My First Digital Photo

On the 18 July 2000 I took my first digital photo with my first digital camera: a Kodak DC280 Zoom Digital Camera. The zoom was x2.

The picture was of two of my parents' 'mascots' which lived on the settee.  The koala was brought back by me from Australia the previous year. I cannot recall the origin of the other one.

We went for a drive to Delamere Forest where the next picture was taken. This one is of CJ and I and is unusually rare in that CJ is outside but does not have his camera on him (obviously it would have been within easy reach). Interestingly, despite being the owner of a newfangled digital camera, I am still carrying my trusty Pentax SLR which, in fact, I continued to use in parallel with the Kodak for several years.

 

The Kodak with it's 2x zoom. A far cry from the 50x zoom of my last digital camera (a Canon SX50) before I decided a couple of years ago to go back to Pentax but with a DSLR.  I still use the Canon occasionally for its sheer lightness and convenience.

A Camera Decision

For the last couple of months I've have Gaz's DSLR Canon EOS7 and assorted superb Canon lenses available to use. The reason was to help me decide whether I was going to continue using a bridge camera or go for a DSLR having abandoned the format when I started travelling so far away by plane where carrying a heavy DSLR with the lenses I would want just isn't practical.  There are a lot of pros and cons for each format but for me it came down in the end to my principal use of the camera, its versatility and it's portability.

What few people seem to realise (because few read the small print) is that any camera and suchlike equipment carried in the hold of a plane is not insured either by the carrier (because most carriers forbid its carriage in hold luggage) nor by most travel insurance policies.  Thus it has to be hand luggage.  Gaz's camera bag is designed to meet international travel flight sizes.  However it can't be carried on the FlyBe flights to and from the Island because it is too large and the weight limit is 6 kilos.  International flights I use usually allow 7 kilos.  Gaz's camera equipment weighs 14k and that's without his laptop etc.

My principal camera use is for my blogs and for photos of record.  I don't want to print A3 size pictures.  I do want to be able to photograph a landscape one minute and a buzzard flying above me the next.  It goes without saying that I want a comfortable body (don't we all), a good lens and the ability to shoot in RAW.  After that  Versatility is everything.

So my latest camera is another bridge camera but this time, as Sony have dropped their main selling point (imprinted GPS positioning on the metadata), I've switched to Canon and their 1200mm equivalent lensed SX50 HS.  So far I'm well pleased.

These shots were taken on a dull afternoon at full zoom with the camera hand held.  The buzzard is 244 metres away from me.  The images are not perfect by any means but they certainly serve their purpose for identification.

This picture of a robin taken through my kitchen window does show what the lens can offer in terms of clarity:

Horses For Courses

There has recently been some discussion about cameras and lenses in my neck of Blogland.  When this subject comes up I always get that yearning feeling for the days of the SLR and lenses that can define the segments of an eye at 100 paces.  Then reality kicks in.  Firstly there is the transportation problem.  [Oops.  I nearly said 'issue' but I would not want to upset Frances who has issues with issues].  The weight allowed in the cabin of a transcontinental plane is generally 6 kg.  My camera equipment used to weigh about 16 kg.  If it travels in the hold then neither the airline nor travel insurance will cover it.  Secondly for the type of photography I do an ability quickly to go from a telephoto to wide angle is important to me.  Thirdly there is the cost.  I won't go on.

Since 2004 when I bought my first bridge camera in California I have used bridge cameras.  I currently use a Sony DSC-HX100V with built in GPS and image stabilisation and a 30 x telephoto zoom lens giving 810mm equivalent.  It will produce the following with no change of lens and only a few seconds delay whilst the zoom operates.

Original image (tone mapped) at 'normal' format

Image taken immediately after the above using 30 x zoom

Image above 'enlarged' 

When I bought it last year it was just over £400 if I remember correctly.  That would just about buy a couple of filters for some SLRs.

Early this morning I took the following purely as an example:

Can you see the yacht? 

This one!  Oh yes there's a seagull there too and a bot on the horizon.

All of a sudden I'm more than satisfied with my camera equipment.

A Tiny Camera

"Well look at it this way" I said to myself this morning at 7am when the weatherman on the TV said that the rain (which had already been coming down for the previous three hours at least) wouldn't be clearing from the Hebrides until this evening "that's another opportunity to get on with things in the house."  So apart from our usual foray into town CJ and I have all day to get on with 'things' until we go out across the valley to friends for dinner and I have no temptation to go and concrete or cut grass or things like that. What a shame!

One of the things I will finish off is clearing the loft.  I spent a lot of yesterday going through my box of 'things from the past'.  One of those was the Ensign Midget miniature camera which our Uncle Eric took round Italy during the Second World War and with which he took many many hundreds of photos which, unfortunately, were to us when we sorted through them, completely unidentifiable.  Even by today's standards it is a small camera.

The last image shows it next to the VPK (Vest Pocket Kodak) which I 'inherited' from my Mother at a very early age (she went on to use a Kodak Box Brownie) and was, I think, the first non-plate camera which I used before I went onto a more 'modern' camera in my teens.

Doubtless you have not seen the last of the camera posts.

Oh and by the way, it's 0930 and the sun is shining.  The weathermen at 0700 were only half a day out with their predictions.  But that's the Hebrides for you.

My Own Bed and A Pod of Porpoises

Written last night before I fell asleep!

I love being away and staying with friends and family.  Which is exactly what I've been doing since the start of the month.  I also like my own home and friends are always welcome to come and share it with me.  So today I wended my way home from Glasgow and I am writing this at 1am in my own bed.

The journey was pretty awful: the construction of a new length of motorway between Glasgow and Stirling completely fooled me and the sat nav and I couldn't find my way onto it.  Eventually I got onto the Stirling carriageway by following the Glasgow sign (Glasgow being in the opposite direction) and trusting to instinct.  To make everything worse it rained or poured from Glasgow to within a few miles of Ullapool and the end of my Mainland journey where I catch the ferry.  However that wasn't the worst thing.  The average speed of many drivers - and the A9 road from Glasgow to Inverness is not a fast road at the best of times - was often no more than 30 to 40 mph.  That can increase a journey time by at least 25%.  It's a good job I started out early otherwise I may well have missed the ferry.

When I was a small boy my Dad told me always to take my camera with me.  For 60 years I've been obeying that advice and rarely is my camera far from me.  Now with the advent of the 5Mp camera in my cellphone I sometimes don't have the camera slung over my shoulder or have the compact camera in my pocket.  The cellphone camera is almost as good as my Canon compact.

However when a pod of porpoises shows itself racing alongside the boat across the Minch I need my long lens and my 'proper' camera.  Today I left the camera in the car - inaccessible in the boat's car deck.  So it was today that a pod of porpoises showed themselves and it was today I didn't have my proper camera with me.

Thankful Thursday

It's becoming harder each week to think of something new about which to be thankful.  It's not that I don't have a HUGE amount of things about which I am thankful but trying a) to think of them to order and b) to make it interesting is not so easy.   Actually it reminds me of what Richard Burton said on his wedding night when he married Liz Taylor for the second time.  He knew what was expected of him but he had no idea how to make it interesting. Ho hum.

Anyway I think I'll go for a biggie (or is it biggy? - spillchucker says biggie ) today.  OK so, yes, I am thankful for being alive and, no, I don't take that for granted.  Today I am thankful for warmth.  Now that might sound silly.  But let's think about it for a minute.  I was at a friends' recently and his ladyfriend was there so the house was cosy.  However left to his own devices his house is cooler than I enjoy.  That's because he doesn't like the heat and I do.  Conversely my house is too warm for him.

Ok I'm rambling.

The point is that when I came back to Scotland nearly a month ago I wore shorts in the garden when I was working.  Today when I went to town I wore jeans, a thick padded gilet (vest) and a Berghaus jacket with a separate down lining.  The weather is horrible.  So I've migrated from my Study with it's beautiful views and lots of light and all my computer gadgetry into my living room with it's ancient roll-top desk and books.  And I've been warm and cosy.

Actually looking at that chap in the chair I'm not sure I recognise him.  Last time I saw him from this angle he had hair!  His sleeves in New Zealand must be a bit longer as well judging by the white patch above the tan!

Anyway the point about this post is that, unlike millions, nay billions. in this world I have the wherewithall to ensure that I am warm when the outside temperature is cold.  For that I am truly thankful.

PS I'm also thankful for the small things this evening.  I dropped my camera with the lens extended.  It appears to have survived.  Oh yes.  Very thankful!

Technology and Gadgets

This week has been a very strange one in lots of ways - highs and lows in all sorts of ways but this is about the highs and lows of my technological week.

I set out on Monday to import all my photos to the Mac (I still haven't given it a name) and it's been quite an undertaking.  The Mac only downloads one copy of each image and so far I have nearly 46,000 images which I have taken (and so far kept) since my first digital camera in July 2000.  That's without all the images scanned from old photos etc.   The time is not so much taken up in the downloading but in the organising.  The iPhoto system is brilliant.   The first digital image I have was taken on my Kodak DC280 and was of the Koala and white teddy bear which used to sit on the back of my parents' settee (and now sit on the bed in my guest bedroom).  The next was of CJ and I taken in Delamere Forest - I still have my 'proper' camera slung round my neck.

My most important piece of gadgetry acquired this week resulted from Mark's post Geotagging way back in September 2008.  I'd logged it away all this time but matters were brought to a head a few weeks ago when I realised that I couldn't place a photo I'd taken and not labeled.  So I bought a Sony GPS-CS3KA.  Basically by coordinating the time on my camera and the GPS and keeping the GPS with me when taking photos I can insert the memory card with the photos on into the unit and it will  embed the location on the photos.  When they are downloaded onto the computer that information appears in the file's information.  It can then be used to show the location in Google Maps.  I think it is going to be one of the most useful gadgets I've got.

However even this pales into insignificance in the surprise stakes for me when I set up the wireless HP Photosmart B111 printer/copier/scanner which Apple were selling for £90 with a £70 cashback.  Although I have a plethora of printers acquired over time for various reasons the idea of getting rid of more wires from the study was too great for me to resist at the give-away price of £20.  I can always find a home for a spare printer or two.  When I set the printer up I noticed that it had its own email address.  Eh??  Why would a printer want an email address?  Answer: so that you can email it.  I have discovered (and it really works) that if I email something (including an attachment) from my phone or a computer to the printer wherever I am in the world it will print out on the printer.  That really amazed me.  It means that anyone visiting with their laptop (and plenty of my guests do bring a computer) can just print things out without having to download drivers or go through my computer on the network.  This is especially useful for visitors during the winter when I and my computer are not here anyway.

The next bit of technology has bitten the dust already!  I bought a diffusing fragrancer for the bathroom.  It was on half price offer.  It has batteries and when you go into the bathroom and stand within range it sends up a little spray of fragrance.  Unfortunately at the same time (and apparently intentionally) it makes a noise like an asthmatic cat on dope.  At 4am or 6am or, in fact at any time at all, that is calculated to shorten my life by 10 minutes.  Having lost several hours of life expectancy I decided that this was one gadget too many.  

Because I was used to the advantages of Windows Live Writer when I used  Windows and now that it's not available to me as a Mac user, I trialled and purchased Blogo.  It's not as good as WLW but it had advantages over Blogger's own editor - until, that is, the day after I purchased Blogo (or thereabouts).  Blogo decided to malfunction and wouldn't post, in fact it wouldn't do anything.  So I had to use Blogger.  I then discovered that the downloading of images which has always been one of Blogger's weak aspects in my mind had been improved so that multiple images can be used and inserted at the original (in my case 800 px size).  So that was one purchase I could have avoided.  I've not actually tried Blogo again since I re-installed it.

I'm A Sony Man Too Now.

It arrived late yesterday afternoon.  My new camera. I've not really had an opportunity to use it yet but I had to go to town today so, naturally, it came with me.  It is very intuitive and much easier to use than the Olympus although the eyepiece (which I uses a lot) is smaller.  So far I am delighted.  I met Pat for coffee at the Woodlands Centre which, despite the rain, looked quite picturesque in it's autumnal frame.  I even had a quick try of the panoramic function in the third image.  The cormorants were quite far out at sea on the Braighe so I was pleased with the definition.

 

 

 

A Replacement for My Olympus SP550UZ

A few days ago I dropped my Olympus SP550UZ with fatal results.  It had served me well for over 20,000 images over the last few years.  Fortunately it's not my only camera but it is the one that I use the most and for all my telephoto shots - it had an 18X optical zoom giving it a 28 to 450mm lens in conventional lens terms. Sandy of It's a Jungle Out There was wondering with what I would replace it.

What indeed?  I've been very satisfied with the Olympus with certain reservations: the lens is long and has a fragile and loose feel about it (mind you few camera lenses would survive a direct 1 metre drop onto a solid wood floor!)and the manual focussing was never entirely satisfactory.

So what are my requirements now?

Size is of paramount importance.  In this case small is good!  I would love (and have toyed with) going back to a full blown SLR with good telephoto and wide angle lenses.  In reality my lifestyle completely rules that out.  I travel a great deal by air.  Putting thousands of £s or $s worth of equipment in hold luggage is a lottery and virtually uninsurable.  My old camera and lenses weighed far more than my carry-on baggage allowance which has to include my lap-top as well as things I need on my journeys and my camera.  And the international carry-on allowance is generally 6 kilos (I don't travel first class!).  So I have restricted myself to a cross-over digital.

After size the optical zoom (focal length length equivalent) is very important.  I would like at least 560mm equivalent.  Good manual focussing (for flying birds) is on the agenda.  An in-camera panoramic ability would be good too. I also prefer re-chargeable AA batteries as a power source because one is always guaranteed power.  As all the following are fairly similarly priced price is not an issue.

So the question is "which one best satisfies those criteria?".  On the short-list are:

 

I tried the Canon SX!-IS because I am quite pro-Canon but  I absolutely could not get on with the manual focussing system.

 

I liked the Nikon Coolpix P90.  It has a 24X optical zoom giving a 26 - 624 mm equivalent. It has good write-ups and I liked the feel when I tried it.

The Olympus SP590UZ has a 26X optical zoom which is apparently very good.  Reviews criticise the noise when anything over ISO 200 is used and the fragility of the lens mechanism.  I have reservations as to whether the manual focussing system has been improved over the 550.

 

 

The Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ28 only has an 18X optical zoom but the lens is very much more compact than the Olympus and most of the others but at over a kilo it is very heavy. It does have excellent write-ups however.

CJ/Scriptor and Helen are Sony fans.  This is the DSC HX1 which CJ has.  I've tried it.  It is very intuitive and comfortable to use (though not, for me, as comfortable as the Olympus)  It meets most of my critera and is the only one with an inbuilt panoramic function.  It uses Sony-only lithium ion batteries and dedicated data cards and does not use mini-USB which most manufacturers have now agreed upon I am told.

So, on the basis that it is the only one with the panoramic function and meets most of my criteria, I have ordered the Sony.  Hopefully it will arrive soon.  The spare battery pack has already come.  So watch this space.

Requiescat in Pace

Well today has not so far been one of my more productive nor luckier days.  I was going to say disaster had struck and then I realised how appallingly insensitive that would have been.  Watching the horrors of the aftermath of the tsunami in the Pacific Islands and the earthquake in Sumatra anything that has happened here is as nothing in comparison.  Even the gales that are forecast for tonight and which we have been warned are likely to cause damage are unlikely to be more than a nuisance.  However in the scale of things in my life what I did today was at the irritating end of the scale.  I dropped my Olympus whilst trying to attach the monopod.  In actual fact the screw mounting on the camera failed.  The result is a dead Olympus.  Fortunately I am not camera-less but I am without my principal one.  We had become very attached and in the last couple of years have clocked up some 20,000 images together.  It'll be sad to be parted.

 

So now I have to decide on a replacement.  It's going to be a hard act to follow.