It's Here: The 7D

I had long planned to order my first 'real' camera in time for the honeymoon trip. The little Canon SD700 IS I've had for a few years has served me well (although its meeting with Patrick's driveway during a St. Patrick's Day party has left it a bit banged up), as did the S400 prior to that.

A few months ago, I bought a Canon S90. This camera is a level beyond the normal point and click Canons: far more control, very fast, and great low light performance for a compact. We'll bring it on the trip for sure -- this will be what Jen has with her the whole time.

I ended up settling on a Canon 7D (the 28-135mm kit version) for my first 'real' camera for this trip. Several friends are Canon people, and their lenses (and expertise) will surely come in handy. This baby arrived earlier today:

I picked up several other gadgets in the same order (Adorama, this time) that will be of use to me:

1. The Canon EF-S 17-55mm 2.8 lens
2. Lens hoods for the kit and the above lens
3. A little Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom mini (travel, in my case) tripod
4. A remote shutter release for use with the tripod
5. A B+W UV multi-coated filter for the 17-55
6. A SanDisk 16GB Extreme CF card
7. Both Blue Crane instructional DVDs for the 7D, to help me suck less
8. The Canon 9500mk2 wide (13"x19" capable) inkjet. Normally I'd have a hard time rationalizing this one, but Canon was running a crazy rebate when purchased with a 5Dmk2/7D/1D

I'll probably borrow a 70-200mm and bring the 17-55 on the trip. I've planned on carrying a day pack when Jen and I are out during the day on the trip, and so I'm likely to get one that is also very photography-targeted, but ideally without screaming "I have expensive photo gear within, please mug me". I think it is between the Tenba Shootout Backpack (in a medium), or one of the brand new Kata backpacks (Bumblebee 220, 222, or Beetle 282...not very well differentiated from one another). A friend's fiancée has the Tenba and loves it, whereas I don't know anyone with any of these particular Kata bags: they just went on sale March 1, and would have to be ordered (nobody in town sells them). After getting back from the trip, I'll probably take out the photography packing innards (they are removable with both bags) and use it as a regular daypack, putting the gear packing grid back in on the rare occasions I was taking a lot of gear on a hike of some sort. For 'normal' usage, I think I'd probably just carry some sort of messenger type of bag.