"Daddy's Gear"

Several people have asked me about the camera and other gear...

You know they say "it's not the camera, it's the photographer", but I
truly credit the Canon 40D's clean shots, the 430EX flash and the
ultra-cheap EF 50mm prime portrait lens for the (supposed)
quality of the shots on the site...

CAMERAS

Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
Love (loove!) this camera. My fifth digital camera since 2000.
Very low noise even at ISO 1600. Very fast (up to 6.5 FPS).
Shoots JPG & (s)RAW at the same time for convenience.

The newer (updated) 15.1MP 50D gets mixed reviews.
Past 12 megapixels you need a full-frame pro camera,
like the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame
(Just came out. So, when the economy settles down...)

Canon SD800 IS 7.1MP. 3.8x Wide Angle IS Optical Zoom
Wide angle and image stabilization are awesome. Good
color too. About 5% of the pix on this site were taken with
this one. "Older" camera, still a best-seller on Amazon.
Always in my pocket. Newer SD 850 lacks wide angle.
SD880IS does, plus it has the Digic IV chip!

FLASH

Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash
Powerful. Easy to handle, works together great with
the 40D without significant adjustments. A little heavy.
Plenty fast. Long battery-life. Would recommend getting
the newer 430EX II (even faster recycling time).
Plan to upgrade to the 580EX II soon (slave function)

Tip: Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce Diffuser
Best $10 you'll ever spend if you take many in-house pix.
Gives even coverage across the entire frame. Works!

LENSES

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
Cheapest lens you might possibly find, $90 or so, but very
light and with a great DOF (and 'bokeh'), a must-have for
Canon DSLR owners. 90% of all pictures on this site taken
with this lens. Non-zoom. Non-USM. Non-IS. Still great.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Lens
Another cheap lens. Nice wide-angle, even with the 1.6x
factor of a (non-full-frame) 40D so 18mm really is 29mm.
Not very light-strong, but image-stabilized. Just 'stop it down'
by two stops to get nice sharp images. I always use flash or
shoot in RAW for added 'flexibility', so very happy for the $$.

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens
Came with my 40D kit. Great lens, but kindaheavy. Useful
on trips, less for in-house photography. Image stabilization
allows low-light shots, but stop down for best results.

Tip: Nikon 7072 Lens Pen Cleaning System
Like the Sto-Fen tip above, this is a must-have. A small
pen-style lens cleaning tool (brush & microfiber pad) to
removes fingerprints, dust, and debris without scratches.

VIDEO*

Video is great. The movement, sound and interaction capture
the moment better than a photograph, but video usually
requires more editing & manipulation after the fact, so isn't
as easy to share. DSLRs don't capture video (or lack audio).

The SD-800 point-and-shoot works OK when there's enough
light, but audio is bad and Quicktime (non MP4) large.

After reading many raving reviews on Amazon I got a
Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Orange)
and I've never been happier w. video. Super-simple
interface (even the baby can operate it), good audio
(filmer and filmee), works OK in low-light conditions
and the included software make it silly simple to trim,
email, save, or upload the videos too. Mommy loves it.
Always in the diaper bag, so we rarely miss a moment.

The newer Flip Mino model has an internal battery
so is a little smaller, the Ultra runs on normal AA
batteries so we're never stuck with an empty battery.
Check out the new MinoHD for HD quality video (720p).

(*access to videos on this site limited to direct family).