What Lens Should I Buy?
Jessica Glaze • Jan 17, 2015
I get asked pretty often what kind of camera I use, so I thought I would share it here for all to see.
I didn’t know anything about photography when I purchased my first DSLR a few years ago, all I knew was one thing, I needed to take pictures faster. I felt so frustrated that I was missing all of Carter’s cute moments because it took so long to take just one picture with my basic “point and shoot” camera.
We were on a pretty tight budget considering we were new parents who were adjusting to life on a single income so that limited my options, but it wasn’t impossible for me to get what I needed.
After a bunch of research, I decided on the Canon T3i. It wasn’t the best camera that Canon has to offer and it was actually on the lower end of quality but it had a fast shutter speed and that is all I really wanted at the time. I do recommend this camera to anyone starting out and on a budget.
The trickier part of the process was choosing a lens. I had no idea the difference between lenses, I didn’t even know what the numbers meant, I especially didn’t like the price tags. So, as usual, I started at the bottom of the price list and worked my way up. After a bunch more research, I landed on the Canon 50mm lens. Its a fixed lens, which means I cannot zoom in or out at all. This can be very hard to adjust to when you are learning, but like everything, practice makes perfect. It is a tight crop (very zoomed in) and that can make it difficult to take pictures indoors or in settings without room to back up, but how to use the lens properly is something you will quickly learn through practice. I highly recommend this lens because of its price tag (under 150.00), its ability to make the user look professional without any real photography knowledge, and because it is great in a low light setting.
My second lens a Canon 85mm lens, which is also a fixed lens but with a not so tight crop, so I can use it more easily indoors or when there isn’t a ton of room around me. Again, I highly recommend this lens. I think I use the 50mm and the 85mm equally depending on if I am taking pictures inside or outside.
Side note, most basic Canon cameras will come with the Canon 18-55mm as its stock lens unless you choose to purchase the camera as body only. This lens is not a fixed lens and novice users will likely feel more comfortable using this lens, but like I said before, I highly recommend the 50mm or the 85mm for much better pictures quality. I promise you will master a fixed lens in no time with just a little practice!
After I learned more about my camera and its functions, I decided I wanted to upgrade my camera body and I purchased the Canon SL1. This is a slightly more complex camera but it still has a fully automatic setting to rely on if that is your comfort level. This is a very small, compact, and light weight DSLR that can easily be tossed in my diaper bag or purse.
Finally, learning how to use your camera can be daunting. Often times people suggest reading the manual but if you don't understand terms such as "ISO" or "Aperture" then the manual isn't much help. You can rely on an automatic setting, but that will not likely get you the quality photos you are hoping for after purchasing a DSLR. I started my education on photography with a class from the series "Take Your Camera Out of Program Mode." The guy that teaches this class goes all over the US following around is favorite baseball team (lol) and he is amazing. I am not saying you will never need to practice on your own or educate yourself, but he will give you the basics and a great starting point.
I hope all of this information was helpful.
Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose.
Four kids, I have four kids! Sometimes (well, every day if I’m being honest) I have to remind myself that I have FOUR kids to be responsible for. If I’m not forgetting to keep an eye on my mischievous 2-year-old, then I’m walking out the door for dinner without dropping a jar of baby food into my bag. (Fries for dinner never hurt anyone, right? That’s what Mr. August survives on once a week at least.) Life as a parent can be chaotic sometimes. #thisisparenthood Thank God my two older kiddos are basically self-sufficient otherwise we would never be able to leave the house. Being responsible for four other human beings (Sometimes five if my husband is in town, am I right ladies?) is so hard!
It’s no secret that I am no fan of winter. If you live up north like we do now, you know just how cold, cold is and I can barely survive the frozen temperatures. Even though I would happily leave behind the cold, but there is nothing I love more than Thanksgiving and Christmas! Best holidays of the year, hands down!
It has been three years since we left behind our life in California. Three years since we made the announcement that we were moving to Canada. Three years since we started a new adventures as immigrants in a country that is so close to home, yet so very different. And now, after three life changing years, we are on to our next adventure.
Eli is 5.5 months old, rolling left to right and every other which way, so that means it’s time to ditch the swaddle. *Que the ugly cry.* If you didn’t know, we love swaddling in our home. Rusty and I can count the number of times we have ever had to wake up more than twice a night with one of the three kiddos on our fingers and we thank swaddling for that luck. We start swaddling from day one and we use that as a basis to establish great sleep habits from the beginning that last forever. Sadly, once the skill of rolling is learned, it is no longer safe to swaddling and the transition from swaddled to un-swaddled can be rough. Thankfully, we found the Nested Bean sleep sack this time around and the swaddled/un-swaddled transition has gone perfectly smooth.
The Glaze Brigade spent the second to last official weekend of summer (which is kind of a joke because summer never actually arrived here in the GTA) at Center Island and we loved it! I’m actually a little bummed that we have lived here for 3 years and only just decided to make the trip on the ferry over to the island.
We are just three weeks away from the start of the next school year and I am so not ready! There is nothing I love more than the freedom of summer. No school schedules to follow, flexible bedtimes, endless weekend adventures, and daily trips to wherever we can get some sunshine. Sadly, all of that is about to end and I am already planning our next summer.
Since moving to Toronto, the best part of summer is getting outside. Our days are usually filled with trips to the playground, our near by amusement park, riding our scooters around the neighborhood, or taking a fun road trip, but even in the summer, there are days we are stuck inside. Sometimes we spend those rainy days cuddled on the couch, watching a movie and eating junk food, but another fun rainy day activity we enjoy is visiting our local mall.
I was just a little surprised to learn that Carter would be starting kindergarten, at the ripe old age of 3, just a few months after moving to Canada. I considered putting her in a preschool a few days a week, but never did I think I would be sending her to an all day, every day, kindergarten class in a school that holds kids up to the 8th grade. Cue the mommy freak out. Of course, Carter loved it and I had nothing to do worry about.
My middle child, Monroe, was born with a severe tongue tie, it was actually so severe that he couldn’t swallow. For the first week of his life, we had no idea that his entire tongue was attached to the bottom of his mouth (behind his bottom gums), but over and over again he would choke and sometimes even turn blue. Rusty or I or a nurse would have to suction his airway to get things cleared out. It was the scariest time for me as a parent.
Facebook is filled with groups of moms complaining about the lack of help they get from their husbands. Either dad has never changed a diaper, he doesn’t help pick up toys, dad doesn’t help discipline, or he flat out cannot keep the kids alive if he is left alone. I understand that it can be completely frustrating to get no help from the one person that should be helping you the most, so I am going to share with you a few tips that I’ve used to encourage my husband to be a hands on dad.