So much for best intentions. I have not been keeping up this blog.

It is just a bit over a month before we depart on our trip to South Africa and Namibia. All our accomodations, flights and cars have been reserved. I am alternating between calm anticipation and nervous panic.

I’ve bee practicing with my camera. I got the Canon 20D digital SLR. I had the Elan 7 SLR with several lens so I decided to go with the Canon instead of switching to the Nikon. It was tough decision since I think I like what I have seen from Nikon but having lens and familiarity with the camera is a big plus.

I already had a 28mm, 50mm and 90mm macro lens. I originally thought I could just purchase a body but I really didn’t understand digital SLRs. I did not understand the crop ratio which is what the sensor sees which changes the size of the lens by 1.6. This means my 28mm wide angle lens was now a 45mm lens.

I tried our my lens on a trip to Mt. Rainier and realized I really missed a wide angle and I was willing to try the zoom. I ended up turning back my body-only kit for a kit with a 17-85 zoom lens with image stablization (IS). I also bought a 75-300 IS lens.

I’m like a kid in a toy store. I shot a bunch of flowers with the macro and I’m in heaven. I struggled so much with the Canon G2 trying to take closeups. I really shake a lot when I’m shooting and a good percentage ended up fuzzy. Also the colors were really bad. Now at least 90% are good.

Now to practice and learn about the camera. A great site for informatino about Canon is Bob Atkin’s site.

I also highly recommend Kenmore Camera. The prices are competitive and the service is excellent. They have a two week trial period. I was able to try out my body-only and decide to switch it to a kit with the zoom. I also had a problem with my macro lens. I had all my receipts and took the macro lens in for factory warranty repair. No problems. They packed it up and shipped it back to the factory. Four weeks later it was back in working condition. All this for no charge. I’ve bought three different camera systems from them and I am a happy return customer.