Tag Archives: Canon SD800is

Photo-A-Day, Photography

New Toys, New Toys, Happy Dance

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New Sigma Flash
Photo-A-Day #1491

I have been agonizing over deciding upon some new photo gear. I’ve wanted an external flash for those indoor situations where you want to capture the action quick. So far I’ve just been able to capture photos by sitting far away with my zoom and ratcheting everything down to be really still and open up for lots of light. I wanted a Flash. I also wanted a new lens. I’d been reading about a lens from Sigma that had optical stabilization as well as a range from 18mm – 250mm. The more I read about it the more I knew I wanted it. So I bought it and I bought a Sigma Flash. I like Sigma Products with my Nikon D80. I own no Nikon Nikkor lenses. Strange really.

I also made sure that I got some filters for my new Lens because I don’t want to go getting my new glass scratched up. So way.

I think that the lens is going to make a perfect addition on our trip next week. I probably won’t take the flash, although we are going to Rainforest Cafe and it might be useful there. But Again I don’t want to go bothering people with my flash either. I might just be more discrete and use my Canon SD800is IS and my Xshot instead. Anyway, here are some comparison shots with the new lens. Click the images for larger sizes.

Zoomed Out Full Zoom
Zoomed Out Full Zoom

I just used the new lens not the flash. I’m awaiting some Energizer Lithium Batteries from Energizer. You did see the latest contest I have, right, the one in conjunction with the 2009 Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest which is sponsored by National Geographic and Energizer.

Here is a run down of the new equipment. I ordered the Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM IF Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras. I also wanted a hot shoe flash and I didn’t want to go too expensive so once again I went Sigma. I picked up the Sigma EF-530 DG ST i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash (Guide No. 174’/53 m at 105mm) for Nikon with i-TTL. And to protect my new lens I also got a couple of filters, the Opteka 72mm High Definition² Circular Polarizing + UV (0) Ultra Violet Haze Multi-Coated Glass Filter Kit.

If you are interested here are links to what I ordered.

Blogging, Travel

You Would Prosper in the Field of Medical Research

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You Would Prosper in the Field of Medical Research

You Would Prosper in the Field of Medical Research

there are a couple of ways I could interpret this. For one thing it could me being a test subject in Medical Research. I remember hearing about people volunteering to have their pinky toes surgically removed and then reattached by surgical students. The pay for that was around $5,000.00 So, you certainly could prosper if that was the case.

The other way to think about this would be as the person who researches in the Medical field. That is really hard and tedious work with many hours of trial and error. However with laser focus on a specific problem to solve. I know that when I focus my attention on a task I really get into it as long as I see some sort of results. Which really makes me once again question my interest in being a Theology major in college rather than a computer science major. As a theology major all you ever get are more questions, and conversely you see results from computer science.

Blog like a Medical Researcher

If you want to gain focus as a blogger you should blog like a Medical Researcher. Identify a problem and research, test and trial to find the solution. The solution to the problem might not be the the point. The testing and learning that is done is what will make you a better researcher. As a blogger there is just so much to learn and you can easily get pulled into 12,000,000 different directions the moment you sign on. I can’t even tell you how many times a day something pops up on twitter that makes me go off on a huge tangent.

I was just over there talking about using the CHDK, which is the Canon Hacks Development Kit. I’m not developing hacks but rather using is with my Canon SD 800is. I plan to use a very specific hack called the Ultra Intervalometer this weekend. It should be pretty awesome. Here is one 20 minute experiment with 1 minute intervals.

interval1

See, tangent. I’m saying you can’t have that happen when you are trying to be like a Medical Researcher blogger. You’ve got to pick a topic and learn as much as you can about it, test it, break it and then blog about it. When you’ve done your research you can blog with authority on a particular subject. When you have tested a specific scenario over and over you can see that problem from many different perspectives. If you can see an issue from many different perspectives you can blog about it with knowledge and understanding. If you can blog about subjects with Authority, Knowledge and Understanding then you surely will prosper.

Or you could just get your pinky toe cut off for a quick $5,000. However that might be an urban legend.