One of my absolute favorite activities is researching (and especially buying) new photography gear. There are few things that I enjoy as much as unwrapping (they are always well wrapped), setting up, and playing with a new lens or camera. 2012 is expected to be a very big year for new pro Canon equipment, with a new 5D/6D camera widely considered to be a matter of time and some new versions of workhorse L series lenses likely to come out as well. I check in occasionally with the gear gossip on CanonRumors.com and on photography forums, and I think about how much fun it is to get some fancy new stuff.

So now that the fall crazy is over (I think I’m down to ONE more 2011 session to blog), I thought that it would be fun to do a little series on photography for mamas (and daddies), following up on the Clickin’ Mamas workshops that we did in 2011 (and amenable to being read in the comfort of your climate controlled home, rather than in the sweltering/freezing temps that mamas have endured at our workshops so far).

Please feel free to leave comments here or on my FB page with your questions, your opinions, to let me know how useful this first installment is (or isn’t), to suggest future topics, etc. All of what follows is my opinion ~ there’s no photography gospel, but hopefully we can have a little fun talking clickin’, cameras, etc.

Beth’s Mini Guide to Buying a New Family Camera:

One thing that people talk a lot about that really is *not* a factor to worry much about: How many megapixels does the camera have? As long as you’re over about 5-6MP, that spec is not especially useful. Sensor size has more to do with image quality than megapixel count alone does, and you can actually get lower image quality by cramming too many MP on a small sensor. As a frame of reference, my first DSLR had 8.2MP and made nice 24×30 prints given that the file was good to start with. I took a workshop years ago with a man who made billboards from his images out of a camera with fewer than 6MP. Also, more megapixels = larger files = more taxing on your computer and more space required to store. Fine if you need them, but more isn’t necessarily better.

The Two Main Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Buy:
1) What is the main purpose of buying a new camera? (The more specific you can be about what you want to be able to do with your new camera, the better)
and
2) How much time do you want to invest learning how to use your new camera?

Some possible answers to Question #1:
* To get a camera that takes a picture immediately when I press the shutter button
* To get a camera that takes better pictures in _________ (gymnasiums, low light, dance recitals, etc.)
* To get close-up shots when I’m in the stands at my kid’s ballgames
* To get a camera that will allow me more control over the settings
* To get a camera that will allow me to get decent pictures on auto

Some possible answers to Question #2:
* 5 minutes and I’ll be drying my hair at the same time ~ did I mention that it needs to take good pictures on auto?
* Realistically, I’m willing to spend an hour or two learning a little about how the camera works while the battery charges.
* I see this as a major hobby and want a camera that will grow with me as I learn for at least a year or two.

The answers to these questions will help you get the best value for your budget when you buy a new camera.

Camera Phones:

Where Camera Phones Shine: I love my camera phone, and it’s (shhhh) a Droid model.

Source: http://android-apps.com/articles/report-htc-droid-incredible-to-receive-android-2-2-starting-august-18/

I nearly always have my phone with me, and that’s its strongest point. It lets me photograph little things that I would miss otherwise. I also love that a few clicks let me send a photo of D to Facebook, grandparents, etc. ~ so the fact that it’s there and it’s easy are big points in its favor. If you have an iPhone, extra cool points for getting to make Instagrams.

Drawbacks/Considerations: On the one hand, I truly believe that the photographer is the most important element in producing an image, and that any camera is just a tool. I have a fairly old film camera that I am really happy with in terms of image quality, and I’ve honestly seen loads of bad photographs from really capable cameras. I also love the collections of iPhone images that show just how much you can do with a camera phone. But my experience is that the image quality from my Droid in most cases doesn’t compare to snaps out of almost any real camera, and the more challenging the conditions, the worse my camera phone does. It doesn’t help the camera’s performance that the situations where I want it ~ those when I don’t have a real camera handy ~ are usually tough in terms of the subject (moving children) and the situation (often low/bad light where I have little time and little control). But if the proof is in the pudding, I’d say that the images out of my camera phone are instant pudding at best ~ good for having captured moments that I’d have missed otherwise but bad in terms of image quality.

On a related note, most of us just don’t back camera phone images up (I’m a fanatical backer-upper, and I am not great about it with my phone, either). The portability that makes camera phones great also makes them even more vulnerable than other cameras to image loss (whether through memory failure, loss of the actual phone, or accidental drowning/smashing/washing/etc. Bottom Line: Great for quick shots of little things that you’d miss otherwise; not a substitute for a family camera in my opinion.

Point and Shoot Cameras:
(For my purposes, we’ll say that any small camera with a single lens that cannot be switched out is a p&s; prices range from $50-$600ish depending on features.)

Where P&S Cameras Shine: I think that these are the unsung heroes of photography today. If you want a portable camera that is meant to take good photographs on auto right out of the box, P&S cameras are a good option. Imo, DSLRs get the attention, but point and shoots come in a huge range of price points and offer all sorts of combinations of features that make them a great option for families. The best ones are in the price range of entry-level DSLRs and offer similar image quality and manual control. In that price bracket ($500-600 or so), you’ll get good low light performance, the ability to shoot in auto, semi-auto, and manual modes fairly easily, and very good image quality in a very small and portable package. In the $200-$400 range, you can find good image quality, a nice range of features, and cameras that are meant to be shot primarily in auto modes. Almost any of them will take better photographs than a camera phone while still being easy to throw in a purse, diaper bag, beach tote, etc. To me, that last concern is a big one ~ I’m mostly past the diaper bag phase (for a little while anyway), but I usually have a giant mom purse and a snack bag with me when I am out. I really have to think hard about whether to add an additional bag to carry my DSLR. And don’t even get me started about taking it on a plane.

Drawbacks/Considerations: The two main potential drawbacks, which vary with price and model, are shutter lag and sensor size. A long interval of shutter lag is a big problem if you’re photographing children and is probably the most common complaint that I hear from people looking to upgrade their cameras. The term refers to the time between your pressing the shutter button and the camera’s snapping the picture, and if your child is more than about 5 days old, you know that it is really annoying. You can find the shutter lag in the specs of cameras that you’re considering (quoted as a fraction of a second), but my advice is to try actual cameras with your actual children to see whether a camera you’re considering is fast enough. Some things that slow P&S cameras down ~ auto face/smile detection and red-eye reduction. Turn those off to see the best case scenario for a camera’s shutter lag (provided that you’re willing to leave the off in real life). Some P&S cameras have done a great job of controlling shutter lag, and others have a bad case of it. Very generally, less expensive cameras have a longer lag time. The smaller sensor size of P&S cameras is their other main possible drawback. The smaller sensors do affect image quality negatively (particularly in challenging circumstances like low light). The main question here is, again imo, is the image quality good enough for what you want to do? (That’s true for any camera.) In many cases I believe that the answer is yes, particularly with mid-range and higher-end models, given their other advantages.

Next installment: Entry-Level DSLRs

I had a great time yesterday meeting lots of Triangle mamas and their little ones at the first Fit Mama Fest held at the new Stroller Strides storefront space at Cary Towne Center (near Dillard’s). Jen, the owner of Stroller Strides of Raleigh, has done an awesome job transforming the space into a kid- and mama-friendly area for exercise, play, and yesterday’s big event.

If you’re a local mom, be sure to check out the Stroller Strides of Raleigh Facebook page for more information about the workout schedule, Body Back (a new fitness program to help mamas get back into shape months or years after having little ones), and kid-friendly events going on all the time. This organization and its events are one of my best local “finds” since becoming a mom ~ I’ve met lots of people I count as good friends (and co-conspirators as we team up to thwart tantrums in the mall).

Thank you to all of the moms who entered the drawing at my table yesterday. I’m excited to announce that Crystal won the A. E. Wiley Photography portrait session drawing, which includes a session and a matted, signed 8×10 Signature Print. Crystal ~ I just sent you an email with the details and am looking forward to photographing your little ones!

Here is the play by play of D choosing Crystal as our winner!

The entries:

Making his selection:

We have a winner:

Showing off his choice:

Double-checking ~ Reminiscent of Florida in 2000:

I read somewhere recently that the variable with the highest predictive value when it comes to maternal depression is infant sleep. That is, the less your infant sleeps, the more likely you are to be depressed. Or crazy, imho — that wasn’t in the study.

My son likes to say “night night” and to play it, too — by resting his head on the couch, my lap, etc. It is telling that he does so with his eyes open. My dear, sweet, wonderful child has never been big on sleep. My aunt was quick to remind me that I was “an infant insomniac,” so I suppose it’s my just desserts. And truly he is a great nighttime sleeper now. But in his first year we struggled periodically with nighttime sleep and continually with napping.

And that, ladies (and gentlemen) who have read this far, is the topic of this much overdue “mother wit” post: Sleep, and how we got some. I admit that I’m crossing my fingers as we speak hoping not to jinx our several week old 7 PM-8 (yes, you read that correctly) AM sleep schedule that still allows for a nap more days than not. In keeping with the no guilt spirit of mother wit, please know that we tried a bunch of stuff that didn’t work for us but worked for others. We found success with all of the things below, but of course no two babies are alike, I’m not a pediatrician, and I’m not really recommending anything — just listing a few things that I wish I’d tried sooner but am glad I tried at some point. Especially those curtains!

As an aside, the swaddling recommendations changed during the course of my birth class (from arms in, which worked like a charm, to arms out, which seems like an oxymoron), and as a nervous first-time mom, I stressed a lot over the safety and ethics of swaddling D in an unapproved method — or, more specifically, in a method that had lost its accreditation in the month or so before he was born.

So, I’m listing some notable items and ideas that I’m grateful to have discovered, been given, or had recommended. If you have a great idea, please leave a comment — the more, the merrier. Please don’t think that I’m suggesting that you try anything that doesn’t sound reasonable to you, your doctor, your baby, etc. And if you can borrow something before you buy it, that may be the best advice of all.

1. Happiest Baby on the Block — The Five S’s are real. YouTube demos abound, including some with Dr. Karp himself.

2. Aden + Anais swaddlers — These were the best swaddle blankets that I found, and D loved being swaddled. I would go so far as to say that he needed it. The blankets are larger than any others that I found, and they are a loose weave, which makes them fit snugly while still seeming to breathe.

3. Sleep Sheep — Perhaps any white noise maker will do, but someone mentioned this one in D’s first month and I never looked back. The Sleep Sheep is cute, portable, and easy on batteries. We still use it almost 18 months in.

4. A cradle swing — I have a vivid image in my head of walking by the newborn nursery at Rex and seeing D whipping from side to side in a navy blue cradle swing. That image turned out to serve as foreshadowing as well. Once we got a cradle swing when D was a few months old, he slept in it until he could begin to sit up. Again, I’m not recommending that for your baby, but it worked for us. The transition to a crib wasn’t a crisis. I’m not saying that your baby won’t get addicted, but I got a lot of sleep in the months that D slept in the swing. If they had them for kindergarteners, I’d buy one.

5. Blackout curtains — I bought a set about a month ago, and I am kicking myself for not doing this when we found out that we were going to have a baby. We’re getting about an hour more sleep in the morning than we did before we purchased them. It’s not a controlled experiment, but we lost that extra morning hour on a recent trip to MD, and we got it back when we returned to the room with the curtains. Naptime is also somewhat less of a production in terms of getting D settled down to sleep — he does not sleep longer during nap, though. I tried to get a shot of the room to show the curtains’ effect, but basically it’s DARK in the room with the curtains drawn, regardless of time of day.

D’s room at the end of his afternoon nap — curtains drawn and door shut. (I did a little digital darkroom work to make D visible.)

D’s room at the same time — curtains opened.

I’m a researcher and a chit-chatter, so between my penchant for gab and my subscription to Consumer Reports, I’ve amassed quite a lot of info that has been shared generously by other moms and a few professional kid people. One of my goals for 2011 is to do more “gosh I wish I’d known” posts to pass along the “mother wit” that has been shared with me.

If you have suggestions for topics or hints to pass along, I’m always looking for a good idea : ) As always, I think that mamas should use their superpowers to fight the evil of mommy guilt. If you want to try cloth diapers or are just curious as to why anyone would, read on and hopefully find yourself a little entertained. If you don’t, more power to you. I thought that I would make all of my own organic baby food, too. And then I realized that I was kinda tired and Gerber does puree so well!

Anyway, I decided to kick off the “mother wit” posts with one about the topic that provoked the most baby shower conversation when I was pregnant: my idea of trying cloth diapers. I know that cloth diapering is not optional in some circles, but my people love Pampers, and I love my people. So, cloth diapering made me weird in this area (probably not the only one). My favorite comment of all is the title for this post — and I heard it more than once: To be clear, I do not have a separate washer for the cloth diapers. Bleach is my friend, though, and my jeans smell just fine, thanks : )

In most things, I’m moderate by nature, so I went with the idea that I’d buy a few different kinds of diapers, would try them after we got nursing and other mysteries under control, and would just see how it went. The deal I made with Jonathan, who was ready to buy stock in Pampers and to install an outdoor chute (not shoot — sorry) to convey the diapers downstairs without sacrificing indoor air quality, was that he didn’t have to use or wash any cloth diapers.

With a small stock of cloth diapers in a bunch of sizes ready to go, I waited for David’s umbilical cord stump to fall off, and then we started trying some cloth amid the Pampers Swaddlers. To summarize about a month’s worth of experimentation:

What I hated: I hated disassembling dirty diapers (as most are composed of an absorbent liner and some kind of purportedly waterproof cover — and I should say here that waterproof was the least of our problems). I was also not a huge fan of diaper pins or of special washing rituals to cleanse the diapers of diaper creams, etc. (We’ve been lucky about diaper rash, but when D has had it, I have switched to paper diapers for the duration to avoid having to strip cloth diapers — a big pain — or to give up my beloved Desitin.) I did not like traveling with cloth diapers, either — so when we go out for the day, I probably use paper diapers 50% of the time, and I use them 100% of the time on vacation, as well as for the occasional fill-in if I’m behind on laundry.

What I liked: I found a brand of cloth diapers that I just love — they can be washed without taking the liners out (thank you, Aunt J!), they almost never leak (much better than Pampers, which released some icky gel crystals that scared me to death until I realized what they were — this is what sold Jonathan on cloth), and they are one-size-fits-most, meaning that my almost 18-month-old is wearing the same diapers that he wore as a one-month-old. They also come in the cutest colors that you ever saw — that’s their portrait above. I do appreciate the conservation aspect more now, and I appreciate the fact that my initial investment in diapers has made it about 15 months and counting, with the addition of flushable liners (which are kind of like dryer sheets) now that David is eating real food.

If you’re thinking of trying cloth: Ultimately, I found that 14 Bum Genius all-in-ones was enough for us, assuming about a load of diaper laundry every other day. They are easy to wash and to assemble, and they have fit David well from the time that he was about a month old until now (almost a year and a half later) and are still going strong. Jonathan actually does everything (except wash them) enthusiastically precisely because those things don’t leak. They are a great brand, but I would try one or two in a variety of styles before deciding about cloth in general and brands specifically.

If you do want to give cloth diapers a shot, there are many great local shops that carry diapers and accessories. Personally, I really like Green Pea Baby Store in Apex for advice, supplies, and even cloth diapering classes. In addition to an adorable brick-and-mortar store in the historic downtown area of Apex, they also have an online store that offers free shipping with orders of $75 or more. And they’re super nice. And they don’t even know that I’m writing this, but I’ll probably tell them. Who doesn’t like a little attagirl now and then?

Feel free to post a question if you have one, and I’ll try to answer or to point you in the right direction. I’m not an expert by any means, but I can probably help you get to one.