Putting Canon's kids through college

Well, I finally did it. Today I got a package from UPS. Inside was the remainder of my massive camera purchase. A week ago I went out and got a Canon EOS 30D with the stock (as in non-IS) 18-55mm lens kit. Now, in my infinite wisdom, I didn’t read the writing on the box. I took it home. As in just the box. The problem? The box did not contain the required CF card that you need to turn the 30D into a camera rather than a stupid-expensive limited-range telescope 😀

What was needed was a trip to a reputable camera store on the web. So I went a little overboard. Today the box containing three 2 GB CF cards, a circular polarizer filter, a neutral density filter, another battery, and some cleaning stuff arrived. Not so bad on the surface, but then you have to consider my desire for a good telephoto lens, which manifested itself in the form of a EF 70-300mm f/4.5-6 IS USM lens. Ah, the joys of image stabilization.

Knowing all of this stuff was on the way, and having attempted to get through the instruction manual, I went and bought a book on the EOS 30D, and another on digital photography techniques for SLRs. The first is a godsend for a layman trying to get smart enough to fully utilize something like this. The second book, The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby, is highly recommended for anyone who wants to get serious shots out of their SLR. Kelby explains stuff using plain English, not technospeak, and even I can get great results using his techniques.

So, now that I’m banned from shopping for a while, it’s time to start shooting!