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Why I prefer Canon digital cameras

When I bought my first serious camera (back then cameras used stuff called film), I had to make the big decision that all photographers must make with their first SLR (Single Lens Reflex – the king of camera that lets you change lenses) – Canon or Nikon.

You may say, "But what about Minolta, Pentax, Sigma, Hasselblad, etc." For the most part other brands are either too proprietary, over priced, behind in innovation or difficult to find accessories for. Canon and Nikon are the standards.

At the time I was shopping for my first SLR most pros shot with the Nikon F5, a camera that was built for surviving battle photography. Canon was always pushing the technology and feature envelope while Nikon was working on rugged design and dependability.

Proper care and feeding of batteries

I bought a new digital camera the day after Thanksgiving. Following Adam's First Law: Gadgets Yield More Gadgets, I have ordered a new vertical shooting grip and several batteries.

When the batteries arrived, I followed Adams 379th Law: Always Read the Instructions. I am thinking seriously about moving the 379th law up to at least 134 because I discovered some interesting information about rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries.

1. Li-Ion batteries run down faster when they are cold. If you are shooting in the cold, you should keep spare batteries in your pocket, close to your warm body.

Being stranded isn’t as bad as it used to be

Driving back from my first client this morning, the guy in the car next to me honked and pointed at the side of my car. Since I couldn't tell what he was talking about, I pulled over hoping that someone had taped a $100 bill to the side of my car. As it turned out, I had a flat tire.

I put the space-saver tire on my Civic and headed to the tire repair place. The wait was over an hour and a half, but I was able to get quite a bit of work done – including this post.

The tire place offers free WiFi so I was able to sit and work on Internet things. I also answered my calls and scheduled appointments for next week. I did have to postpone some appointments for today, but I was still able to get to everyone I had scheduled (at least that's the plan, I haven't left the tire place yet).

A word for our Dial-up readers (and our high speed Internet emailers)

Lately, I have helped many dial-up computer users get their email unclogged. It became clogged because their friends and family who have high speed Internet sent them messages that were way too big for email. Usually these messages contained either large digital photos or video jokes or messages that bring dial-up users email to screeching halt. 

DIAL-UP USERS:

  • You absolutely need to know how to check your email using your web browser (this tip explains how ).
  • When email stops coming in or you see messages repeating themselves, it is time to check your email as above and then delete any messages that are larger than 500 kilobytes (kb). This will allow your email to flow again into your email program
  • Inform the offending parties that send these overly large messages that your system can't handle the volume and to please remove you from their forward lists.

HIGH SPEED USERS:

We need a new Internet Appliance

i-openerAt one of the first, now defunct, Comdex computer shows that I attended in the late 90's, I attended a round table discussion on Internet Appliances. This was a huge buzz word at the time, but unfortunately it was ahead of its time. An Internet Appliance did only two things…browse the Internet and email. The picture I'm showing in this story was known as the Netpliance from a company called I-Opener. The idea was great, but at the time Internet connections were dial-up only and the Internet had not attained a true critical mass of users.

Digital Camera Burst or Continuous modes

Burst ModeIt's fun for me to share my limited knowledge with people to help them get just a little more out of technology. I had the opportunity today to help a basketball mom learn how to use the continuous mode (burst mode) with her new digital camera. One of the great complaints about digital cameras is their slow shutter response. Fortunately, most digital cameras have improved that feature. One feature that many digital cameras have that can help you get the perfect shot is the continuous shooting mode or burst mode. This mode allows you to hold down the shutter of your camera and have it take a rapid fire of photos. This is known as burst or continuous shooting and it allows you to take 2-3 pictures each second!

Gadgets yield more gadgets

I have helped several people buy new computers lately. I don't sell computers or any other hardware so I am more of a personal shopper than a salesman when it comes to guiding people through their purchase.

I think it's funny how gadgets always seem to yield more gadgets. Here is a short flowchart of how this process works.

1. A client calls and says that they need a new computer. They ask my advice on what they should get for just basic stuff like email and word processing. "I don't need anything fancy."

2. I suggest a basic system that will handle all of their needs and a little more.

I am a man, I have needs

This article is a repeat from the newsletter last week, but I thought I would post it all by itself for two reasons. First, I have had a lot of comments on it this week. Second, all these tech names will create more yahoo search terms and we will make a few cents from it. Here it goes…

I bought a new computer last week. The new system is dual core, 1 GB of RAM, 200 GB hard drive and DVD burner and card reader.

I remember the first two or three computers I purchased. I remember how exciting it was to

Great online product reviews

You can become an expert in almost anything in a very short time simply by doning a little research on the Internet. Before you buy a car, computer, digital camera, or even a home, you should do as much research as research as possible.

A few of the sites we use for finding product reviews onine are:

 

To research where to buy products and do comparison shopping, try these sites:

Unplugged and loving it!

When I talk about wanting to live in the 1800's, people are always surprised. A tech guy, an expert wanting to live in a time when the Pony Express was high tech? It's true I tell you. As much as I love technology, I also see how much time it can eat up as well. On our old fashioned road trip vacation, I took my laptop (used it twice for a total of about fifteen minutes), my GPS (used it once), my beloved Treo (used once, although I checked for signal multiple times), my MP3 player (never used it), and our portable DVD player (I watched one movie on it, but my son used it in the car while we drove).

I intended to use the computer more and submit Shotguns for our site, but wi-fi was extremely hard to find in the places we stayed and visited. And when I did find it, it was either for a fee or required me to hike to the hot spot…I didn't need it that bad. In fact, I actually enjoyed being "unplugged" for nearly 11 days and didn't miss Google, voice mail, SMS, email or any of it. I crave information and love the Internet for information gathering, but I also thoroughly enjoy exploring new places, meeting new people, and driving new roads (Northern Nevada is UGLY). I think that if I had the means, I would have no problem separating from technology and seeing the world in my Eurovan with my family. But since I don't have the means, I will continue to gather information on the web, SMS my friends, check email periodically, and continue to marvel at what technology continues to roll out every day.

Oh, one piece of technology that I did take and use extensively was my digital camera (Canon S2IS)…I took more than 900 photos of Oregon and Northern California…none of desolate northern Nevada.