We tried going back to agility practice Tuesday night.  Elissa was very good--she napped in her stroller almost the entire time. Rosie and GG remember their agility very well, after 6 weeks off.

Helping set bars.  Training for later in life.

Mosquito netting to keep the bugs out:

Andi was sore afterwards, but able to run the course just fine.

Here is Part 2 of Basic Digital SLR, where I look at choice of brand and body.

• Part 1 -- Style: Compact digicam vs DSLR
• Brand and body choices
• Lens options, and why I picked what I own
  • Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
  • Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
  • Tamron 75-300mm  f/4-5.6 LD
  • others I'm interested in
• Shooting pics
• Development workflow
• High Dynamic Range imaging, or what to do when it's very bright and dark in one image.

Brand:  The big players for the pro-sumer DSLR market are really Canon and Nikon. Other choices are Pentax, Olympus, Sony and Fujifilm. This choice was easy. I've got 5 co-workers with Canon DSLR's, various models.  They like 'em. They can help me with the ins and outs of Canon, and we can sometimes share lenses and accessories (thanks Kevin!). If you don't have a brand loyalty, go for whichever brand offers a model with the features you want.

Body/Model: In a DSLR, you usually purchase the body and then lenses to go with it.  You can also get a "kit" lens, or a body and lens together as a package.  Usually the kit lenses aren't that great.  Once exception is the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.  More on that later.

Canon offers a wide line of DSLR's in their EOS line, from the entry level EOS 300D, through the 30D, 5D, and up to the awesome pro 1Ds mk II.  What are the differences?  Too many to list here.  I settled on the EOS 400D, also called the Rebel XTi.  Why?  Better features than the 250D and 300D, for very nearly the same price.  The next step up to a 20D or 30D was too expensive, and I didn't really need the features of those models.

What do I like about the EOS 400D/Rebel XTi?

• Size -- It's a bit smaller and the lightest EOS model.  Makes it not so bad when carrying around.
• Continuous shooting -- it can take 3 shots/sec for 27 JPEG or 10 RAW images.
• Dust-removal system and anti-dust materials in the body.
• LCD displays camera settings, and turns off automatically when you hold it up to take a pic
• 10 megapixel image. That had better be enough pixels.
• Histogram display on the LCD after shooting helps you adjust your exposure.

What don't I like about it?

• Size -- (heh).  The grip size is a bit small for my hands, so my hand cramps when holding the camera for extended periods.  Being a lighter body, larger lenses tend to overbalance it.
• Auto white-balance under incandescent light is poor.  I'm always adjusting indoor shots by hand. See workflow discussion, later.
• The optical viewfinder seems a bit small. I like the one on Kevin's (30D?) better.

Would I get it again?  Sure...it makes shots like this worth it:

Next article: Lenses!

Persephone, one of our friends' dogs died today. Our thoughts and condolences to them.  She was a big sweetie.

Persephone, at their wedding [Sept 2004]

The dogs had something cornered near this fence this morning.  I thought they were barking at the dog next door throught the fence.  Then I saw something move. Thought it was a rat, or a bunny.  Put on my shoes and got closer...snake!  They had a largish snake at bay against the fence.  Rosie and GG weren't getting too close to it (it was flipping its tail).

I chased them off, and got a good look at it. OK--round pupils, no pits. Not a cottonmouth.  He was still kinda agressive, striking at a stick I moved near him.  I put the dogs in the house, and went back out the find it.  He retreated underneath the sailboat, and I couldn't find him after 10 minutes of poking about.  Did find a wasp nest, and a large anole.

So I brought Rosie out and asked her to Find It! And she did--she went right to where he was (poor GG was still lookin by the fence by where she saw it last). Rosie stood off a bit, and grumbled at me, and pointed at where the snake was.  I didn't believe her because I couldn't see it.  She grumbled louder, pointed harder.  Ahhh, there it is.  She was very good, and didn't get close to it.

I told Rosie to leave it (she did), and then I chased the snake around a bit.  Darn, where'd it go.  Andi says---hey, it's over here in the lawn.  Wow, how'd it get over there that fast? Aha, got it.  Pinned it with a walking stick.  Check again...yep, not a cottonmouth. 

Ok, picked it up by the back of the head. Wow, thanks for showing me your mouth (it's gaping its mouth at me).  No fangs.  Stinky, though.  Held it long enough to have Andi get a pic:

Snake, originally uploaded by TimScott.

It's a Nerodia erythrogaster (plain-bellied water snake). I let it go near the ditch behind our house, so it can go on eating toads.

This is part I of a multi-part article on digital SLR photography.  There are many resources out there on the web...but here are my thoughts.  I'll be looking at:

• Style: Compact digicam vs DSLR
• Brand and body choices
• Lens options, and why I picked what I own
  • Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
  • Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
  • Tamron 75-300mm  f/4-5.6 LD
  • others I'm interested in
• Shooting pics
• Development workflow
• High Dynamic Range imaging, or what to do when it's very bright and dark in one image.

So first, there's the choice of compact digicam vs a DSLR.  I've got a compact camera, it's great. My little SD400 fits in a pocket and takes great shots.  If that's all you want out of a camera, stop now. Find a small digital camera like the SD400 and buy it. Our went to London with us, and I would take it again.  I don't want to lug a large DSLR around the UK...we had enough with lugging our bags through the underground.

Uh, so what's a DSLR?  A digital single lens reflex is like your dad's 35 mm film camera, with an image sensor instead of film.  You can put any different lenses on the front.  The camera body itself just has the sensor, electronics, viewfinder, and battery.  When you look through the viewfinder, you're seeing the scene exactly through the lens, as the imaging sensor is going to see it.

So why a DSLR? Easy--two things: Image quality and control.

A compact camera has a small lens, which means less light gets to the sensor.  So pics in darker settings will be blurry, or require a flash.  With a DSLR you can use a lens with a small f-stop (lets in more light).

This is at the core of a compact digital camera (1/2" across):

Telephoto, originally uploaded by jurvetson.

The zoom range of a compact camera is also limited.  And if you want to zoom in (or out) more than the built-in lens allows, you are out of luck.  Sure, sometimes you can screw on those add-on lenses, but they aren't usually worth it.

Control--that means you can set nearly all aspects of image acquisition.

You can set shutter speed from seconds (minutes, even) to 1/4000 of a second.  Faster shutter speeds help to freeze action.

You can set the aperture--that's how much light the lens lets in. Large apertures allow for quicker shutter speeds.  They also tend to have a very shallow depth of field. Smaller apertures let more be in focus, but require more light.

ISO is another thing you can adjust. Just like old fasioned film has different sensitivities, so can a DSL sensor.  High ISO film (like 400 and 800 on up) have larger grains.  They can image with less light, but at the cost of a grainier image.  Lower ISO film, such as 100 and 200, work better in bright light.  They give you a nice clean image.  DSLR ISO is very similar.  The natural grain of film is replaced by the not-quite-as-nice look of multi-color noise.  Different cameras handle this differently, but it can still look ok.

The balance of those three options, shutter speed, aperture, and film ISO are in tension with each other.  Move one, and you have to adjust the other.  That's why many DSLRs offer priority modes.  So if you are shooting in aperture priority mode the camera will adjust shutter speed to get the shot at the aperture you set.  The converse is true for shutter priority.  Of course you can put it on full auto and shoot away, but then you're missing most of the fun and creativity of a DSLR.

Of course those three options are also going to interact with our choice of lens, but we'll get to that in part 3.

Stay tuned for Part 2 -- Choice of brand and body.

Canon Rebel XTi photo by

Baby dove, originally uploaded by TimScott.

I got a new camera lens in today, a Tamron 75-300mm F/4-5.6.  Got a very good deal on eBay.  The picture quality isn't as good as a Canon EF-S, or even Canon L-grade lens...but it is 10% of the price.  That's all I need right now.

That little dove has been hanging around the front planter.  Hope a cat doesn't find it.

We actually got to go out tonight--we went to a friends' graduation party.  Elissa was very well behaved.  She spent most of her time being passed around and cuddled.

The best burger I've ever had is the Grilled California Avocado B-L-T Burgers with Caramelized Chipotle Onions.  Don't let the "California" scare you, it's really a good burger.  It won Grand Prize in a 2004 Best Burger contest.  Get the recipe at foodnetwork.com.

One shortcut that helps is to use this garlic cheese spread.  Especially good if your burger eaters don't care for blue cheese.

The carmelized chipotle onions really make this burger--they're worth the effort.

Andi likes this burger too.  Someday maybe Elissa will as well.

So, a while back I had the idea to combine inkjet printer technology with the latest in bathroom tissue dispensers.  Your TP could come out with witty saying, the latest headlines, or whatever you want.

Luckily (?), I'm not the only one thinking this way.  Check out this conceptual product:

Many of the baby books and other resources have lists of ways to calm your crying baby.  Things like:

1. Try feeding her
2. Change her diaper
3. Hold or rock her
4. Walk around with her
5. She's too cold or too warm
6. Something is causing her pain--find it
7. Burp her
8. Overstimulation -- go somewhere quiet
9. Boredom -- she wants something different
10. Play some white noise, water running, etc.

A useful list.  But what they don't tell you is that the list repeats!  You could work your way to the bottom of the list, and she's still crying 20 minutes later.  Great!  Now start from the top again. 

So the list should end as:

11. Goto 1.

Allrighty, I've resurrected the blog.  We'll see how long it lasts.  Hopefully I'll be more inclined to post stuff about Elissa!

Pics will be at Flickr, available to "Friends and Family" only.  Let me know what your Flickr login is and I'll add you as a contact, and you'll be able to see family pictures.

Still tweaking the theme...got some weird problem with the footer.  Also trying to make Flickr blog posting play well with dasBlog.