My new digital SLR, a Canon 40D, arrived on Friday, and after work I headed down to Maxwell State Park to take a few photos. My results were nothing special, and the bison weren’t cooperating, but I got enough good shots to get a feeling I’m really going to like this camera.
The 40D is a worthy upgrade from my original Canon Rebel XT (350D), which I’ve been using for the past two years. Not so much in the mega-pixel race, as it only goes from 8MP to 10MP, but for a whole host of new features, including improved focusing capabilities, bigger viewfinder, and probably the most interesting, and somewhat new on DSLRs, Liveview capabilities using the rear LCD panel.
The Liveview capability, coupled with the remote image capture feature (which works on my Mac!), make it much easier to take great macro photos. The focus may be adjusted using the remote control program, and the focus spot can be zoomed 10X, make it very easy to achieve a precise focus. Focusing on a large LCD monitor is obviously much easier than looking through either the viewfinder or the a 3″ screen on the camera!
The photos below are from Maxwell, up through the sunset, and then the rest were taken using my ad-hoc home studio setup with a 12cm macro tube extension on the camera and a white light lamp for illumination. The ability to accurately focus using the computer was nothing short of amazing!
The final image is a sort of special effect, infinite mirror type of image gained by careful positioning of the camera viewing the Liveview preview window.
And of course there’s a bunch more photos from both shoots over at Flickr.
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