Canon Foder

The story goes, “Wanna make God laugh? Tell him your plans.”

And God has been having a ball with my plans this year but grit and determination and a burning desire to talk you into getting a decent camera have brought me back to where we left off in the last thrilling episode.

Now I've covered Nikon and you can't really go wrong with a Nikon so long as you don't believe that will make you into a photographer. If you ain't already you ain't going to get there with a Nikon.

So let's move right along.

There are bound to be some of you still grousing about my twelve is enough theory.

Sony's brand new, full-frame Alpha 7S II thirty-five hundred dollar mirror-less wunderkind is a twelve point two camera. This is right out of the box, all the bells and whistles and even a horn or two and if that doesn't convince you you are ignoring the millions of dollars Sony spends in product research which made them think they could bring out a 12.2 megapixel camera and it would sell in the same market with Canon's 50 megapixel and Nikon's 36 megapixel 747 sized cameras and that is a strong vote of confidence for the 12 megapixel camera!

So let's cross mega megapixel cameras off our list and move on to the above mentioned Canon.

Now there is plenty of evidence that Canon makes the world's best cameras in spite of Nikon's vaunted reputation. Art Wolfe of PBS uses a Canon system, Kelle Herrick and Susan Dimmock our local bird-women exceptional both use Canon cameras and you might just want to too, if that isn't too many tos to leave you to confused about which to is the right to to make the case for Canon.

So what can we look for in a Canon which won';t make the guys at the bank start drooling and dialing the Mercedes dealership?

The Canon Xsi is a twelve megapixel camera and is a lot of image box for the money. KEH has one for $133 dollars. It will be a bit worn and not something you can take to the Oregon Coast Photographer's Assn and impress the gadget guys.

Adorama has T3 for $174 and it is only a three or four generation old camera. They were still selling them retail last Christmas.

B&H has an XSI for 169.95 in very good condition and if you are looking for a turn key deal, they have a fantastic T1i for 299.99 with an 18-55 lens.

Now all of these will put you in the picture business, with the T1i doing it as soon as you get the package. The others will need a lens.

Now when it comes to buying your first lens there is good news and better news. Canon is immensely popular here on the coast You can even find some lenses on Craigslist but you have to be careful, some people think their old stuff is made form moon rocks and charge accordingly.

The nice folks at World Pawn Exchange in North Bend have some Canon equipment so if you have done your homework you can find an item or two there.

You don't know what to buy?

First don't buy an 15-55mm lens, yes, I did say that the T1i at B&H has one and it is a good buy and it is, but if you've found the body you want and it doesn't have a lens don't buy that one.

Why not? Well, they make this lens because it approximates the view your eye normally sees which is fine for driving and folding clothes and yanking the remote form the thing on the sofa but it is very limiting for taking pictures. I find that it is either too short, or too wide and it never really fits.

Okay, let me admit that I have never had much use for wide-angle lenses. I've heard all of the arguments and know all of the reasons and I just don't get it. You can't catch a bird out on a rock in the harbor and you can't screen out the crowd at an event and I never found anything I could use a wide angle lens for, except a [paper weight. But that won't mean that you might not fall in love and never want anything else. Give me a Sigma Bigma any day!

But let's assume that you aren't me and aren't you lucky not to be so that you don't have to deal with this every day and sneak up on your mirror to brush your teeth and listen to your arteries harden and wake up with a hangover when you haven't had anything stronger than water and still your head is fogged in until you cling to the tea pot sucking down rich red tea until at last you can do complex tasks like operating a light switch or a flush toilet.

For most people a mid-range telephoto like a 55-200 will be the ticket. If you have a coupla bucks extra cause you won the 1.5 billion dollar Powerball and you can spend like a sailor on leave, first give me some and then spring for the 55-300. If you did win that Powerball buy a weather sealed lens, cause in case you haven't herd it rains in Oregon.

My second lens was a moderate telephoto, 28-80mm so that might do you too.

I switch depending on what I am going after, little guy for people and interiors and the long reach for crowds and events when I might not be able to get close enough to smell'em. If you are like me and a lot closer to David Bowie's age than you are to Miley Cyrus and you love sports and like to shoot them but don't want to actually try to keep up with the young and restless, then the log guy comes in very handy for getting out there with'em but not having to run the length of the field to do it. (I meant David Bowie's age when he was still alive cause if I were his age right now I would be dead and you would be surprised at how much being dead limits you photo opportunities.)

B&H has that 55-250mm for $129 and it is a grade 9 which is better than my body at it's current stage so that is a pretty good deal.

Adorama has the same lens for $134 grade D which is the same as above so there's five bucks difference.

So let's review, camera without a lens $133-174, with lens $299.95, lens $129-134 and when you put it all together you can be a Canon shooter for under three hundred dollars. This is pretty cheap to have the flexibility of a SLR and the power of interchangeable lenses.

They shoot video too, so if you have a hidden Fellini in your soul you can be ceneJedi in the same move.

There is no excuse for paying three hundred dollars for a point and shoot camera when with just a tad more effort you can have a DSLR and be able to capture any photographic opportunity which comes along.

Now get on your computers and start shopping!