~*Shell*~

Lol - next year I'm going to do everything in photoshop. No actual photos included. I will openly admit that my shots were photoshopped. But they were photoshopped in the hope that you couldn't tell they were actually 2 photos combined into one (for 2 of them) - the others are straight out of camera and colour balanced in lightroom. It kind of annoys me that a photo that was very similar to last year's winning shot was chosen and that whatever that fire thing is was chosen.

Hahahahaha - Zero gets cheese or devon. This is what he looks like when he sees me with the camera. "CAMERA?!? FOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!"

Well we think Canon users are like Apple FanBoi's : Following your comparison, I'd think of Pentax more like Peugot or Volkswagon, smaller market, a bit different, but still perfectly capable. I'm not sure cheap Japanese car is the right comparison. Ellz, have a look at the Pentax forums. See what can be done, what lenses are available (including the second hand ones) etc. For all the Canon users - genuine question - what are the technical or quality reasons that choose a Canon over other brands? Not how easily you can get gear, or the size of the support groups etc. I didn't mean to compare them to a cheap japanese car, i just picked 3 other car brands at random and I was actually talking about the rivarly between canon and nikon/holden and ford, not about the brands themselves. :D I have found with my camera that if i want anything, it's a whole lot easier to borrow the equipment than if i had another brand. Between my friends and the things available at work, I pretty much have a lens for any situation that i either own or can borrow without too much of a problem. I also work across from the sydney canon headquarters and when i did have a problem with a lens, i was able to take it in there and have them look at it straight away (is it was, it fixed itself - the lens hadn't been used in a while and so the auto focus motor was sticking but a couple of hours of use at flyball and it was as good as new). When I was looking at getting my first DSLR, i stayed away from pentax because quite often you're looking at 3rd party lenses and the reviews i read of those lenses were mixed (it is also the reason why I will tend to buy canon lenses rather than 3rd party, even if they are a cheaper option). While I didn't have fantastic lenses at the time, my kit now is quite good and the canon L series lenses are the best I have used. Pentax simply don't have the range that canon or nikon do. It's just a few simple things that got me. Since I'm enjoying being able to now crop my images, pentax also doesn't have anything in it's range that can rival my camera atm. I think their maximum sits at about 15 or 16mp, whereas mine is 21mp. When I'm cropping, that 5mp is quite a lot. I also prefer the video functionality of the canon over the pentax. I found the menus a lot clunkier and slower to use and I liked the look we got from the canon more than the pentax, even though the pentax lenses were supposed to be motion picture film like. I chose the canon 5D mark ii partly because it's a full frame camera - again, pentax has nothing to rival it because they don't have the option of a full frame camera. I'm not saying that it's a cheap brand, I'm just saying it doesn't fit my needs and unless i wanted to outlay the money for everything i could want in the future, it wouldn't be an option for me.

It wouldn't surprise me - the US doesn't like PAL at all and are actively trying to avoid shooting in it for some reason. That being said, they also dislike shooting in 16:9 and shoot most of their TV shows in 4:3 (the bane of my existance!). You can get converters but the video will never be as good if you try to convert it. It usually looks a little jumpy as they drop about 5 frames a second. If you're not going to be doing a huge amount of editing though, I wouldn't worry. Just import it into something like final cut and export it as an h.264 quicktime. Go for the 550D if you want to shoot in PAL.

I would always go for canon or nikon - as it is i shoot on a canon. I never had aspirations of going pro either but I'm now very glad I bought my canon 450D. When I wanted to upgrade because I outgrew the 450D, i didn't have to get rid of all my lenses. I have heard of quite a few people outgrowing their pentax and olympus cameras, only to discover the things they want to do with their photography simply aren't possible with those brands. They then had to outlay a huge amount of money to upgrade, where for me (which was still a lot of money) I was able to keep the things i wanted to keep (lenses and speedlite) without having to outlay the money for a whole new set up. As far as accessories go, the canon mount is easier to buy for and from what i've been told, cheaper with more options. The 50D is a beautiful camera. You would never be disappointed with it. Personally, that would be my choice. The way we describe the argument (some of my friends are nikon users) is that holden and ford are canon and nikon - pentax, olympus and sony are your brands like hyundai, kia and suzuki.

Hahahahaha - I'm sorry Lhok but at least that's one thing Zero's never done. Some of the things he has rolled in and eaten though would make your hair stand on end - makes me sick to think about it!

This is my favourite dog halloween costume of all time. I would love to get one for Zero!

It really is about the light at Taronga. For some reason the windows all seem to be pointed in the direction where they catch the sun in the afternoon which is timed perfectly with the time the normal animals people like to photograph like to get in a good positions for photos There is always something to get a shot of though. The bird show is great (awesome for practicing your timing) as is the seal show and they rotate the two tigers so you can see both of them. If you want to be guaranteed a good shot - go and watch the meerkats! They have a great enclosure for taking photos! If you're tall enough and you can use the shade of most of the enclosures so you can shoot through a space that isn't reflecting, that will help a huge amount. You'll probably need the longer reach of the 55-250mm lens for it. I shot with my 70-200mm 2.8 and i really liked some of the results when comparing them to my last zoo visit (but I've upgraded from the 450D with kit lenses to the 5D mark II with my L series lens since then). This was last time: And this was this time (looking back, i really want to re-edit this - it's very dark!):

Zero prefers to be outside - he comes in when he wants to but I also have a cat so have to do a bit of a shuffle when he does. He will not sleep the night indoors and rarely settles down for a nap inside either. If we're at other people's places, he will go and put himself in his crate. He has a crate in the undercover area under our patio for when he wants to sleep (which is about 22 hours a day :D) He gets walked every couple of days. He gets sore if he walks too much (he has spondylosis) but also gets sore if he doesn't walk enough. He is usually out and doing something everyday though, unless it's wet, in which case he will happily lay around in his crate all day!

Spoken like a true spitz owner! They use skills like that for evil. Criminal masterminds the lot of them!

Hahaha - shooting through glass is hard! I had a bunch of photos that would have been awesome except for the reflection on the glass! I'm also shooting on some pretty nice equipment - i've noticed that my photos look a whole lot better since i upgraded :D

Yep! Not a very original shot but considering i wasn't going to enter the brief, meh!

She's notoriously forgetful - she said that she'd never remember which camera she has she she'd like to at least sound like she knows what she's talking about, given that she works in the same industry as me. I keep telling her not to bother and that she'll get used to the numbering in no time but after 10 years, she still can't remember her own phone number so she didn't want to confuse herself.

Lol - i need all the help I can get, hence shooting in RAW.

It is the same camera - just with different branding for release in different countries. I'm researching that exact camera right now for a friend. She'll be getting the 550D branded one (which is $40 more expensive) just so she doesn't confuse herself and other people. 550D is what we call it here, Kiss x4 is what they call it in the states (and other countries).

This is my inspired by sound picture. I had planned something else but a friend was sick so i had no model. I went to do zoo on sunday and a tourist tried to wake up the tiger by banging on the glass and whistling at it (loudest whistle in the world BTW) and the tiger actually woke up and looked right at me while i sat there thinking "no way is this thing going to wake up - it's got to be used to annoyinig tourists by now!" - so thank you annoying anonymous tourist!

I read somewhere that it was taken from a photo5 entry last year. They have a few different new ads coming with photo5 ideas on them.

The first one is a rip off of the new canon pixma ad which was an idea taken from last year's photo5 I like his other shots though. The last one is funny!

Here's my confetti shot (and yes, that's jedi and ahsoka, it was supposed to be Zero and soakie but he wasn't feeling the best): 1 to go.

Appollo Archie Armand Arminius Asher Aussie x2 Axl Bailey x 4 Balou Bandit Banjo x2 Bardigrub Bart Barton Baxter Basil Bear x2 Benji Benny Benson x2 Bertie Billy Bing Bluey Boss Boxer Brady x 2 Brock x 2 Brockie Brody Bronson Bruce Bud Buddy Bundy Buster Caleb Caramel Carl Carter Cash Casper Cedar Champ Charlie x 4 Chester Chevy Chip Chisel Coco x 2 Cobber Connor x2 Cooper x 4 Cowan x 2 Cruise Cuba D'Artagnan Dakota Dalton a joke from the road house movie "I thought he'd be bigger" he is a big boy Damit Danny Darcy x 3 Dashx2 Deakin Deek Dean Declan Delgado Denver Denzal Dennys Dog Deputy Diablo Diesel Digby Digger Dinky Disco Doc Dog Douglas Dozer Dragon Drifter Dumas Dylan Ebon Eddie EJ Elijah Elliott Elvis Edge Enuff Esky Fender Fergus FEZ Fido Fionneaghan (Fionn) FlashBazil Flash Harry Fox Frank Franky J Holden Fred Gandor Gimmick Granger Greedy Griffin Gus Guiness McGuinness Gypsy Hail Hamish Harley Harrison Harry Hemi Henry x2 Hiram Hudson Hugo x 2 Ivan Jack x 3 Jacques Jake x 3 Jasper x 2 JayDee Jethro Jett Jingles Jock Joe Jonty Jordan x 2 Joshua Judd Juggie Kahn Kaiser Kasper Kaos Kiba Kei Kippy Kisho Kobe Kyle Kyojin Kyzer Leroy x2 Lestat Link Logan Louie Louis Luca Lucky Lughie Lukas MacKenzie Magnus Manny Mars Max x 4 Maxey Maxie Mel Merlin Merlot Merry Micah Midge Milky Milosh Minook Mistral Mogwai Mokha Morrison Morris Moses Mr Darcy Mungo Murphy Murray Nammu Napoleon x2 Ned Nelson Nicky Nigel Nikolai Nipper Noah Nova Nudge Nugget Nutnut Oberon Odin Ollie Oliver Onslow Oscar x 2 Oso Oz x 2 Payton Percy Piikki Porsha Porthos Punch Quick Rafe Raffy Ralph Rambo Randy Rasta Rauri Reeve Remy Rex x 2 Rhino Rico Riku Riley Ripley River Roary Rocks Rocky x 2 Rolly Rookie Rory Rove Rover Roy Jones Jnr Ruff Ryan Rupert Rusty x2 Sam Samurai (Sam) SARGE Scout Scrap Scratch Sebastion Shadow x2 Silas Snitch Sonny sox Speed Spencer x 2 Spike x 2 Sport Spud Stanley Sterling Storm Sully Swanky Tazz x 2 Ted Teddy Tey Dog Theo Thunder Tiger Tirra Toby x 2 Toffee Tonka Trojan Trusty Tub Tusca Tye Tyrant Tyson Ulf Valentino Wade Wags Walker Walter Watson x 2 Weave Will Willow Willy Winston Woody Wolf Xander Yelka Zac Zander Zedley Zep Zephyr Zero Zeus Ziggy Zontie

I'm going to cover my camera bag in pins I've decided - that way it'll have at least some personality. Stupid boring backpack.

That sucks! Any chance it'll clear up huga? Stupid weather!! I was having problems uploading my confetti and my inspired by sound shots last night and this morning. I'm hoping I'll be able to do it this afternoon or I'm in trouble!

This!! I've just bought a new camera bag so I don't need one but it's boring and black.... I could use a colourful one.

They have a store in melbourne I believe - if you buy online though I think they ship it from their hong kong office. I bought mine through their ebay page because they had the pack i wanted and it was shipped from hong kong. Just email them and ask where they're going to ship it from. They're happy to answer those questions.

Here's my incense shot