New Camera Lens and Accessories

I’m an accidental photographer.
Photography really isn’t my passion, and it’s something I’d rarely do if I didn’t have my online shop (and this blog), I never would have dreamed I’d hold a camera in my hands nearly every day of the week, but since it’s a necessity, baby step by baby step, I’m trying to improve my skills.
I have a limited budget to work with, but my husband bought me Canon Rebel T3 for my birthday back in January.   It’s a good beginner level DSLR camera and was affordable for us.  
I’ve been using the standard lens that came with the camera since then.  It works great for most of my shop listings, but I can’t zoom in very close with it and distance photos look grainy, so I knew it was time to invest in another lens.  I shopped around and read reviews and decided to buy a Tamron 18-200mm lens.   The same lens from Cannon costs almost $700, and even a used one was over $350, but this one was $200, including shipping.  The reviews were good and for such a huge price difference, I decided to go with it.  It came with a lens hood as well, which helps keep out unwanted stray light by shading the lens.  I’ve only played around with it a little, and am happy so far, but I’ll update you later about my satisfaction once I’ve tried a variety of shots with it.
I hate to admit it, but I’m really hard on my camera – I tend to plunk it down wherever I’m working, which often means it’s exposed to paint splatters, sawdust, etc.  I know…bad.
Since I don’t want to see my new lens get ruined, I bought some neoprene cases to carry them in.  My husband noticed that I bought four of them and wondered why, since I only have 2 lenses.  I explained that all four were packaged together, but it doesn’t hurt to plan further down the road for future lens purchases, does it?  
Another reason my lens takes a beating is that I never know where I last put the lens cap, so I purchased 4 little lens cap safety cords (planning ahead again).  The little round disk sticks to the lens cap and the elastic cord goes around the lens body, so it’s always hanging from it and can’t get lost.  These cost less than $4 shipped for all 4 of them – well worth the cost to keep the cap on my lens.
The last thing I purchased was a shutter release.  Getting really close up shots means I don’t want my camera to jiggle at all when snapping the photo, or the photo will be blurry.  Since my new lens doesn’t have a built in image stabilizer, the risk of movement is greater, so I’ll use a tripod when shooting with it and I can connect this shutter release to the camera and snap the photo without touching the camera and risking movement.  At less than $9 shipped – it was a great deal.  Mine plugs into the camera, but newer camera models will use cordless shutter releases. 

Still on my wish list is a large diffuser that I’ll probably make myself.  Most of my photography occurs on the back wall of our outbuilding.  The problem with that wall is it gets bright, direct sunlight in the morning, which washes out my photos.  In the late afternoon, once the sun has passed pretty far over in the sky, the light takes on a gray tone, which also doesn’t look great in my photos, so the best time to take photos is from about 1 – 3 pm.  That’s a very small window of time, so I hope that I can extend it into the morning hours by diffusing the direct light.

I know many of you have commented that you are hoping to move from a point and shoot to a DSLR camera, so I thought I’d share my purchases with you.  I’m very much a novice, but hope the information will be useful for some of you.

Angie

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Comments

  1. Hi Angie! Thanks for your camera info. I also have a Rebel and am trying to improve my photography skills. It is a great camera, and certainly suits my needs for now. Good luck with your efforts! Sue

  2. My level of photography expertise is similar to yours, so when I got my camera I took the free classes that the camera shop offered. They suggested I buy a clear filter for my lens. It was less than $20 and protects the lens when people like you and me plunk it down wherever. You can take photos with the clear filter in place. If I scratch the filter, I can afford another so I leave the lens cover in the camera bag. Hope this helps!

  3. You will love your new items. I have all the lenses I want now but you do need different ones for different things. Looks like you got a great buy.

  4. Great tips Angie, thank you! I purchased my first DSLR Boxing Day… what a delight to use! Those lens cap clips are a wonderful idea – my problem is, whenever I put the cap down, Dakotah thinks it’s a toy and bats it off the table and around the floor like a hockey puck. I am amazed I haven’t lost it under the furniture yet. Darn cat! 😉

  5. Tamron offers some great lenses for a fraction of the cost. I’ve been really happy with the ones I’ve used in the past so I’m sure you’ll love yours. I still don’t care for the Canon I bought a year ago, it’s the first one I’ve had and I’m definitely going back to a Nikon, but the Nikon I wanted is ten times the cost and I too am SO hard on my cameras! The one I have now wasn’t exactly cheap and I’ve only had it a year but it’s already slathered in paint, dirt, sand, been dropped, kicked, sprinkled on… so I just haven’t been able to justify going to that professional level yet. Your pictures absolutely have evolved to that magazine quality though Angie. I LOVE and truly appreciate all your photography!! Thanks for sharing

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