The temperature finally bounced back up above freezing for the first time in a week and last week’s dump of snow began to melt in earnest. It seemed like a good time to walk to Kinsmen Park in downtown Strathmore to exercise the Canon EOS 300D I purchased last month.
AB, 2024-03-27
AB, 2024-03-27
As previously mentioned, I had purchased a 300D as my first dSLR back in 2003, but was forced to sell it as part of upgrading to a hardier camera body with more megapixels. I missed it, and now I have it back. Not the one I originally owned, but one exactly like it. It feels good.
AB, 2024-03-27
AB, 2024-03-27
AB, 2024-03-27
Today wasn’t really about trying to make any great art, it was about finally escaping the confines of my home, getting some fresh air, and the thrill of just pointing a camera at something – anything.
I found it ironic that I faced a challenge when trying to cross the two streets I needed to in order to get to the Municipal Building because the snow had not been properly cleared. This led to me having to slip and slide across intersections and jump over puddles in the middle of sidewalks. Not a problem for me, but heaven knows how those with mobility issues manage this. I say irony because you’ll notice the large grader carefully clearing the last three snowflakes from the Municipal Building’s parking lot, which has been very well ploughed for the last several days.
Priorities.
Obviously, there was a significant snowfall and the town can’t get to everything all at once, but it would be nice if they could clear the higher volume intersections that see a lot of pedestrian traffic.
A lot of work was put into clearing the area in front of the stage at Kinsmen. I am guessing there will be live performances there over the long weekend.
Grumbling about snow removal is something of a local hobby. It will be a moot point by next week anyhow, as the temperature is expected to climb rapidly from this point on. The sketchy ice in Kinsmen Lake is a few days away from being gone completely.
AB, 2024-03-27
AB, 2024-03-27
It was a nice walk, and it was really nice to finally use a 300D again. I quite missed it over the years. There are things I have forgotten about it. The slow start-up time. It takes about five seconds to wake up again after going to sleep. The shutter makes a pleasant noise. The control buttons on the back are much clumsier than the control wheel all of my other Canons have. Finally, the dynamic range on the 300D’s older sensor is ho-hum. It was amazeballs back in 2003 because you could pull back almost a stop and a half of overexposure. These days you can get more than twice that back as the newer sensors all have much better dynamic range.
Strathmore, AB, 2024-03-27
Strathmore, AB, 2024-03-27
Strathmore, AB, 2024-03-27
Strathmore, AB, 2024-03-27
Strathmore, AB, 2024-03-27
Strathmore, AB, 2024-03-27
300D, Strathmore, AB,
2024-03-27
AB, 2024-03-27
2024-03-27
A few items of interest from the images above… That’s a Canon 17-85 EF-S IS USM f4-5.6 lens hanging off the 300D. The first one I received was DOA, but the replacement works and the price was great. I can sell it at a profit later, no problemo. The 300D also came with the then coveted “Canon EOS Digital” strap. Those were rare as heck in 2003 and basically screamed “MUG ME!” I wore mine anyhow.
Notice the Turducken like memory card setup? I tested my old CF cards and they are all sketchy at best. I figured I should probably order some new ones. Well, until I saw the current prices. Luckily they sell CF – SD adapters for a reasonable price. Perversely, you can use a MicroSD card inside a MicroSD – SD adapter inside a CF – SD adapter. It works fine, and it’s almost as much fun as Russian nesting dolls.
Flash storage was expensive back in 2003 and I remember watching nervously as my 512 MB CF card quickly filled up with RAW files. My $5, 32 GB MicroSD card shows up as over 999 available images on the back of the 300D and I can shoot all day without dropping below that number. Freedom! There was one odd problem today however…
The memory card semi-corrupted on me this time. It was full of gibberish directories when I popped the card into my laptop. Fortunately, the DCIM folder was intact and all of the images saved into it worked fine. The problem went away after formatting the card, but I marked it with a felt so I can keep an eye on it in the future. Not sure if it is the card, the camera, or gamma radiation at this point.
One other neat thing about today’s walk was being stopped by two different people who asked if I was “that photographer” who posts in a local Strathmore Facebook group. Yes, yes, I am. I have lived here for three and a half years now and I’m already notorious in town. Look at me go.
If you haven’t already noticed that today’s images were all made with a Canon EOS 300D, well, even God can’t help you.
