Yes, I admit it, I own a Lightsphere ... <shame>

I know the guy at Strobist would just hang his head in shame at me, but I decided to try the old Lightsphere II "Cloud". I just saw too many "Pros" walking around with them doing outdoor work. I thought I might has well try it out...


I've been using a Stofen OmniBounce for indoor stuff of the family, and it does pretty well for bouncing, but I wanted something a little more softer for the everyday stuff, and to add a little more light when I do shoot outside.

It really helps to soften things quite a bit. My Sigma 500 "Super" flash sometimes blows out the picture even with it on, but I think that has to do with my Digital Rebel only having one metering mode, so even on Auto I have to fiddle w/ exposure.

They also have an "AmberDome" to add a little more warmth + balance out the color, and a "Chromedome" that helps toss more light forward for when you don't have a lot of walls/ceilings to bounce off.

I'm not sure why, but the Chromedome seems to be as expensive as the Lightsphere itself. I'm thinking of trying my luck at buying another $10 "InternalDome" like the one that came with the Lightsphere, cutting a hole in the middle, dousing the whole thing w/ silver paint, and adding a little "kicker" to bounce some light back. We'll have see how inventive (read "cheap") I get...

Got the lens!

So, I decided to do a little Craigslist "snooping" to the other regions on the East Coast, looking to see if anyone had anything interesting to sell.

Lo and behold, I looked at the Washington DC site for the word "Tamron", and you'd never believe what some guy was listing!

Yep, it was my future lens! The 17-50mm f2.8, and he wanted about $125 less than retail.

My wife has a friend who lives up in that area, and she agreed to be a go-between for us. She met with the guy, bought the lens off him, and shipped it to me. Now, that is a real friend.

I hadn't saved up enough cash to buy it right out, but the wife said she would float me part of the cost of the lens, bucause she knew how much I'd been looking for something to replace the kit lens.

I've really been enjoying the lens, and have been loving the f2.8. It's a little soft that wide open, but soft at 2.8 is better than soft at 3.5 or 4.

I've never tasted Canon's "L" glass, and I probably won't for a while, but I feel better equipted to get creative with DOF and low light situations.

Most of the pics from this point on will probably be with this lens.

Hey Brother, could you spare a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 for Canon?

So I think I've finally decided what to replace the kit lens on my Canon.

I've picked up a few lenses here and there, (Canon 50 1.8 II, Sigma 28-80/70-300 kit), and they're pretty good for the price I paid for them. But, I mainly shoot with the stupid 18-55 kit lens, and I really need something in a comparable range that doesn't suck.

I think I've decided to hunt/search/obsess over the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 . I've read some pretty good reviews on it over at DPReview.com, and say it's actually a pretty good competitor to what Canon has in the 17-50 or 17-85 range. Given it's from a third-party, and it's no "L" glass, but distortion / CA / MTF stats look pretty good, (and spanks the crappy kit lens all up and down the charts).

Looks like it goes $430 - $450 new from B&H / Beach / Amazon, but that's almost as much as I spent on a boat-load of lighting stuff, (and that's with my wife going 50/50 from our Household budget). EBay looks like it can go down as much as $370 - $450, and most of those are new.

Any how, anyone know where I can get a good deal on this piece of glass? Anyone "bored" with their copy and want to pass it on to a poor soul? (I guy can hope, can't he?)

And until I can afford it, I guess it's back to the old plastic kit lens. . .

Provo was good to me

So there I was, minding my own business, when this Pawn Shop in Provo, UT came and threw this Manfrotto tripod at me.

I was so taken by surprise that I almost threw back a string of superlatives. I quickly realized that it was actually a pretty nice tripod, so instead I took pity on them and gave them $50 cash to ease the rough time they must be going through.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out it's an old 3001 tripod with a 3030 head. eBay looks like I got a pretty good deal, although nothing too special.

It's a good thing to, because the day before I had dropped my $13 Target special tripod. I was adjusting my camera bad, and it slipped out from under my arm and cracked the plastic head right off.

I've been looking for a decent tripod for a while, and it's one of those "right-Pawn-Shop-at-the-right-time" things. (I love those!)

I also picked up a copy of "The Photographer's Handbook" for $3. I didn't actually have any sort of handbook for photography, so I thought it would give me a good reference to start from, and to review some parts on composition, (which is my weakest part of snapping photos). Turns out it gets 4/5 stars on Amazon, so it should be a good starting point.

All in all, Provo was good to me. Too bad I'm back in South Carolina where I haven't seen much from the Pawn Shops around here. I guess I just have to keep looking and wait for that poor soul who's down on his luck to dump a nice Canon "L" lens the day before I walk in...