Yesterday I went to my 6-year old cousin’s dance recital. It has become the family custom in the past few months that Chris and I are the family photographers for almost every event, so much so that other members of the family now leave their cameras at home. This even partially extends to my aunt’s “extended family”, which includes people who have been friends of the family for many years. Although, for dance recitals, it would be nice to be informed of the reliance ahead of time, as it makes it easier to acquire shots of the desired child.

Now, on to the real point of this post, lens envy. When I was setting up for shooting at the incredibly dark event (think typical dance theater type lighting), in walks the professional photographers of the event. One is carrying a Canon DSLR with a lens assembly longer than my arm, as well as another who is carrying a Nikon D2X armed with a Nikon f/2.8 70-200mm AF lens (or a very closely similar lens). Quite jealous was I. I do not know how I would ever transport a camera that size with that type of lens, I would be terrified to carry it to most things I like to photo.

I think I did OK with the equipment I have, but a little more light sensitivity would have been nice, but I’m not quite ready to spend $1,500 on a lens that I will only have a need for once a year. Maybe next year, if I am in the photography business, I might consider acquiring one. I shot nearly 1,300 images yesterday on the performance. I have only had the chance to glance through them, not really focus much on them at all, so at some point today I have to go through and throw out the absolutely useless images, work on the ones that are salvageable (ISO noise issues, dark, etc), and prepare to distribute anything good. I’m not extremely confident in my photos from yesterday, but I do think it was a good learning experience for me, including learning that RAW is a very resilient format (although too huge for normal use).