A Hobby Again?

I got interested in photography around the time my daughter was born - about 11 years ago. I purchased my first digital camera, an Olympus D 490Z. It was a 2.1 MP point and shoot which carried a price tag of $679.99 (if I remember correctly, although my research showed that it listed for $499, that may have been USD at a much worse exchange than today)

Shortly after, I was given a couple of manual SLR cameras, and got into shooting film with a 'real' camera. That led to purchasing a Canon Elan 7N SLR, and then a Canon 20D DSLR. Fast forward a few years to where I am today, with much more equipment, and a long list of receipts in the hundreds of dollars - some more...ouch!

I decided along the way - maybe 7 years ago, to try my hand at making a little money from this hobby to try to pay for the gear - or at least subsidize it a bit.

The side business has continued to grow - which is great - but over the last few years I have struggled to find a balance between my day job, my hobby, spending time with my family, and taking care of myself. While I have never promoted myself or advertised, I have found I have been almost too busy over the last couple of years. I am starting to try to bring myself back on course and regain the balance in my life by limiting the work I accept.

I was extremely happy to go for numerous walks last weekend around Killarney Lake - and actually shoot some photos of the flora and fauna. It was great!

Technical: Canon 50D + 100mm f/2.8 L IS Macro. The woods can be quite dark, even in the middle of the day. I suggest a starting point of ISO 400, maybe higher. you will need this to get any sort of depth of field, or enough shutter speed to combat camera shake and wind. Another thing you can do is use some flash, for some of these I used the on camera flash with a flash exposure compensation (FEC) of -1.

New Tripod Head–Manfrotto 498RC2

My last tripod head, the 488RC2 was/is awesome – but after 5 years – 5 years! I was surprised how the time has flown by….

Anyway, after 5 years, the pano function has begun to show issues. The ‘ball’ part is going strong, and I would have continued to use it, but I need that feature for my Real Estate photography. So I went to buy another – but they have a new model now: The Manfrotto 498RC2.

It is a little taller than the 488RC2, and it has an extra knob – a friction adjustment. No comment on that yet, but it looks great – a little more stylish, not that that matters…

So far I am happy with the investment, I purchased it at B&H and decided to try their new shipping option for Canada. In the past it was advised to ship things air courier as the customs charges were included – that option typically started at about $32 and went up from there depending on what you bought. Then you paid GST after you got the item. This shipping method would save you from some unknown customs charge which could be $25 or could be $70!

The new method, is Purolator Ground plus an option to have B&H handle customs and taxes. For this order the Head was $103.68, and the shipping was $8.93 (for Purolator Ground – 2 to 6 days delivery.) Then the Duties and Taxes charge was $25.04. It works out a little cheaper as the GST and customs charges are included. The tax on $103.68 would be $13.47 which means the customs/duties are $11.57 (a reasonable and ‘known’ cost) – here is a better format break down:

Head      $103.68

Shipping  $  8.93

GST        $ 13.47

Customs  $ 11.57

TOTAL    $137.65

In the past I would have expected to pay $103.68 (head) + $32.75 (shipping/customs incl.) + 13.47 (GST) = $149.90

I am happy so far!

Cheers!

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A digital SLR camera simulator that shows you visually how ISO speed, aperture, shutter speed, and distance... Camera Simulator-- Apex Publications (@PhotoLifeMag)