It's arrived!
Ordered on Monday night, arrived on Wednesday, excellent!
The box sat next to my desk for all of 1/2 hour before curiosity got the better of me. After being egged on by Mike M I cracked open the box and had a looksy. I took a couple of photos with my iPhone, for the sake of history, of course.
At this point I put the battery into its neat little charger and went about my day, the book said 3(ish) hours to charge and who am I to argue.
At this point I should probably mention the manual, I was actually pretty impressed at how easy it is to follow. My experience with user manuals for technical kit is usually one of frustration and little understanding. The guide in the box, had lots of nice diagrams and walked me through fitting the battery, inserting a memory card and attaching the kit lens (18-55mm f3.5/5.6) very easily. It even helped me attach the strap, a most cumbersome exercise.
The view finder, and LCD viewer is completely surrounded by icons and readouts and thingamy-jits. I have not the slightest idea what most of them do, I guess that will come later.
After flicking around the menus and switching everything to auto (flash off) I figured it was time to take my first photograph. Despite the excellent advice from my Facebook pals, I declined the somewhat disturbing offers from Dave and Craig and opted for something which I could upload into this journal without having the police knocking on my door.
I had plans to meet up an old friend in the evening, so despite a temptation to just run home and play, I instead headed for the pub; a decision it turns out, that left me suffering disgracefully today. The second picture below was taken at the start of the evening, what happened later is not for discussion in this Journal.
I had plans to meet up an old friend in the evening, so despite a temptation to just run home and play, I instead headed for the pub; a decision it turns out, that left me suffering disgracefully today. The second picture below was taken at the start of the evening, what happened later is not for discussion in this Journal.
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| Taken with A65 - Full Auto |
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| Taken with A65 - Full Auto |
Currently all the settings are factory and the output from the camera is JPG. At some point I will grab a copy of Adobe Lightroom and start outputting everything in RAW format... I just need to figure out what the hell that means first! :)
Oh and on the advice of Enrico (you'll be hearing that a lot on here over the next few months) I have also created a Flickr account to host all my pics that currently still stink.
So next steps... I am almost embarrassed to admit that I have brought a copy of the "Dummies guide" for my camera and am reading that at breakneck speed. Enrico has also lent me a couple of books on general techniques, which I will cover in a future entry. This weekend, is somewhat weather dependant. If it is nice then I will be getting out and about with the camera, taking lots and lots of pics that stink, I expect.
Oh and on the advice of Enrico (you'll be hearing that a lot on here over the next few months) I have also created a Flickr account to host all my pics that currently still stink.
So next steps... I am almost embarrassed to admit that I have brought a copy of the "Dummies guide" for my camera and am reading that at breakneck speed. Enrico has also lent me a couple of books on general techniques, which I will cover in a future entry. This weekend, is somewhat weather dependant. If it is nice then I will be getting out and about with the camera, taking lots and lots of pics that stink, I expect.
Phil, I completely understand your excitement. I've added you as a friend on Flickr so you can check my pics too. The nice thing about Flickr is you can look at the EXIF data (a record of all the camera settings for that picture) for each shot, which is very useful when you understand the basics of aperture, shutter speed, ISO and focal length.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you planning your weekend shoot (weather permitting)?
Cool, I have added you back! I was browsing through the EXIF data earlier, I had no idea that so much information is stored in image files! I really do have a lot to learn. :)
ReplyDeleteI will probably keep things reasonably simple this weekend, Battersea Park, the power station and the newly reopened Albert Bridge are all within walking distance for me. The Albert bridge lights up very nicely, so if it is dry I will head down there at dusk and see what I can produce. :)
Forecast looks pretty damp so outdoor shooting might be a bit of a challenge. I went through the new concourse area at Kings Cross ( not St Pancreas) today and the roof is spectacular and definatetly worth a visit with a camera. Might be up for a few shots there mid afternoon Sat if you are interested. I have a little tripod you can borrow if needed
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