A few weeks ago, on a whim, I purchased a Canon 700D DSLR. I have never owned a DSLR before and didn’t have a particularly good grasp of the concepts so I did a bunch of research into the various systems available (from Canon, Nikon, Sony and also the popular Micro four thirds format) before deciding to settle on Canon.

The camera came with a 18-55mm kit lens and I have since purchased a 50mm 1.8f prime lens and a 55-250mm zoom.

The 700D has an APS-C crop sensor, so you’ve got to multiply those focal lengths up by 1.6 to determine the apparent focal length of the final image. Consequently my widest lens at 18mm is effectively 28mm, so I am contemplating also purchasing a wide-angled lens, maybe around 10mm (16mm equivalent).

I took this camera on holiday to Cornwall and got some great shots with it. I’ve also been experimenting with effects like HDR - a technique where you take 3 or more shots at different exposures (but same aperture) and combine them afterwards on a computer to produce an image with a wider dynamic range. I typically use my camera’s Auto-Exposure-Bracketing (AEB) feature with Continuous Shooting enabled to do that quickly (although the AEB has a max range of +-2EV, but that’s not really an issue - if I ever need more I can just compensate the exposure manually).

Here are a couple of hand-held shots I took the other day around where I live with the HDR effect cranked up to extremes to create an arty look:

Since buying this camera I have learnt a ton about photography; particularly about how aperture, shutter speed and focal length interact with each other and the final image. Allowing the photographer to control exposure, depth of field, bokeh, starbursts, etc. And about how to apply those to different shots and times of the day.

The 700D is a great device it looks good, feels weighty and solid and has a ton of features, including a touchscreen display (although I turned that off). Before purchasing it I researched it to death and found that it was very well received in all the online reviews. My one criticism of it, after handling and owning it for a few weeks now, is that the plastic shutter release button feels quite cheap and not as smooth to depress as I would like - this seems to be an issue with my specific model since other models in the same family seem to fair much better in that regard, in any case I don’t let it bother me and I might even have a go at spraying it with some lubricant. One thing I am particularly impressed by is the battery life, the thing just goes on forever, which is excellent!

Overall I am very happy with this camera and the vast improvement on my knowledge of photography that I have gained since using it for just a short period of time. With any luck it is only onwards and upwards from here!