Hey everyone!

I had this early 21st birthday last night with my family and that (actual birthday is 24/2). My cousins gave me Canon EOS 1100D pack to me including 50mm f/1.8 lenses! Man Im so proud owner of this camera because I took so nice hot shot photos after I opened it up.

Now, how awesome is this camera is! Excellent for storm chasing and lightning photos

Welcome to the world of DSLR!!

Any weather photos to show us yet?

I got myself a new Cannon 50D with twin lens's the other week. I am so happy with the pics that I am getting.

Since it has rained just about constantly since I don't have too many outdoor pics. Not risking getting it wet.

Congrats and Happy Birthday to you Matthew.

Thats awesome Mathew. I look forward to seeing your pics

Congrats Mathew.... ahhh the nifty 50 great fast lens for portraits I bought myself one of these about 2 weeks ago.

Thank you everyone for very kind and warm regards. Here a picture of my camera pack.



However, I am going to muck around with it today, after I had plenty top notch excellent photos from yesterday. Some were like you going to fall off the chair!

Hey bunch I have a 50d also, and i love it, treated myself to a sigma 10-20 mm wide angle last year and Scott ur right about the 50mm- beautiful depth of field.

Happy birthday Matthew welcome to dslr!

Here are the first collection of photos that I have done so far.





















[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hph...011730398_n.jpg[/img]

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hph...150614109_n.jpg[/img]

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hph...181547008_n.jpg[/img]

I almost died after seeing the results. Couldn't believe how dangerous this is!

Yep, your now addicted and ur not alone, just wait until u get ur first lightning shot. I don't proclaim to be an expert in photography but I'm happy to share what I do know. If you need any help or advice if I can help I will..

Thanks. Can't wait for getting back to Townsville on Friday. Hope those storms stay there so I can snap the lightning!

Welcome to the world of Canon!! They aren't a bad little Camera

I have a 450D myself, I got it a couple of years ago as a birthday present from my Husband and my Parents.

Good stuff and welcome to the world of dslr..

For lightning photos set manual mode, f-stop of between 7 - 11 should be ok with that f/1.8 lense and shutter speed to 5 seconds or more (I would sometimes use 30 seconds) depending on how often the strikes are.. oh and run a low ISO if it can go down to 100 use that as this will reduce noise for night shooting.

Happy shooting!

Thanks for the tips! I think I can get carried away with bulb setting to get lightning shots...

I can't get over how Canon keeps updating its DSLR models. It was probably only 3 or 4 years ago that I bought a 350D and 400D.

I guess the later models are more for professionals, or enthusiasts keener than me.

Matthew, that 50mm is a perfect lens for the 1100D video capability. Excellent choice.

Nice. You guys had no idea what does bulb setting do?!? It seems new or something. I will use this for ny lightning shots!

I think most avid storm photographers here would be aware of benefits of using the Bulb setting. It is certainly not a new technique.

Bulb is not timed as such. You press to shoot, sensor is exposed, it stays open as long as you like till you release again. Some models have a limit eg 30mins, not sure about your model, it will be in the manual. It's good for doing very long exposures for things like star trails at night etc.

Maximum shutter on the camera is 30 seconds. Bulb is higher than that. It so much clearer by using bulb setting. Im very sure lightning shots will be epic!

I used about 2seconds off bulb setting to take that glow in dark sailing boat picture (see above). If I am going to take another 2seconds, it would be perfect. Just a practice.

OzThunder: Whats up with 50mm lenses for the video capability? Portrait HD video is that good and useful? Im still learning here LOL. But I know how to use the shutter settings, apertures and ISO as I have done in my photography subject last July.

Cool,

You would normally use bulb for exposure longer than 30seconds... or if you wish to control the shutter at your own leasure via remote control/laptop.

With my old 40D I did some star trails upto 15mins exposure, and then it takes about another 15mins to process the image. - newer processors with digic4 is much quicker.

The only thing to remember is that if the sensor gets to hot than it will power it self down during bulb mode or video.

Here a quick pic from a storm the other night from my brothers eos 7D

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/lightningic.jpg/