Photography

My friend wrote a life list. One of the items was to buy a DSLR camera. Here is my response:

I don't know how much time you've spent with a camera since highschool. I tried to get back into photography last November and it was a wonderful decision. Here is what I've learned:

1. Buy a used DSLR to begin with. Get a used bottom line camera from any of the big manufacturers like Cannon or Nikon. After 6 months you'll know if the limits are your camera or you.
2. Have somewhere to store your photos in redundancy. Storing all your photos on your laptop will work until your hard drive dies. Then you're fucked. I store them on my WHS with duplication enabled. Your Flickr account will probably suffice for the important photos.
3. Use the highest quality settings. You bought a DSLR, put that image sensor to use. Storage is cheap. Also DSLR pictures can be pretty large. My D40X on its highest setting takes pictures in the range of 3-4mb.
4. Buy a case and tripod at the same time as your DSLR. You can manage without either of them but the case will lengthen the life of your camera and a tripod enables a lot of really cool shots.
5. RTFM. I read the manual every few months and everytime I learn something new.

Here's a Mauna Kea panoramic