Cannonites vs. Nikoneers

No we are not talking religion here, or are we?

This is a response to The Visitors question on Canon vs Nikon digital SLR's.

More specifically the EOS 400D vs the D40.

First, the EOS 400D (drool, drool, look at it on the shelf, more droooool)..

A thing of beauty and a joy for at least the next 4 years! (the only beauties that will be retained in my head longer will be the Mrs. and the little ones! There, that should improve the longevity of this blog!).

I digress, predictably. So far, the 400D has done a fantastic job of taking pictures. If the pictures are crappy, it is only because I forget to switch that little button from MF to AF or I have given the camera to someone else to take the picture. (if you are used to a slower digital camera, you better watch out.. all it takes is a feather touch to click the shutter). The pictures are coming out great (I dont use a Canon Lens but a Tamron Lens which was way cheaper than the Canon and which also happened to be a single lens that went from 18-200mm).

Now for the Nikon.

The noticeable absence of drool does not necessarily indicate a lack of love or respect for the Nikon. It is just that I have become a Canon loyalist for various reasons..

1. I am familiar with the Canon dial, the menus, the look and feel.
2. It is a coke vs. pepsi thing. On a blind test I would probably identify coke only 90% of the time but somehow I always ask for Coke. I drink Pepsi when Coke is not around. I would probably go for a Nikon if a Canon was not around. In short, if the Canon was my wife, the Nikon is like a long lost girlfriend. It is a "what if?", that is never considered (that should also improve the longevity of this blog, neh?). Once again, I ramble.

I know a lot of people who have a Nikon who are extremely happy with Nikon and would present the Visitor with a similar message with the two models reversed. The D40/D80 are definitely cost competitive and the Nikon lenses are amazing(Or so I have heard from other Daddy photographers at Daycare functions. We usually stand in a corner and talk about our cameras during fathers day, thanksgiving lunch, graduation parties for pre-kindergarten, etc. etc.).

Reviews say that the Nikon D80 has beat the next generation Canon because Canon has become somewhat complacent over the success of the Digital Rebel that it did not improve significantly on the Rebel XTi aka EOS 400D (you can read Phil Askey for the scoop. I use this site as my camera Gita, Bible and Koran.. not that I have read any of those books!)

So, dear Visitor, I can only offer you a one sided view and hence cannot give you an honest comparison, but dpreview can!

On second thought, Boo was got a D40 the same week I got my 400D. You can ask her about the D40 and compare notes!

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Oakland zoo - Revisited

After a break of two years, we visited the Oakland Zoo today. We had a really great time!

Here are the teaser photos, taken with my new love, the Digital Rebel!

of birds and...

animals, or kids trying to be animals..

I promise you, this post is not like a Jackie Chan movie trailer where the best action sequences are completely shown in the trailer and you go watch the same sequences with filler material in the movie. Brings back memories of watching First night, first show in Alankar theater a few decades ago! Boy, I am growing old..shoo shoo, you bad thoughts.. Now back to the topic! You will see some more nice pictures when I upload them tomorrow!

Home made food, great company, nice weather, cooperating kids, time well spent! All said and done, it was a great day!

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Stirring a..

After the mixed bag of comments on the Sexy post, this picture is apt!

This nest is under our roof line. Will try another shot with the Macro later. Was not gutsy enough to go closer (lens was 2 feet away from the nest).

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Trolley rides and more

I have been in the San Francisco bay area for 9 years and I have not taken the trolley ride! Blasphemy cried the wife, who has recently taken some kind of resolution on correcting my past misteps!

So off we went on a family outing (with the cousin family) to SFO this morning, and took the trolley ride from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square and back.

The entire day was spent in Union square, watching artwork on display, watching passers by, having the occasional shiver, buying contrabrand Compact Flash cards for throwaway prices, chasing kids through crowds and waiting in one loooooooong line to get back in that trolley! "Thank god for cars. No wonder we never do this!" was the unanimous verdict of the adults in the group. The kids as usual, disagreed.

Here is the trip in pictures !

This picture was taken while we waited in the fog for the trolley ride to begin.

When the trolley starts from Beach street, it almost feels like a roller coaster ride with Alcatraz zooming away from you!

No wonder, the kids loved the ride and thought this could be a routine form of transportation.

There was a woman following our trolley in her car! I cannot imagine driving on these steep roads, that too with a cell phone in one hand. High time the city of San Francisco put a notice as you enter which says "Do not try driving like this at home. All drivers are professions in a closed course" or something to that effect!

The art work on display.

Here is the chasing kids part! Of course you get to see only one kid out of four. I am sure Balaji will post photos of his two.

Now why do you see only baby's photos recently ? Well, Jr. is a big girl now and she went in to the cosmetic stores to check out stuff. I can only take pictures of the kid that hangs out with me. No, I take that back. I do not take pictures of the little one because she is stuck with me. She is a delight and challenge to photograph! Always on the move and always testing the camera's ability to adjust focus in the last nanosecond...

Did I mention the long wait for the return trolley ? Well, here is the line (circle describes it better) around the terminal. Have you seen a railway track that ends like this? This is the first time I saw this system. The little trolley comes and stands at the end, the dudes pull a lever and the tram rotates 180 degrees! It is then pushed back to the return line. The way they had engineered this was very very interesting.

Not to waste time while waiting, I captured a few shots of the tall buildings on either side.

The gray facades were a little on the gloomy side, but the sharp lines were eye catching.

The rows of balconys and..

the rows of fire escapes reminded me of Philadelphia. I used to live in a building with fire escape ladders, a long time ago...

Finally after many a photograph, we got into our return trolley..

The street pigeons were violent! Started wondering if this had anything to do with the local environment at Union Square.

One interesting and irritating item on the tour was this "join Jesus or burn in Hell" slogan shouting guy at Union square. He somehow managed to get a real loud speaker and was screaming about the "born again Christian" movement and went on and on about burning in hell, gays, lesbians, morality, etc. etc. to the point that he was downright offensive. I know we have freedom of speech but we have the right to denounce other religions, sexual preference with a loud speaker in a public place? Now that was a surprise!

A bunch of gay and lesbian folk (who are not that hard to find in SFO) gave him the finger, went up close and video taped him. A lesbian couple even kissed below his make shift podium (overturned bucket) and took pictures. Pretty soon the Jesus dude's supporters who were holding other "born again" placards came and stood near him and the onlookers (aka innocent bystanders) started worrying that it might evolve into a brawl. The heat was still on as we departed Union Square! We could have had lunch at the "Gaylord" restaurant in Ghirardeli square to exaggerate the irony, but decided that ice cream and hot chocolate was enough before driving back home!

Do not know what other places I have failed to visit over the years. I am sure I will find out soon, and so will you!

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Fireworks

A great camera.. but a photographer not well acquainted with the greatness..

Need to play with the camera some more I guess!

Here are a few shots from tonights fireworks. I thought if I used the manual mode and went all the way to F25 or F32! and kept the exposure at anywhere from 2 to 4 seconds (with the ISO still at 100), there should be crisp lines tracing every little dot of light streaking across the sky.

I believe the results are exactly that! But this looks too artificial! Next time, I go down to F8 or F11 and do the same thing. Well, there is always New year fireworks.

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