Savvy Toddler Mom

ChasingToddlerMom asked SavvyDad for some advice on buying a camera fast enough to catch our little ones in action.  I thought you all would be interested in his response…

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STM told me you’re looking for a new camera. Click here for a side-by-side of the cameras you mentioned.

Given this comment: “One of my very highest priorities is to be able to take a decent picture at a quick shutter speed…” it follows that more important even than the camera body (since all 4 that you mention can operate at ~1/4000s max shutter speeds) is the lens. The lens will determine how fast light can get into the camera.

A cheap lens won’t let enough light in during a 1/4000s shot to get a proper exposure. The camera, anticipating this, will slow down the shutter speed to allow more light in (for correct exposure), but gives your subject time to move while the shutter is open.

Here’s my order of preference of the cameras you suggested:

1) Nikon D60 - allows unlimited continuous (’rapidfire’) shots, great variety of available lenses

2) Canon Rebel XTi - plastic body feels iffy, but Canon also has nice lenses available

3) Sony A200 - Sony is new to the DSLR market. This is their second gen camera

4) Sony A100 - Their first DSLR. You know how when Windows XP first came out it wasn’t too stable? I think the same applies here. Sony’s big selling point is that ‘only their camera body’ has Image Stabilization - which is true, but only ’cause the other cameras put stabilization in the lenses.

Here’s the catch:

1) All 4 of those cameras come with equivalent kit lenses (18-55mm, f/3.5-f/5.6) Not especially great, but adequate.

2) You can tell a good lens by the f-number. An f/2.8 is a nice lens, an f/5.6 isn’t. This number corresponds with the max opening the shutter can have - and the more open the shutter, the more light can get in - this makes for quicker exposures. Nice lenses are “fast.”

3) Fast lenses are expensive (for example: Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is included, but the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 is $1200).

4) They include mediocre kit lenses with the camera so you’ll go by their nicer ones. And only Nikon lenses fit on Nikons, only Canon lenses fit on Canons, etc.

Here’s the conclusion:

1) SLRs are flexible, but it requires some know-how and some $$ do take advantage of it.

2) You can get fast cameras without, necessarily, an SLR, but be sure and look for that f/#. I suggest www.dpreview.com/ as a resource.

3) Once you settle on a couple of models, go to a camera store and hold them and try them. This is critical.

4) Pay attention to startup times and to shutter lag - the time from pressing the button to hearing the click. Shutter lag is death. Don’t by a camera that has shutter lag and don’t buy a camera that starts up slowly.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions. I love talking about this stuff.

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If you have camera questions for SavvyDad, please email him at the address on the right side bar.

Happy May Day!

The Children’s Place is having a Spring Sale on Amazon.com.  Check it out!

The first of my spring bulbs peeked through the soil today!  I am so excited!  Spring is finally here and it looks like we’ll even have warm weather this weekend (in the 70s!).

I took the toot to the dentist yesterday — he was great!  They gave him a Lightning McQueen toothbrush… oh my gosh.  I don’t think I’ve seen such a big smile in a while.  A big, clean smile.

[SavvyDad is guest-blogging today - Thanks, hon!] 

I think I almost got scammed by onestopmotors.com. I had to post a review of my experience. If you don’t want the details, skip to the last two paragraphs.

I was toying with the idea of selling my car recently and posted an ad in the local classified website, kslcars.com. The site allows you to post images and a description of your car - no charge. It goes in their database which is easily searchable by year, price, mileage, vicinity, etc. Very easy to browse for a car. No complaints about it.

Two days later, I got a call from a rep from One Stop Motors saying they saw my car ad on KSL’s website. They told me they can sell my car for more than I’m asking and that I can keep all the money they get for the sale. Naturally skeptical, I asked how they make money. He said, “By arranging the financing for buyers.” I was stuck in traffic and figured I could listen to the rest of the story. What followed was a very savvy sales pitch.

I gave them some specs on my car, and they gave me a quote about $1500 more than I was asking. For a $500 fee they would advertise my car on their network until it sold by doing keyword buys for search engines, posting on their affiliate sites, etc. Since ads cost money, they say, it’s in their interest to sell my car quickly. They told me they’d keep advertising until it sold, even if it cost more than the $500 I would be giving. It did make me wonder who would ever buy from them, though. You know they’re asking as much as they think they can get - more even than the actual owner thinks is fair. Whatever.

After their pitch, I expected some pressure to close the sale. To my surprise, it didn’t come. I said I’d think about it. He asked when he could call back. I said, effectively, “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.” “Okay,” he said. “Let me email you that quote and our website so you can check it out.” I gave him my email address, and that was the end of the call.

That email never came and a week later he called back. In the meantime, I went to their website and googled their name. The site looks legit enough. The other search results were …peculiar. The first results were mostly links to them. The #3 result was from a site called “Rip-Off Report,” with this blog entry, which reads like a sales pitch, clearly not an objective assessment of someone’s experience. Get this quote: “…they continue to fulfill their commitment to superior customer service…” and “*UPDATE Employee.. inside information ..OneStopMotors provides everything they say they will.” (How reassuring.) They clearly have a wide network of rather disingenuous bloggers. Many dozens of search results have URLs with some permutation of their name. I can’t prove they’re trying to drown out dissent, but if you were going to, this is exactly what it would look like.

So I go the the Better Business Bureau site and find this page which reports “this company is not a member” and “The company has an unsatisfactory record due to the failure to eliminate the underlying cause of consumer dissatisfaction.” This causes me to look deeper into google search results and find individual experiences. Then I ask myself, “If I give them $500, what keeps them from doing nothing?” According to one customer, “they keep calling untile[sic] they get your credit card # then you never here [sic] from them again.”

When I got the next call, I said I would not be doing business with them as I saw they weren’t members of the BBB. The sales rep told me, “The hell we’re not!” (They’re not.) He then insulted me and asked if I realized the volumes they deal with. Before I could respond, he hung up on me. It’s possible he had a point. According to the BBB, of “168 complaints in the last 36 months, 66 were closed in the last year,” which tells me they have made some efforts to resolve complaints. Whether it’s because they care about the customer, or the just bad publicity is anyone’s guess. FYI, Costco had a total of 257 complaints in the same time period.

I would not do business with One Stop Motors. If you pay $500 and they do a crappy job, you have no recourse. They have no incentive to be a strong advocate for you since they a) already have your money and b) have flooded search results with their sites, effectively burying objective evaluations/dissent/complaints. If you found this when researching these guys, then you’re a pretty savvy reader.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged!  I’ve had a rough couple of weeks… exhausting, frustrating, busy and expensive.  Among everything else, this was my car last Friday afternoon in the Westminster College parking garage.  Shot is from the rear left of my car:

Talk about “stuck in a tight spot.” 

It was not a good day.

The harder I tried to get AWAY from that concrete pole, the CLOSER I got to it, until I was right up against it.  Finally deciding that my driving abilities were beyond being able to get my car out of this precarious position without scratching it all the way down the side, I called SavvyDad.  Poor guy.  He had just gotten a wisdom tooth pulled and was half an hour away.  He had me call his uncle, who was there in under five minutes (hero of the day!!!) and was kind enough to back my car out without further damage.  It is a little scratched, but nothing a little buffing won’t take care of.  UGH.

The next day, my windshield got cracked by a flying rock.

See where the “expensive” bit is coming in?

Well, anyway… amidst the insane schedule I’ve had lately and all the ludicrous set-backs, I do have some good news!  Both my sister-in-law and SavvyDad’s cousin announced on Valentine’s Day that they are pregnant.  I’m so thrilled for both of them!  I’ll admit, though, that both announcements made me sad.  It’s hard for me to see time passing and the people around me having children and yet… I’m… not.  And it’s hard for me to explain — and be convincing — that while I’m sad for me, I’m so happy for them.

I think I’ve convinced CTM that there cannot be weirdness!  She’s six months along now (remember, we were supposed to be due the same day?) and since we see each other every other day, how awkward would it be to ignore the fact that she is having a baby? LOL  I am so grateful to her and her little boy on the way for helping me cope in a comfortable environment: with a close friend.  I’ve told her she’s not allowed to hold back — gotta tell me about the doctor’s appointments and nursery plans and baby kicks — and it’s my job to tell her when I can’t take it that day.  She is the absolute best.

Also good news… (I think…) I was called to the Relief Society presidency last week as the secretary.  I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to do it all.  Isn’t that the biggest question, though?  How do we do all the things we want to do with the time we are given?  I remember someone talking about Michelangelo and how many incredible things he did… but that he had the same amount of time given to him as the rest of us: one lifetime.

I was talking to a dear friend of mine two weeks ago and she said that she had a shift of perspective recently when she realized that life isn’t supposed to be easy.  It just isn’t.  If things were easy, how would we learn?  I get so hung up on the trials that I have… that life isn’t fair, or why me?  But really, that’s why we are here.  We need to learn to cope; to overcome and endure.

So here’s what I am doing: the absolute best coping, overcoming, and enduring that I can.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention… Amazon.com is having a Britax sale (best brand in convertible car seats) now through March 2nd.

I finally did it.  Yesterday I went the whole day without a Diet Coke.  First time in… a long time.  I woke up with a bad headache today, though, and ran for a can this morning.  Kinda sad.  So, here’s the breakdown:

Sunday: 1 diet coke
Monday: 1 diet coke
Tuesday: 0 diet coke
Wednesday: 1 diet coke

I’m going to try for zero again tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

I’m going in to have my blood drawn for those clotting tests today.  Hopefully we’ll be able to say definitively if that’s a problem or not.

CTM and I went to the gym again last night and I am pretty tired and sore today.  It feels really good. :)  We are going again tonight!

I wanted to touch for a minute on a great Toddler Trip that is a favorite of mine and the toot’s: going to Target.  We went yesterday — an hour of wandering and browsing.  We both had a great time.  The toot LOVES to look at the toy cars, and is actually pretty good about not needing to take all of them home.  (We do bring home a random hot wheels here and there… but they are $1!)  He also loves to identify all the stuff he can, from pineapples to pajamas.

I found a new line of toys that Cranium has put together exclusively for Target, called “Bloom.”  I could only find these six on their web site, but they had a few more at the store.  This cooking set is similar to some of the others I saw, like sandwich stacker sets both for sandwiches and burgers.  They also seemed pretty affordable, with prices ranging between $10-$15.  Very cute.

Happy Monday!  I have some sweet deals to share…

I stumbled across a Graco TurboBooster this morning for $36.24!  Graco TurboBoosters normally retail around $50.  This one is in “Simpson Racing” (very boy) — the regular retail cost listed is $89.99.  Amazon.com has is right now for $36.24.  (Did I mention that?)  Get ‘em while they’re hot!

I also found some Jiffy Lube coupons at www.jiffylubeutah.com.  My Toyota Sienna needs an oil change and inspection.  I can’t believe I’ve had it for a year already.  I still absolutely love it.