Well, that’s 2011 nearly over. While perhaps a little early for a comprehensive review,
it’s certainly been an event filled year. In fact, I’ve struggled to fit the whole year into just 200 photos for the album, although that may me more a reflection of the fact I’m generally taking more photos these days (thanks to my 365).
At dinner last night, we were thinking back over some of the high and low points of the year, and in some cases the same event was both a high and a low!
The thing that perhaps springs most readily to mind for me is my 365. I’ve always enjoyed photography, and have always had a reasonable eye – but taking at least 1 photo every day for the last 235 days has really sharpened my technique and deepened my understanding of the camera. The biggest surprise is arguably that almost every photo has been taken with my 50mm prime. A few years ago I only had eyes for zoom lens, especially LONG zoom lens, and the kit lens never left my camera. Now my first priority is speed and sharpness – and I think I actually prefer having to physically move around to get the composition I want!
The ‘nifty fifty’ has spoiled me in a way, as I’m now very dissatisifed with the performance of my 75-300m lens, which I used to love. It’s great for candid, but oh so slow and soft.
I also feel like I’m bouncing against the limits of my camera – in terms of AF points, speed of operation, noise, and exposure calculations. I’m also starting to wish my flash had manual control. On the other hand, while it ‘only’ has 6.3 MP this has been fine for my purposes (although 18 would be nice…) Plus I can store 10 year’s worth of photos in 30Gb.
My next lens purchase, should money be no object, would definitely be a macro lens, probably
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens
After that it would have to be an L series zoom, such as
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM Lens
or if money really were no object
Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
I’d probably try and get hold of a Canon EOS 7D Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
Still, none of this is happening in the real world – my lens fund is currently running at minus -£25 (because my old nifty fifty fell foul of some sand and/or a drop), and I decided to get myself a Danboard model for my 365 with my Christmas money. It may help you understand my motiviation if you look at an example of someone doing danboard photos.
Anyway, proper review of 2011 and look forward to 2012 in due course – but I needed to sneak in another post this year to hit my target of 50!