Changing of the Guard by AllenGray

Today I put my old, reliable Canon 400D in for a sensor clean, as she was long overdue. For an old camera (she’s about 4 or 5 now, old in this day and age of rapid advancement), she’s never skipped a beat, and has survived some of the most harsh conditions and places thrown at it. From airshows to dusty firegrounds she has soldiered on, giving me faithful service while still taking great images since the day I took her out of the box and fired her up for the first time. But now she is going into semi-retirement, being relegated to the role of second body and fireground camera. The reason? Today, my wonderful wife surprised me with a brand new Canon 50D. The changing of the Guard, the end of an era.

The 400D had been a great way for me to be introduced to the world of the Digital SLR photography, but I had finally outgrew the capcity of the 400D and it was time to step up to a higher level camera. I was told by a friend, that once you start shooting in manual, you’ll never go back. Well he was right. With the 400D, I did at first, use the ‘basic zone’ controls, portrait mode, Landscape, sport etc, but as I gained more confidence and moved away in the world of the ‘creative zone’, Maunal, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority etc photography became much more exciting! The 50D still has the basic zone commands, but they’ll hardly if ever be touched. This is a camera that is ideal for me, it offers much more fine manual control, and more importantly, it has a very high frame rate, 6.3 frames a second, which when you’re chasing aircraft across the sky (anyone who’s tried shooting a F-16 and an airshow, let alone a Spitfire would know what I’m talking about, isn’t that right Spencer!) is a very handy thing to have! True, even with a higher frame rate their is still no guarentee of of always getting the shot, as a friend of mine has a 50D, and out of an avearge burst of 30-40 frames, there may be that one, two or three odd ‘keepers’, but at least with the high frame rate I can now rattle off a burst, instead of standing there, trying to time my shot with the target, and cursing when I mis-time the shot and all I see in the LCD is the tail of the plane I was just stalking! It will be a change, going from around 3 frames a second to 6, but it’s a very welcomed change!

To say I’m excited is an understatment! I’m entering the next level of my photography, and with an exciting and fantastic camera. Now I need to work on my lenses, true I can borrow lenses from my very good friend Ben, and right now, I currently house two of his in my kit bag for my brother’s wedding which I’m shooting (my first wedding shoot, I’m in uncharted territory, doing something I swore I’d never do!) next weekend. But for what lenses I do have now, and with the access to lenses that I can borrow from Ben (his sigma 50-500mm lens often makes itself home at my place!) and the 50D, I’m in a good place to be. Now it may be time to look at a few L class lenses, and start the long road saving up, and maybe I might pick one up second hand, as there are quality second hand lenses to be had, if you look hard enough in the right places. But for now, I’m very content to use what I’ve got, as I get to grips with my new and exciting workhorse. May my 400D enjoy her rest, but the Guard has changed and the new era has begun!