Hi from the wet coast.

CodyG · May 6, 2014

Hi Everyone...

Back in the days of my youth I had a Pentax K1000 and some great lenses and accessories. I could not afford much for film or developing in those days, but I loved that camera and spent many happy days looking for the shot in my head. Then, late one night, back in the mid 80's, when living on Vancouver Island's West Coast, I let a friend haul my stuff in from the boat. It wasn't until the next morning when I realized the camera bag was missing. He had left it on the beach. That last night the tide came in, and the tide went out, and in the morning, a 100 meters down the beach, I found my camera bag

I had a futile hope ... I rinsed everything and hitchhiked 60 miles to get to a shop. Alas ... it was dead and that was the end of my good camera days.

Back in '98 I got a Canon 4mg power shot but the pictures were awful grainy and I didn't like the way it would turn ON while sitting in the bag. I've used and broken a half dozen other little cameras since then.

However, this summer, three of us are driving 14,000kms from the west to the east, and back via a USA route. It's a trip of a lifetime thing. There will be lots and lots of geocachng and a ton of photo ops with family and friends and the entire continent. Yes, I have a not so bad camera on my phone and ipad mini... but it's not the same thing at all. So, yesterday, the UPS guy arrived with a new Canon, an eos t3i. I've also ordered a 200mm lens and some accessories. Now... I'm going to have some fun!!!

This morning I wanted to get up and out there and get pictures of dewdrops or whatever I found .... and then blah, it's started raining before I even finished my coffee. So, I found this forum and I bought stuff online here: FotoSharp - Camera Rain Covers, Cheat Sheets, etc.

We like to play outdoors in the rain, alot. I think I am hard on cameras.

This time, with my new Canon, I'm going to find a way to play in the rain and keep a camera dry. And ... I'll definitely stay away from men and boats.

Hope you get your shot today.

smalltowngirl13 · May 7, 2014

Hello and welcome to the forum...

IceCanAm · May 7, 2014

Welcome to the site.

baturn · May 7, 2014

Welcome fellow Islander!

Big Mike · May 8, 2014

Welcome aboard Cody.

Congrats on your new camera and good luck on your trip. It's a dream of mine to do a cross-Canada trip and take photos along the way.

As for wet & rainy conditions, the main thing will be to allow the camera/gear to dry out when it does get wet. That means a good camera bag and you should also keep desiccant (silica gel) inside it to absorb moisture.

It's probably too late now, but you should be aware that some models of DSLR do have more/better weather sealing around the openings. The high end, professional model are designed to work perfectly in a steady rain. Unfortunately, I don't think that your T3i has any weather sealing, but that doesn't mean it can't get wet at all. You just have to be careful about it.

They do make rain covers specifically for cameras/lenses, which might be a good option if you know you are going to shoot in the wet weather....which is practically everyday out on the island, isn't it?

tirediron · May 8, 2014

Just down the road from you in Sooke!

CodyG · May 14, 2014

Hi ... thanks for the welcomes.

In the next month, I'm hoping to spend lots of focused learning time around setting up and executing land, sky, sea and streetscapes. My tripod should be here today. And I a skimpy tripod that I hardly trust, but it's small. A few days ago I inherited a Canon wide angle lens and a UV filter. I've bought a couple of 32gb disks suitable for video. I know Photoshop, and Gimp and PaintShop, html, and a LAMP stack. I have Pixresizer installed. - Bluefive software - freeware system and desktop utilities.

Oh my supernovas ... where do I begin. I've been reading the t3i manual. It's not the K1000 of my youth. I have a growing list of online tutorials.

I understand each of shutter speed, aperture and ISO. However, I continue to be confuddled as to why and how they work together. I know the great shots of my youth were more luck than planning. But now I'm going to change that. Right?

Tonight I want to get into the park and gets images of the flowering hawthorn trees.

Despite reading some docs, I'm still a little confused about sharing photos on this forum. Small uploads are allowed right? And/or just a link to flicker?

Here is the pic of my dog who will hardly ever look at a camera.