Wednesday, March 8, 2017

camera soup














Souped up the Canon T3i with a few extras for under 200 bucks.  Gearing up for some astophotography.  Seems I have been out here almost 10 years and haven't really taken advantage of our dark skies.  I hardly even take notice of starry nights any more.  I have been inspired by my friend TJ Avery.  FYI - he does photo workshops every year in the Big Bend.

Picked up a battery grip to add a little more juice to the rig.  (I remember when these where known as "auto winders" back in the days of film cameras.)  Of course I also needed some extra batteries with a charger.  To round it out I bought a relatively inexpensive fish-eye lens.

After a few tests I need to send my camera body off to Canon for a long overdue cleaning.  It has been subjected to a great deal of abuse over the years.  79,89,55,0,C

11 comments:

Steve said...

Was just down in Terlingua this weekend. Those night skies are amazing without all the ambient light from civilization.

Unknown said...

My first job out of high school was selling cameras. That was 52 years ago and I made a buck an hour before taxes. Had to save up to buy a used Polaroid from a co-worker for $25. Cameras and wages have changed a lot since then.

Margery Billd said...

Now you are talking. Maybe you could send some of your pictures to National Geographic or publish a small book of the photos (or for tourists or for the Parks).

Margery Billd said...

Well, I was really crying this afternoon. The beautiful bull I and my dogs became friends with since last summer was gone. The last time I saw him, he wagged his tail. He was such a sweet fellow. Poor fellow.

Margery Billd said...

My dogs were looking across the road where he had lived but a man came and cleaned it out. The bull grew from a little playful baby to a very rotund big being. I heard someone say something about a ribbon at the 4-H Fair.

Unknown said...

Our neighbour John Gills has a telescope with a camera and takes the most amazing photos of the stars, moon and galaxies right from his back yard on a clear night...I am absolutely besotted with the night skies and so priviledged to have a neighbour like him. Few compete with the desert skies though especially in Namibia...and our Berg skies here in KZN. Clouds are just as fascinating. We have a lovely Nikon. I should go for classes but you need the lenses too I think

Unknown said...

Love what you're doing there John. I first saw you on a UK TV programme over here, ‘New Lives in The Wild’ or suchlike, with Ben Fogle. To be debt free and off the grid is my dream. Well, I am debt free that's true... but living off-grid, ‘under the radar’ is such a hard thing to do in much of the first world. Cheap land like you've bought is practically nonexistent here in the UK.

You have a T3i, an amazing little camera, I have the same, it's called a 700D/760D over here. Great blog and YT channel. Greetings from the UK.

Unknown said...

AWESOME!!! Looking forward to this endeavor. I've got a Nikon D3300 that I want to learn to use for astrophotography. Been looking at entry-level compound telescopes as well.

Margery Billd said...

My goodness, John, you have friends everywhere. I heard once that if you have what people want, they will beat a path to your door no matter where you are. Then I have a lawyer friend in Chicago who I knew since we were 8 years old. And he once said that because of his good job that he had to beat the girls off with a stick.

Johnny Doyle said...

Under $200! That is a heck of a steal. Was it off of ebay? That is a rather odd spam message here in the comments.

John Wells said...

I got the gear from Amazon. FYI - the underlined words are actually links. If you click on them, it will take you to where they were purchased.