still waiting to hear official word from Canon about the new 5D. Considering that the current instant rebates end July 19th I think it will be then, or a little before, that we find out what's going on.

Did you frame all the photos for the exhibit?
My boss wants me to put my photos up in the shop where I work but I can't afford to frame all of them so now I have 6 (3 large, 3 small), plus one large that I sold last week. My first sale of a photo printed on my Canon Pixma9500.

[bob_r]

Jim,

Congrats on the new camera!! I've seen some pics taken at a night football game with the 40D cranked up to ISO 1600 and there was hardly any noise. I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised the way it handles low light.

I've often thought about upgrading to a FF sensor camera, but I don't want to give up that extra reach on the long end. I considered upgrading to the 40D too, but couldn't find enough enhancements to upgrade from the 30D. I'll probably get serious about the next release (50D?).

I'm looking forward to pics with the new camera, Jim.

Bob R

[hw771230]

Looking forard to seeing those pics Jim.

Caleb

[Walczak Photo]

Luca

Congratulations on your new camera and the exhibit, Jim.
It's always nice to have a new toy, huh? I'm still waiting to hear official word from Canon about the new 5D. Considering that the current instant rebates end July 19th I think it will be then, or a little before, that we find out what's going on.

I've heard rumors on other websites that the release for the 5D Mark II is supposed to be in September. Obviously it's a "rumor" and as such should be taken as being subjective, but this sounds like it could be true as this would put the new model right on the leading edge of the holiday shopping season and that would make a lot of sense.

Did you frame all the photos for the exhibit?
My boss wants me to put my photos up in the shop where I work but I can't afford to frame all of them so now I have 6 (3 large, 3 small), plus one large that I sold last week. My first sale of a photo printed on my Canon Pixma9500.

Congrats on your sale! I wish I could do my own printing here but for the kind of stuff I'm doing...it's just not practical right now.

That said, yep...all of my shots are framed. Now granted here, the bulk of my shots are 8x10's framed and matted in 11x14 frames so we're not talking HUGE prints here but what I lack in grandeur, I make up for in volume! LOL!!! Right now my currant collection of framed prints (including the newest 12) is some where around 60 8x10's with another 30-40 4x6's matted in 5x7 frames and a couple of 5x7's matted in 8x10 frames. I do have some plans to do some large, poster sized prints somewhere in the (possibly near) future but I just haven't gotten there yet.

I should also mention that I've been framing my shots such as the 8x10's over the last 2 years...it's not something that I sat down and did all at once. Also I pick up decent (usually solid oak) 11x14 frames for real cheap...usually only $2-$3 a frame and in most cases I usually cut my own mattes so it works out to around $1 a matte. -AND- the stuff I frame for these exhibitions is laser prints and not actual photos so I'm only paying around $.40 a print (and once they're behind glass you really can't tell the prints from the photos)...in other words, I'm usually paying less than $5 for a framed, finished piece of my photography which I then sell for $50 a piece . When you put all of this together, it allows me to be...shall we say, a little prolific, LOL!!!

My first exhibit at French Creek Nature Center last year had around 80 pieces of the various sizes on display. The exhibit I just took down at Wellington was only 34 pieces. The one going up in the morning....ummm...don't know yet. I have around a 100 pieces total but I don't think there's that much wall space at LENSC so for now I'm guessing around 40 pieces will go up. Depending on how tomorrow goes, I may talk to yet another nature center and see if I can get a second exhibit going...having 2 going at the same time would be awesome! LOL!!!




Bob...

Congrats on the new camera!! I've seen some pics taken at a night football game with the 40D cranked up to ISO 1600 and there was hardly any noise. I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised the way it handles low light.

I'm sure that compared with my Rebel, the low light sensitivity of the 40D is probably going to be incredible. I really don't have too much doubt of that. However I also know that the 5D, even at ISO 3200 is going to have better IQ than my Rebel does at ISO 100. On the other hand from every thing I've heard, the 40D has more accurate focusing than the 5D...and with my cheapo lenses at the moment, I'll gladly take that extra edge. Either way we'll see how it goes. I'm sure I'll be happy with the 40D.....for a while at least. After all, I was quite happy with my little Sony H1 for quite a while too (I'm gonna miss that little camera). We'll see which way the wind blows over the next few months and the next year and just go from there.

I considered upgrading to the 40D too, but couldn't find enough enhancements to upgrade from the 30D. I'll probably get serious about the next release (50D?).

I hear ya there my friend. While I was looking at the 40D and the 5D I kept running across some really sweet deals on the Rebel XTi and even the new XSi and like yourself, I really thought about it but there really just wasn't enough there to make it worth while. The 40D however is more of a step in the right direction. I think I could live with the loss of the 1.6x crop in favor of the advantages of full frame with the 5D but there it just simply came down to that whole money thing again. For now the 40D should serve me well I think and we'll find out for sure soon enough .

Peace,
Jim