{"id":39870,"date":"2026-06-06T13:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=39870"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:33:50","slug":"my-toy-camera-gear-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=39870","title":{"rendered":"My “Toy” Camera Gear"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recent Favorites (April and May) viewed with Adobe Bridge. (Click to see a larger versions.)<\/p><\/div>\n

I just noticed something. This is a folder of my recent (April-May) favorites, opened with Adobe Bridge and in chronological order. (You can see these photos in the prior two posts.) The first 6 numbers in the file name are the date (YYMMDD), followed by the photo name, the camera, and the original 4 digit file number.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In every one of these photos the camera is “SL3” which is short for the Canon DSLR SL3 camera body. I can click on a photo to see which lens I used. The first photo was created using the Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens. All the other photos were taken with the Canon EF-S 55-250mm telephoto lens. Every one of my recent favorites was created with my featherweight, inexpensive, go everywhere (even the grocery store), “toy” camera kit. (I shoot for the local newspaper so I always have camera gear with me.) The telephoto lens only cost $239 as a Canon “refurb” and it came with a full one year Canon warranty, just like a brand new lens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last fall I went on a photo trip to Michigan. I spent a day and a half working with a professional model and a day and a half doing landscape photography. I took my “serious” camera gear which is heavier and more expensive. I had my faster, longer, and more expensive 100-400mm lens. When I need 400mm, I really need it. I also had my 15mm fisheye lens which I use on rare occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is this, I could do 80-90% of my photography with high quality, but inexpensive, and very light weight photo gear. When I am out and about on some photo adventure, I sometimes hear people say they would like a nice set of camera gear that can do a lot more than their phone. Well, they can, and for a lot less money than they think. They just don’t know where to look. I bought my toy gear at the official Canon USA web site in the “refurbished” section. More info below.<\/span><\/p>\n

Links<\/strong><\/p>\n

My Inexpensive, Featherweight “Toy” Camera Kit<\/a><\/p>\n

Can a $239 Lens Do The Job of a $2100 Lens<\/a><\/p>\n

Pushing the Limits: $239 lens vs $2100 lens<\/a><\/p>\n

Get a Quality DSLR and Two Lenses for $500<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just noticed something. This is a folder of my recent (April-May) favorites, opened with Adobe Bridge and in chronological order. (You can see these photos in the prior two posts.) The first 6 numbers in the file name are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-photo-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39870"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39875,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39870\/revisions\/39875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}