Blog By Night

It is finished. Another late night e-file. Apparently, we don’t pay enough taxes. Arg!

This weekend, I saw far more of my 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue than I ever thought I would. She needed a tune up, and Shawnee’s brother Phil offered to show me how to do it. So, with some (OK, a lot of) guidance, I changed the spark plugs, the fuel filter, the PCV and changed the transmission fluid and filter. Not particularly difficult to do, just time consuming and I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do without Phil’s guidance. Also looked at the back brakes, but there is still plenty of pad there, so we didn’t change those. About $100 in parts that would have $500 or so at a shop or dealership. Thank you, Phil!
Another fun (and educational) weekend up north.

The foundation is now complete! Yesterday, I picked up a used Canon 16-35mm F2.8 L lens from the good folks at National Camera Exchange. I was able to talk them down to $950 for the minor inconveniences of not having the original Canon lens cap (it has a Nikon lens cap, of all things) and the soft case. So, I basically got the UV filter for free. I can’t wait to start shooting with it.
What’s this about a foundation, you ask? Well, let me tell you! I have a growing collection of lenses, but there are basically three that I own that I consider to be of high enough quality for professional use. Together, these three lenses cover the normal zoom range required for portrait, wedding and theatrical work, while all provide sharp images and a fast aperture.
The Canon 70-200mm F4 L (Someday, I’ll upgrade to the 2.8 version)
The Tamron 28-75 F2.8 XR Di
The Canon 16-35mm F2.8 L