This is my standard kit lens, EF-S 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS USM. A pretty versatile lens, I would say, albeit a little slow but with my Canon Speedlite 580 EXII, it’s not much of a problem.

However, just when I needed it the most for my up-coming “project”, it has to fail on me by giving me this error message. No matter how I clean the contacts, the same error message popped up.

I defintiely have to send it back to Canon Service Center and get it fixed as soon as possible. Still, I doubt they are able to fix it for me before my “project” on October 18 and the Hari Raya public holidays aren’t helping either.

Sighs.

All these crucial “events” have to happen now. F**ked.

Note : The lens fixed in less than five working days! Ha! All is good now.

As most photography freaks would know, getting yourself a dSLR (In my case, it’s a Canon EOS 40D.) is only the beginning of more splurging.

After six months, I finally saved enough to get myself the Canon Speedlite 580 EX II. Yes, the flash gun that could fire up to 13m, according to the technical specification.

It adds extra (a lot of) weight to my already heavy camera but with a flash gun attached, night shots would be much easier. It’s going to take some time to learn how to use it effectively though.

Chong, does my camera still looked small? LOL. Honestly, I still feel it’s small but the weight, is quite a bit.

Three test shot of my Chevrolet 2008 Concept Camaro cum Bumblebee.

Robin introduced to me the Hoya close up filter +4 some time back and I was tempted to get one. With my kit lens minimum focusing distance fixed at 45cm, a close up filter could really close the gap and allow me to focus even closer than before. As I don’t have the budget for a macro lens, a close up filter would be good for the mean time. However, I noticed the sharpness and picture quality have dropped a little. For RM84, I am not complaining.

Focused at 85mm (136mm on full frame) without close up filter.

Focused at 85mm (136mm on full frame) with close up filter.

That aside, again, million thanks to Bryan for allowing me to defer his debt payment and buy my flash gun first.

Yes, that is about it for my camera gadgets, for now. I want to travel, really.

As mentioned before in my “Random Stuffs” post, I have finally got the project kicked off.

I always do my research and ponder the pros and cons before I set my eyes on a gadget and go all out for it. Regardless of the price, if I want it, I shall get it, just like my RM285 Logitech VX Revolution Laser Mouse, RM1600 Nokia N70 mobile phone, RM2480 Panasonic Lumic DMC-FZ30 digital camera and my RM4000 HP Pavilion dv2201tx Notebook. I never hesitate or being doubtful over my choice because I know that’s what I wanted.

However, for this particular project, not only I brought forward my plans due to peer pressure (No thanks to Ah Yong.), I hesitated for many days and even weeks. Even up till the night before, I was doubtful about my choice and whether was it wise to buy it.

Well, I decided to just close my eyes and plunge myself into it. I made the jump and gotten myself sucked into a never ending spending spree. I bought this.

Credits go to Sean for loaning me his Sony CyberShot to take this picture.

Yes.

Canon EOS 40D with EF-S 17-85mm F/4-5.6 IS USM kit lens.

In fact, I didn’t only get those, I got more accessories to go along with it.

Credits go to Sean for loaning me his Sony CyberShot to take this picture.

1) Battery grip BG-E2N for Canon EOS 40D
2) EF 50mm F/1.8 II Prime Lens.
3) BP-511A Battery
4) SteinZeiser Camera Bag
5) Hoya HMC 67mm UV Filter
6) 2GB SanDisk Ultra II
7) Heavy Duty Tripod

Why Canon?

Simple, because it’s Canon. First of all, the brand name Canon has been around for quite some time and the reputation has spoken for itself. Also, having used a few Canon digital cameras previously, my dad’s Ixus, the office’s PowerShot G2 and G3, I was and am happy with the pictures that Canon digital cameras produced. Not only that, my working environment, where most of the media photographers are seen using a Canon, particularly the Canon EOS 1D Mark II and / or Canon EOS 20D / 30D and many L lenses, it gives me the confidence in Canon. Oh, I also like the orange-y colour and feel in my pictures.

Why Canon EOS 40D?

It was a very tough decision between my initial ideal dSLR, the Canon EOS 400D and Canon EOS 40D. Budget was the biggest factor and the question of “Do I need the semi-professional camera?” kept popping into my mind. I certainly love the weight, LiveView, extra and more powerful features and the unique shutter sound of the Canon EOS 40D compared to the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Again, budget was a factor.

With much persuasion by Ah Yong and the guy at the camera shop, I decided to spend that extra money to get the better one, hoping that it will cap the upgrade possibility in any near or far future. Getting the Canon EOS 40D is basically the furtherest I would go and the most money I would spend for photography, not more than that. It should be my second and last digital camera for the rest of my life because the next upgrade to Canon E0S 40D are the Canon EOS 5D series (RM8K) or the Canon EOS 1D (RM16K). which are totally out of my league.

Buy first, think later.

I hope that answered most people’s question.

Now, that I have bought a semi professional level camera, I need to get slightly and more serious with photography. The learning curve is going to be very steep from here on and I am really glad that I have a geek sifu Yee Hou who is more than willing to answer my stupid questions and give a pointer or two, provided he is free, of course.

Also, I am starting to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop, so that I can make use of the RAW function of my camera. I shall refrain myself from editing the pictures but to present what I have snapped at that particular moment. I tried to pick up Photoshop sometime ago but I gave up as it was just not my thing. This is my forth time picking up, again.

Well, I am going to do some adjustment to the picture size used in my blog. Previously, most of my pictures are set at a standard 320 * 240 resolution for faster loading time and a neater and uniformed look. Do I sound like a perfectionist? Heh!

However, due to the difference ratio between the old camera (4:3) and new (3:2), the pictures used from this post onwards would larger (420 * 280 resolution), with an average of 60Kb in file size and about one to two seconds longer loading time, depending on your connection. This is to take advantage of the clearer resolution and details captured by my camera.

Also, I am introducing my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonmumbles/ where I would upload random photos I took with my camera. Well, the thoughts of starting another blog for my photos are still lingering in my head. We shall see.

Last but not least, there are a few people that I need to thank, because without them, this won’t be happening in the first place.

1) Aprilcherrie for the referral.
2) Bryan for the cash advancement.
3) Yee Hou for clearing my doubts on many issues related to dSLR.
4) My mum for loaning me RM1,000, on the very last minute. The catch? 2% interest.
5) Ah Kit for letting me swiping his credit card, or else, I would be carrying really a lot of cash and walking around KL.
6) No thanks, but still thanks to Ah Yong for brainwashing me to getting this instead of the Canon EOS 400D and the peer pressure.

I got my camera from,

Jean / Mr. Lee
Billion Photo Sdn. Bhd.
G9, Ground Floor,
KL. Plaza,
Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100, Kuala Lumpur.

03-21428970 or 03-21428971

I know what you are going to ask, the price, right? I shall not disclose as my parents are reading my blog its terrifying. LOL.

Well, that’s the story for my Canon EOS 40D.

P/S : To help protect your business, surveillance camera systems can help you a lot. There are a lot of different types of surveillance cameras available to choose from based on how complicated you want the camera to be. For awesome prices on a surveillance camera, check online.