Digital Photo Tips

Recently, I bought the Nikon flashgun SB600 and it uses four AA batteries. Top that with my Nikon micro lens and my Nikon D40 weighs 1.8 kilogrammes. That’s four pounds.

No wonder my wrist feels tired after a while. I suppose I can forget about owning even bigger cameras and longer lens because I do not have strength to carry them comfortably. When I take micro shots, I need total stability but when my wrists are tired, my hands become shaky.

Hmmm..time for me to buy those special tripods for micro shots, maybe?

Oh ya, don’t attempt to weigh your camera with a flimsy scale. You may drop that baby! The monster here costs me about RM7K and I was dead careful, holding on to the strap all the time. If I drop it, I will probably strangle self with the camera strap.

How heavy is your camera? Someone told me his D2 with lens is 3 kg? Got bluff or not?

After much hesitation and consideration, I finally got myself the Nikon SB-600 flashgun. A few people have suggested getting the SB-800 but I couldn’t part with my money because I think the price is twice the price of the SB-600.

As it is, I am already totally blur with the foreign terms and OMG, I took a quick browse through the manual and I read that I am supposed to calculate some formulas. Die! I am bad with things like these. Until now, I can’t figure out what is TTL in my flashgun. I only know that I am suppose to use that.

Moreover, I haven’t have much time to test them out yet. I am looking forward to attend some indoor event with dim lighting to play around with the flashgun.

One other thing is now my camera is damn heavy. The flashgun uses four batteries and with my kick-ass fat micro lens, I can feel the weight of the camera on my wrists.

I don’t think I am going to read the manual too much because the more I read, the more confused I am. I will most probably use my instinct and try through trial and errors.

I am probably still in Simpson land and cannot get the above phrase out of my mind. You have to watch the movie to get what I am talking about. But this is not about the Simpson movie or the idiom.

Last week, I carted cameras and lens worth about RM8K to the beach. Kids were running about, spraying and pour buckets of salty, super damaging sea water on each other. So, I was totally protective of the cameras.

Besides that, hubby bought some durians, which is this thorny fruits with sticky flesh. I wanted to take photos, take care of my cameras so that none pour bucket of water on them and also to eat durians. So, it was very stressful. Hence, the title.

Because of the cameras, I couldn’t go fishing unless I carry the backpack. Which is impossible because I need the flexibility to throw the fishing tackle. Blek, I do not know how to explain but one cannot have a backpack with cameras, lens and standing in the sea.

Camera one - Nikon DSLR D40 with some lens that cost more than the camera body. Pardon the blurry focus because I was sitting so cosily on the rock, I couldn’t focus well as the camera is on my lap. Between a rock and a soft butt.

Camera two - My son’s Nikon P4, 8.1 MP. Not a very good choice because of the horrijible lens shadow. But he likes some of the features not found in other models.

So, my conclusion is - Never bring expensive and fragile cameras and lens to the beach if you want to have a good time. It is too stressful. Like caught between a rock and a hard place.

Recently, I lost my K800i and bought a S500i. I had to buy a phone and S500i was launched on the day I went phone shopping. Moreover, it is such a pretty phone. Now, I regret the purchase because I cannot do much with it. I want a good camera and phone as I need to take pictures on the spot. It is foolish to carry a DSLR or even my two point and shoot cameras. They take up a big space in my handbag.

So, I am really looking forward to the launch of Sony Ericsson K850i because it will means I no longer have to bring an extra camera. If you are a food blogger, it is hard to go without cameras.

Here’s why I want the K850i :

5-megapixel power

The K850i Cyber-shot™ phone is a true digital still camera - down to the very last of its 5 megapixels.

Photo functions galore
Automatic lens cover. Auto focus for no-hassle sharpness, xenon flash for poor light conditions. In short, all the functions you need for perfect shots.

The last time I asked, the shopkeeper told me it will be launched in August, i.e. next month. I hope it is below RM1.8K so that it is within my budget.

My Konica-Minolta Dynax 5D was a very good camera. But my kid stuffed the CF card too hard into the slot and the pins in the camera were bended. We sent it to Sony who has taken over Konica-Minolta but they quoted RM1.2K just to replace the CF card slot. So, we forget about it and had to pay RM30 for the transport charges.

Now, I have the body with two lenses, an 18-70mm lens which is the kit lens and another original Minolta 70-300mm lens. The shop where I bought the lens from said they will take back the 70-300mm at a good price. So most probably, I am going to sell it back to them and maybe trade for some Nikon stuffs.

However, I still have a very good camera body with the kit lens. But no one wants to repair it for me. Haih….