{"id":1290,"date":"2012-08-12T08:44:14","date_gmt":"2012-08-12T13:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=1290"},"modified":"2012-08-11T21:45:50","modified_gmt":"2012-08-12T02:45:50","slug":"our-new-toy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/08\/our-new-toy.html","title":{"rendered":"Our New Toy…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

This was with the 200mm telephoto lens from about 15′ away. Love it!<\/p><\/div>\n

This past week was Dave’s<\/a> and my 17th anniversary. Because Dave’s birthday is the same week as our anniversary, he took the day off between the two special events and we had a nice day together. We took the kids on one more trip to the Pensacola MESS Hall<\/a>, and then after lunch at Cajun Specialty Meats<\/a>, we visited the NAS Pensacola Naval Exchange (NEX)<\/a>\u00a0to browse the DSLR cameras.<\/p>\n

We had been wanting a new camera for a very long time.\u00a0We’d been accustomed to much-smaller point-and-shoot cameras, such as the Canon SD1200 Digital ELPH<\/a> and the Nikon Coolpix S210<\/a>. Between the higher-quality photography I require for my GeekMom blog posts, and Dave’s invitation to be part of Kalmbach Publishing’s Great Model Railroads special issue of Model Railroader magazine<\/a>, we need something better.<\/p>\n

We did our research — Dave asked advice of his fellow model railroad hobby friends, I asked my fellow GeekMom writers and consulted with my favorite photographer hobbyist: Maryann of the FotoMom blog<\/a>. We weighed cost, weight, warranty, and\u00a0capabilities\u00a0for super-up-close photography and sports\/action photography in our decision. We reviewed well-regarded DSLR review columns such as at Digital Photography Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We played for over an hour with two cameras at the NAS Pensacola NEX: the Canon EOS Rebel T3i<\/a> and the Nikon D5100<\/a>. \u00a0Kissing cousins in capability, we decided on the Nikon in part due to a discounted extra lens promotion they were having. \u00a0We got the camera body with the “kit” lens – 18-55mm – as well as an additional 55-200mm telephoto lens<\/a>. \u00a0We also bought a nice carrying bag that came with a free DSLR photography DVD. \u00a0Dave and I would need it!<\/p>\n

The following day I took the kids to the splash park at Navarre Park to play, and I had a chance to take some great photos. \u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I love photographing water features. And kids playing in the water.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This is a single color selection feature. You use an eyedropper type of thing to pick up a single color to turn on…and all other colors on the palette are turned into greytones.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This is with only the green turned on.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The rest of the photos are of the same thing, but with the assorted settings on the camera. It was fun playing with the settings.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This is “Landscape” setting. Not noticeably different.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Black and White.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Silhouette, pulling out the colors in the background more.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hi-saturation.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Low-saturation.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Color sketch. So it looks like a drawing, I guess.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I don’t remember the settings of these last two…I *think* this is the “Miniature” setting, but I do notice the blurriness on the edges…sharpness in the center.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Definitely don’t remember this setting…<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past week was Dave’s and my 17th anniversary. Because Dave’s birthday is the same week as our anniversary, he took the day off between the two special events and we had a nice day together. We took the kids on one more trip to the Pensacola MESS Hall, and then after lunch at Cajun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[287,175,19,288,286,621],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-kO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1193,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/07\/jacobs-visit-to-new-york.html","url_meta":{"origin":1290,"position":0},"title":"Jacob’s Visit to New York","date":"11 July 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Jacob got home on Wednesday from a 3 week visit to New York with Dave's parents. \u00a0He had a very nice -- and busy -- visit. \u00a0He had the chance to go with his Grampy to a classic car show in Stony Brook, he visited the Statue of Liberty in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"family\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/JacobStatueOfLiberty.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":159,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/06\/about-to-explode.html","url_meta":{"origin":1290,"position":1},"title":"About to Explode","date":"08 June 08","format":false,"excerpt":"No...not me. My poor husband.He's at T-6 days and counting till his PhD dissertation defense. I won't even TRY to explain what he's up to, but let me just refer you here if you also have a 100lb. brain and would like to learn more. He last updated the homepage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dear husband\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":589,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/06\/happy-belated-fathers-day.html","url_meta":{"origin":1290,"position":2},"title":"Happy Belated Father’s Day!","date":"20 June 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Belated Father's Day to any of my Dad readers! \u00a0We were happy to get to spend time with Dave's Dad early in the day at Dave's family reunion in Pennsylvania, then we drove down to my parents' house in West Virginia in time for dinner with my Dad. Earlier\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blogging\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-RmP52g4aKw0\/Tf-YB1BEpLI\/AAAAAAABWzk\/CmFBGyihTFg\/s400\/Dave_layout.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":164,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/06\/a-little-bit-of-catch-up.html","url_meta":{"origin":1290,"position":3},"title":"A Little Bit of Catch-up","date":"17 June 08","format":false,"excerpt":"\"So, what on earth have you been doing? I haven't seen a substantial posting in a while!\"Well, now that Timmy is napping and Jacob is in NEW YORK with his grandparents, I have a chance to catch up a little!On Thursday of last week, Dave's parents flew into town. Right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"cake decorating\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":653,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/10\/lt-col-vollmer-i-salute-you.html","url_meta":{"origin":1290,"position":4},"title":"Lt Col Vollmer, I Salute You!","date":"02 October 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Wanna know a secret? \u00a0I came in the Air Force about a year before my husband did. \u00a0Many of you know this, but many of you don't.Because I had switched to the AF reserves in 2005, the timing for competing for promotions became very different for the two of us.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"air force\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-IYtJ8xRhRv0\/TojAhzptInI\/AAAAAAABaJU\/NPsVW4tt99E\/s640\/photo.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4874,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2017\/01\/holiday-update.html","url_meta":{"origin":1290,"position":5},"title":"Happy New Year! A Family Holiday Update","date":"02 January 17","format":false,"excerpt":"Our family had a fun, although rather subdued, holiday season. Dave had a pretty major surgery Thanksgiving week -- a procedure called a \"microvascular decompression\" -- and he's been home recovering with the family for the month of December. Because of that, we kept our social calendar pretty empty: we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"During one of Dave's \"flu days\", I took the boys up the mountain to Beavercreek Ski Resort. It's a good-sized mountain with a very \"elegant\" feel to it. For starters, there are much less snowboard there. We don't snowboard (believe me, I tried!) but we've grown accustomed to the snowboarders at the smaller mountains we visit. 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