I love touring.
Right now, I'm sitting in the nicest Super 8 Motel in existence with four of the most amazing people. We're about to check out and get on the road from Indianapolis to St. Louis for our show later tonight. I just realized that I haven't blogged in too long, so even though I only have about ten minutes before we're leaving, I wanted to try to squeeze in an update.
Tour has been incredible so far. I love this group of people so much and I'm having an absolute blast! Luckily, even though I lost my voice after a ridiculously busy LeakyCon with only a two day break before tour, I've been able to keep singing. We're starting to get the hang of playing a lot of shows in a row, which Nina and I haven't been able to do since the summer that book seven was released. It's really great getting to meet so many people who live far away and being able to play in new places!
So far, the biggest surprise of the trip was in Akron, Ohio where we were given a beautiful auditorium with a fantastic sound person. We ended up with an audience of around 150 people, most of which had never even heard of wizard rock. People laughed at our jokes again!
I should probably get ready to check out of the hotel, but I'm throwing in one last point before I go. For a little while, I've been considering buying an entry-level DSLR camera. I love my three-year-old Canon PowerShot, but I'm really not happy with the pictures it takes indoors anymore. I've been admiring the photos a bunch of my friends have taken, especially with Canon Rebels, and I have my eye on the HD video setting on the Canon Rebel T1i. I know that once my Dell laptop craps out on me, my hard drive camcorder won't translate well to a Mac, which I'm planning on switching to, and having a nice digital camera with a high quality video option would be awesome. I'm not worried about making the switch to DSLR... I love gadgets and learning how to use all of their features. Have any of you guys tried the T1i or anything in the Canon Rebel line? Would you recommend it for me?
Friday, June 05, 2009
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11 comments:
Hi Lauren. First off, I have a Canon Rebel as Photo Editor of the paper at my school, and it is fantastic. However, you really shouldn't look at buying an HD picture camera because any cheap camcorder will work with a mac. I have a Panasonic 40 Gb harddrive camera, and I was real worried about the fact that the install disk was only pc. However, mac is known for their proxies. Just plug in your camera and you are ready to go. Canons are great, but you might want to check out nikon.
Ok, well I hope that helps. Check me out I'm Saturday on nerdsofafeather at www.youtube.com/nerdsofafeather. Thank you for being so amazing and as a noaf I will tell you that the 5ag take most of the blame for us even starting.
DFTBA,
Shannon FromCalifornia
Well, the only experience I have with Canon Rebels is with the 35mm K2, but I can say that I love that camera to death. I know that when I eventually upgrade to a DSLR, I'll probably be going with one of the Rebels.
I know that probably wasn't much help...but as a former electronics sales associate, I would just say to do A LOT of research for yourself. And make sure you're getting exactly what you need.
Sounds like you're having fun on tour! :)
As for the Canon Rebel, I say go for it! My friend has had the XTi for a while and loves it. It takes fantastic pictures. And he prefers the features on the Canon rather than the Nikon D Series. It's kind of pricey, but what isn't these days? You deserve it.
I'm sure that didn't help much. :P You'll figure something out!
Hi Lauren!
I use a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, and I love it. It's what I used at LeakyCon to get those pictures of you, in fact! :-) Hank has the exact same one I have, and from what he said to me he seemed to like it as well. The only thing he didn't really like was that it was silver, which apparently is a little less "professional-looking" than the black. (The silver was about $50 cheaper, which is why we both have that one.)
The reason I got the Canon instead of the Nikon is because I was already familiar with all of Canon's features, and I had a Canon lens that would fit the digital camera. (Which is one GREAT feature of the Canons -- all of their lenses are interchangeable.)
The only feature I wish the Canon had (which Nikon does have) is the ability to zoom in on your subject, half-click the button to get the right light settings, zoom back out, compose the shot, and click. There's a name for that function, but I can't remember it at the moment. The advantage of this technology is that your subject will ALWAYS have the perfect exposure, regardless of their surroundings. With a Canon, it tends to do a sweep of the entire frame, which is why when you and Hank were singing against a white background, the entire picture looked dark. It auto-corrected the white to look grey, and it darkened my subjects in the process. On a Nikon, the background might have been blown out because I'd focused on the two of you, but you would have been in perfect color.
It's a give and take. I'm not sure how important stuff like that is to you. In all other respects, I love the camera. :-)
I hope this helps!
Monica
Seeing you guys play in Akron was so amazing! Well worth the three hour drive down from Michigan! Thanks for being so awesome!
My mom owns a camera store - so I've always gotten to try the new cameras - A rebel was my first dslr and I LOVED it. no question my favorite - easier than the higher end cameras but still takes amazing quality - and that was quite a few years ago, maybe 2002.. so they're probably much better now! Canon is the way to go is always my opinion! And for smaller canons I usually prefer Olympus Stylus's they're durable and take decent video
So Lauren - I don't know if you read these on time, but I hope so! I'll be at your show in Lawrence on Sunday and was wondering how many of your group is over 21? The Library in Lawrence is right off mass street which is equal to our downtown area.. and since it's a college town its got a good number of bars and also some good shopping if you come a little early!
Theres also some nice coffee shops - Java Break is pretty sweet and open 24 hours and has a cereal bar (yes, cereal tastes better when someone makes it for you!) haha.. but I know you just turned 21 so if you guys want to go out let me know! I'm your friend on facebook if you want to stalk me and make sure I'm not too creepy (Jackie Cremer) and if you guys don't have to race off to your next show me and my friends can show you around :)
also since you are driving today i hope you take advantage of free donut day as you go through towns!
safe travels and best wishes,
Jackie
I'm glad tour is going well. I'll be there tomorrow in Galesburg, IL and am very excited!
Yay, well we love when you tour! I was at your show in St. Louis that happened a few hours ago. Thanks so much for coming here! The show was amazing, and my friend and I fangirled you all insanely.
I have a Canon Rebel Xti and I love it! I would definitely go with it for your first DSLR.
I got a Canon 450D (Rebel XSi) in January last year. All the photos on my flikr http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicmorrowsghost/ are taken with it. I've experimented with long exposures, low light, action stuff and it does all well. I've even taken photos of stars. :D
I think it's very easy to use and it takes great photos. I got the twin lens kit and they produce fine results.
Be careful when looking at stills cameras that shoot video. I was looking at the Nikon D90 but it uses what's called a rolling gate. This means if you move the camera at all while filming you get what's called jello vision (stretching squashing and flickering)
Hey, Lauren. I have a camcorder recommendation for you. You probably don't remember me; I was the guy with the goggles on his head at the show in Galesburg. Videos here if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VMkOUMDuTw
You seemed interested in my camera, so I've linked the model here: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=EF315059619F3BFF65FF1292EDACC8D4.bbolsp-app06-10?skuId=8696342&type=product&id=1198888712859
I know they come in a variety of colors, and by no means should you get it from Best Buy; it's just the easiest link to the model I could find. It shoots video in HD, which is nice, and uses a hard drive to store video. It's got a light and various little controls that you can mess with, and I can say definitively that it works with iMovie, depending on which year the iMovie software is from. If you're getting a new Mac, it won't be a problem.
If you have your eye set on the Canon camera, go for it. I just thought I might give you another option that works well for me.
DFTBA!
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