I'm a father, husband, marathoner, half marathoner and regular runner guy hoping to promote a healthy balanced lifestyle especially in the African-American community.
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Okay so now that you have your fancy -fresh new DLSR now you have to start thinking about what is going to really make your pictures stand apart from someone else. I was in that position myself. Here's a list of items that I have purchased to get me going. I used Amazon.com to keep my costs down. For example: If I were to buy the Garry Fong diffuser at a local store, I'd pay about 20 bucks. On amazon I'd pay about 10 dollars less with shipping. So, here's my list:
Opteka LP-E8 2000mAh Ultra High Capacity Li-ion Battery Pack for Canon Digital Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera (Electronics)
I really don't see any huge difference between this battery and the more expensive canon battery that came with my Canon T3i (600D). If you are using this battery as a backup then you'll love it. Basically it gives me enough time to charge the Canon battery. At some point i figure I'll invest in a battery grip. For now, this is good for me.
from the moment I took this thing out of the box it worked like a charm. All I had to do was turn my flash on--- press that little button on top and the flash would fire. It is a little puzzling to me because there is no where to put batteries on the Speedlight trigger. I worry only because I fear that one day it'll just die on me and i won't have any backup. but for now it works great. I'm learning to embrace flash photography & with this little guy added to the wireless receiver i have, I hope to have a lot of fun. Now I just need a couple of more flashes.
Op/Tech 18" SLR Rainsleeve for Digital & Film Cameras with Lenses up to 7" Diameter, 18" Long (Electronics)
I love taking pictures of weather, the outdoors etc. But I don't like that my camera is not rain/weather resistant. maybe one day I'll upgrade to the 1dx, but for now I'm protecting my investment. This is Rain sleeve is a good way to protect your investment. When i saw it online I imagined that the rain sleeve was going to be smaller more form fitting, but the rain sleeve is huge IMHO... but not in a bad way. There's plenty of room if you have one of those super-telephoto lenses. It's kind of awkward if you only have a 50mm... but the drawstring on the end of the rain sleeve does the job. It keeps everything sealed in and dry. I've used it once so far. When I was searching for weather protection I was looking at some of the other rain sleeves that allow you to put both hands on the camera and have an area for you to lock in your tripod. Again IMHO, ... that's not all needed for the average street photographer. I just stuck my hand up the sleeve got a real good grip on my camera and was very comfortable walking around trusting that my camera was dry.
On the other hand because the rain sleeve is so big, I can't imagine having any problems using a tripod with this product. i also can't see spending much more on protection for a camera unless you are going deep sea diving.
Gary Fong Puffer Pop Up Flash Diffuser (Electronics)
Let Me just explain why I bought this diffuser. I recently bought a Canon 600D (T3i.) I was hoping to be able to use a flash that I had been using with an older model SLR canon (yes an old 35mm film camera). I soon found out that hooking it up to my new camera would make the flash work, it wasn't necessarily any better than the pop-up flash that came with the camera. This is a much better option... One tip for you newby photographers out there. If you hate the pre-flash tests that the camera goes through before taking the picture, use the * button to lock in that flash exposure for the next picture and for pictures to come. You'll be able to take more pictures consecutively. The Gary Fong puffer diffuser gets rid of all that nasty-ness that using a flash creates in low light situations and makes using it as a fill-light a dream. By the way I'm one of those photographers that will do all he can to try and take a picture using the light that is available before leaning on a flash for help... unless it's a studio photoshoot. This makes it easier for me to lean on a flash.
The QY11s are an attempt to upgrade the QY8s that I bought
and reviewed last year. When I reviewed them, I noted that the QY8s needed to change for them to
compete with the QY7s including more support to keep them from bouncing. Now, it’s 2016
and these are the QY11s. They have ear hooks – like the Apple’s Powerbeats headphones but with better sound quality and battery life. The QY8s did not control the
volume on your phone. So, if you turn up your volume on your headset… you’ll
get very little response if your phone volume is low. On the other hand… if
your volume is all the way up it would blow your ear drums out. The QY11s are the same. Here’s a tip: If you
want more bass, turn your cell phone volume all the way up. Then turn the headphones down a little before
playing. That’ll give you the best range. In many cases I like this option. The QY8s have amazing bass. For some reason, I
feel like it’s only gotten better over the past year of listening. The Qy11s
have a much f…
This is my first experience with and my first review of a Nikon Camera. I used to be, but I'm not longer the type of photographer that tries to argue about which brand is better(Canon, Nikon, Sony, Leica, ... etc.) I don't think this is like the Nintendo/Sega video game console wars of the 80s and 90s. If I had the money and time, there's no telling what brand of camera I'd own. There are a lot of factors for photographers - both professional and casual - to take into account. Style, ease of use, compatibility (with other lenses), low light performance, megapixels and recommendations from bloggers, friends and photographers that they admire. Your choice of camera is a very personal one.. and it is sometimes a permanent one. Often times a camera will even outlive it's owner. As you know from some of my previous posts, my dad's camera did outlive my father.. but only by a few years. But, I have been able to fix and use several other older cameras. T…
The Publix Atlanta Marathon was one of the most amazing running experiences of my life and it had nothing to do with my finishing time. For me it all started over coffee back in November. We had heard about this Atlanta based group called Team Take Down Publix. The idea is to have the most African-American marathoners finish a race...EVER! More than 400 light, dark and milk chocolate runners.
Publix is the only marathon in Atlanta and it has a reputation as one of the hardest and hilliest courses in the south. So, why would I want to run it? Simple: peer pressure. Back to that coffee in November. After a Sunday morning group run at Buffalo road park and on the Neuse river trail,... we all met for coffee. Suddenly, there's a dozen people who say they'll run the hardest race in the south, there's a Facebook instant message group and a t-shirt design for CRuSH -- Carolina RunSquad Heroes. At least one person blames me for starting all of this but it's not my …
