Adventures with a Canon Rebel XSi

As I mentioned yesterday, I borrowed one of the Yearbook staff's Rebel XSi's. I needed it to shoot photos for my article today, but you didn't actually think that was going to prevent me from using it for my own personal use yesterday, did you?





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 2 seconds
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 55 mm
Monopod


From this one shot, I've learned a LOT of things about the camera, and how it differs from my PowerShot.

-This was taken with the kit lens. The KIT LENS! That means I can do pretty satisfactory macro work with the lens it comes with. Even better though, is my dad's f/2.8 macro lens that goes 1:1 and is compatible with the EF-S mount on the XSi.
-The aspect ratio of this camera is different from that of my PowerShot. It's a little wider, or possibly just not as tall. But when you have 12.2 megapixels, cropping to fit a monitor won't be a problem at all.
-I feel like the camera is more stable in my hands than I do with the PowerShot. I used a monopod for this photo. Granted, it was in an excellent position of support. But I can't conceive of using a monopod with my PowerShot and getting even usable results at 2 seconds.
-The DoF on the Rebel is a whole different beast. I've come to the conclusion that the really small focal lengths involved with my PowerShot are what really hurt my DoF. I could shoot a landscape at f/2.6 on my PowerShot and have trouble distinguishing it from the same photo at f/8, because the differences in DoF really didn't become apparent until I was very close to my subject. With these longer focal lengths, I have much more fine-tuned control over my DoF.
-This picture didn't involve the flash, but I did play around with it a little. That bugger charges really fast. Like, REALLY fast. Like, I can shoot it in burst mode and still get more frames/second than my PowerShot without a flash.
-Oh man. I'm excited to get my own.