Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Is it Spring yet?
I don't think it is Spring yet although it is noticeable every day that it is staying light a little later in the evening. I really am ready for Spring, though, as I really don't like winter. Today we are expecting a high temp of close to 50 and not much wind, so that isn't too bad, for a January day but I really like temps in the 70s better.
Another thing I'd like to see end is this silly season of political junk. I don't know why the major political parties make us go through all these hoops, listening to this crap on TV and radio, seeing more of it in the newspapers and probably magazines but I don't read many of those. The parties pretty much know who they are going to foist off on us and we really won't have much choice, then come the election in November we can mark our ballots for Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum and there really isn't much difference between them. Maybe at least after that Congress can do the work of the people rather than only paying attention to what they think will best help them get re-elected and of course raising more money for those stupid ads. Some time ago (years) I read that our Presidential election may eventually come down to a National Lottery and the loser will be stuck with the job. I think that time is getting close.
I really haven't taken my new little camera out to play with it very much as the weather hasn't been very nice or the kind that would entice me to do that. We are starting to think about getting away to go somewhere this spring but the challenge is trying to figure out when "spring" might be here. Maybe by the end of February we will start getting some really nice days and about that time some of the early flowering trees and bushes may spring out with blooms. See, everything points to spring!
Another thing I'd like to see end is this silly season of political junk. I don't know why the major political parties make us go through all these hoops, listening to this crap on TV and radio, seeing more of it in the newspapers and probably magazines but I don't read many of those. The parties pretty much know who they are going to foist off on us and we really won't have much choice, then come the election in November we can mark our ballots for Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum and there really isn't much difference between them. Maybe at least after that Congress can do the work of the people rather than only paying attention to what they think will best help them get re-elected and of course raising more money for those stupid ads. Some time ago (years) I read that our Presidential election may eventually come down to a National Lottery and the loser will be stuck with the job. I think that time is getting close.
I really haven't taken my new little camera out to play with it very much as the weather hasn't been very nice or the kind that would entice me to do that. We are starting to think about getting away to go somewhere this spring but the challenge is trying to figure out when "spring" might be here. Maybe by the end of February we will start getting some really nice days and about that time some of the early flowering trees and bushes may spring out with blooms. See, everything points to spring!
Labels: Flowers, Griping, Photo gear, Weather
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Trying out my new camera
I really love my Nikon D200 camera and the quality of photos that I get from it. I have half a dozen different lenses, a special flash unit that works with it and some other features that make it a wonderful system. BUT, it is large and heavy to carry around so I find it tends to sit at home on a shelf unless I know that I will specifically want it to take photos, so then take it along. Sometimes I'll even take an extra lens or the flash unit, too.
So, I saw an ad on TV for a new Nikon camera, the Nikon 1, that looked good, offers some of the features of the D200 (interchangeable lenses, view finder, etc) plus a lot of things that the D200 will not do. I looked into it and found that Nikon had sale prices on the lenses that go with it that would be in effect until the end of the year. I hadn't yet bought myself a Christmas present, so went ahead and ordered the basic camera that comes with a 10 to 30mm zoom lens ($50 off on the sale) and a 30 to 110mm lens ($100 off!) from Amazon.com. They came last Thursday- the UPS guy came with it about 11:00am. I put the battery on to charge and Pat & I went out to lunch, with the quick start direction sheet.
When we got home, the battery was fully charged so I put the unit together, found an empty SD memory card, took a picture of Pat & one of our cats, Peewee
and I headed off to my local Starbucks to read the owners book, drink a mocha and learn about my new toy.
I decided to start out with it just letting it handle its own settings so took a couple of photos of one of our barista's while sitting at my table drinking my mocha and reading
This photo is totally unchanged from when it came out of the camera except to reduce its pixel count to upload to Flickr and I think the camera did a very good job on setting the best white balance, exposure and focus.
By the time I headed home at almost 17:00 it was getting dark and the homes in our park had begun turning on their outside Christmas lights. I thought that would be a good test of the automatic settings, plus it was raining so there should be some pretty good reflections on the wet pavement. Here are a couple of those shots, again with very little correcting of the image after it came from the camera.
Yesterday we went to lunch with a good friend over to La Conner, Washington. La Conner is a quaint little village on a waterway that separates Fidalgo Island from the mainland and the restaurant we went to is right on that water way. I left Pat & Barbara to place my order with theirs and went outside onto the dock to take some photos. It was a crisp, windy but sunny winter day and although it was shortly after noon, the sun in the winter this far north is waaaaay to the south in the sky so even at noon we don't have that terrible directly overhead lighting that you tend to worry about while taking photos around noon. I am just including one photo that looks across the waterway toward the Indian Reservation but I think it shows what the little camera is capable of in delivering landscape photos.
My lovely bride and I have a habit of going out to breakfast together on Saturday mornings and I have been carrying this little toy along so of course used it to take a picture of Patti B as she sat across the table from me.
There has been no image changing here, other than a very slight darkening of the image so it is almost as it came from the camera. There is a fireplace to her left providing some lighting and the lighting in this part of the restaurant is what I'd call cozy comfortable (not real bright) but the camera seems to have handled it very well.
I like the Nikon 1. There are two models, the V1 with a viewfinder and a 3" monitor screen. When you put your eye to the viewfinder, the monitor turns off. The other model (L1) just has the monitor screen. In my experience, those monitors are harder to use especially in bright light, so I spent a little more money and got the one with the viewfinder. So far I've only played with the standard lens which goes from a slight wide angle view at 10mm to a slight telephoto view at 30mm. The aspect ratio to compare to a lens length on a standard 35mm camera is 2.7, so the "normal" image size would be with this at about 18.5mm. Shorter than that would be considered a wide angle view, longer a telephoto view. At the higher 30mm setting (81mm on a 35mm camera) it is about the perfect length for people portraits. Oh, and the camera will take HD level video with sound and even has a connector for an external microphone for the audio. Some day I will get brave and give that a try but for now, I am having a lot of fun learning how to use it to take still photos.
I hope everyone who reads this had a good Christmas and will follow with a Happy New Year. Pat & I don't like to go very far from home on New Year's Eve but will be going to a party here in our park with the Singles Group. We went to events with them before we were married and they keep telling us to please continue coming as they consider us to be alumni.
So, I saw an ad on TV for a new Nikon camera, the Nikon 1, that looked good, offers some of the features of the D200 (interchangeable lenses, view finder, etc) plus a lot of things that the D200 will not do. I looked into it and found that Nikon had sale prices on the lenses that go with it that would be in effect until the end of the year. I hadn't yet bought myself a Christmas present, so went ahead and ordered the basic camera that comes with a 10 to 30mm zoom lens ($50 off on the sale) and a 30 to 110mm lens ($100 off!) from Amazon.com. They came last Thursday- the UPS guy came with it about 11:00am. I put the battery on to charge and Pat & I went out to lunch, with the quick start direction sheet.
When we got home, the battery was fully charged so I put the unit together, found an empty SD memory card, took a picture of Pat & one of our cats, Peewee
and I headed off to my local Starbucks to read the owners book, drink a mocha and learn about my new toy.
I decided to start out with it just letting it handle its own settings so took a couple of photos of one of our barista's while sitting at my table drinking my mocha and reading
This photo is totally unchanged from when it came out of the camera except to reduce its pixel count to upload to Flickr and I think the camera did a very good job on setting the best white balance, exposure and focus.
By the time I headed home at almost 17:00 it was getting dark and the homes in our park had begun turning on their outside Christmas lights. I thought that would be a good test of the automatic settings, plus it was raining so there should be some pretty good reflections on the wet pavement. Here are a couple of those shots, again with very little correcting of the image after it came from the camera.
Yesterday we went to lunch with a good friend over to La Conner, Washington. La Conner is a quaint little village on a waterway that separates Fidalgo Island from the mainland and the restaurant we went to is right on that water way. I left Pat & Barbara to place my order with theirs and went outside onto the dock to take some photos. It was a crisp, windy but sunny winter day and although it was shortly after noon, the sun in the winter this far north is waaaaay to the south in the sky so even at noon we don't have that terrible directly overhead lighting that you tend to worry about while taking photos around noon. I am just including one photo that looks across the waterway toward the Indian Reservation but I think it shows what the little camera is capable of in delivering landscape photos.
My lovely bride and I have a habit of going out to breakfast together on Saturday mornings and I have been carrying this little toy along so of course used it to take a picture of Patti B as she sat across the table from me.
There has been no image changing here, other than a very slight darkening of the image so it is almost as it came from the camera. There is a fireplace to her left providing some lighting and the lighting in this part of the restaurant is what I'd call cozy comfortable (not real bright) but the camera seems to have handled it very well.
I like the Nikon 1. There are two models, the V1 with a viewfinder and a 3" monitor screen. When you put your eye to the viewfinder, the monitor turns off. The other model (L1) just has the monitor screen. In my experience, those monitors are harder to use especially in bright light, so I spent a little more money and got the one with the viewfinder. So far I've only played with the standard lens which goes from a slight wide angle view at 10mm to a slight telephoto view at 30mm. The aspect ratio to compare to a lens length on a standard 35mm camera is 2.7, so the "normal" image size would be with this at about 18.5mm. Shorter than that would be considered a wide angle view, longer a telephoto view. At the higher 30mm setting (81mm on a 35mm camera) it is about the perfect length for people portraits. Oh, and the camera will take HD level video with sound and even has a connector for an external microphone for the audio. Some day I will get brave and give that a try but for now, I am having a lot of fun learning how to use it to take still photos.
I hope everyone who reads this had a good Christmas and will follow with a Happy New Year. Pat & I don't like to go very far from home on New Year's Eve but will be going to a party here in our park with the Singles Group. We went to events with them before we were married and they keep telling us to please continue coming as they consider us to be alumni.
Labels: Christmas, Events, Holidays, Landscapes, Our cats, Pat and I, Photo gear, Photos
Friday, January 09, 2009
Weather, Mexican Train and digital video
Huh? How do these three different things relate to me? Well, let me tell you. Our weather warmed up, a lot, and we got a lot of rainfall over the last week. Enough that along with the snow we had on the ground when all of this started, we had flooding around the whole western part of the state. One recording station down on the Pacific Coast has recorded over 20 inches of rain since the first of the year. That rainfall, plus the melting of two feet or so of snow, caused the ground to be super saturated to the point that it couldn't absorb more water. So, the small creeks and streams swelled way over their banks and we had flooding in places where it had never before flooded. Our main river (the Skagit) came close but the dams upriver were able to hold back the worst of it so that it barely reached flood stage, which put some water into some fields and over a few roads but there was not much damage in our immediate area. From it. But other areas and other rivers were not so lucky.
But the damage from smaller streams and super saturated hillsides sliding down has brought a lot of problems to many people. A twenty mile section of Interstate 5 about halfway between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, the main north/south highway on the west coast, was closed for over two days. All of the mountain passes through the Cascade Mountains were closed to both truck and rail traffic. They are now as of this afternoon finally open but the cost due to delays in moving freight was considerable. The forecast calls for more rain this weekend but at normal winter amounts, then a week or more of sunshine and dry weather. We need it.
On to Mexican Train. I wrote my last post a week ago, just before we played our weekly game of dominoes called Mexican Train. Everyone antes up a dollar. The challenge is to accumulate as few points as possible, playing from the 12 spot dominoes down to the blanks. A game takes two to two & a half hours. The winner gets all of the dollars except for one, which goes out as a booby prize to the person who gets the most points. Last week, I won one of those, Pat won the other. I won't say who was the big winner and who the big looser, but we did keep it in the family and the proceeds will finance our playing for three more weeks. One of which was last night, when neither of us won anything. Bummer.
Now digital video. I expect all of us have had some experience with video taping things. I've had a couple of camcorders, the most recent one a VHS-C unit we bought ten years ago just before a trip to Hawaii. I've always wanted to go to a digital camcorder but was never willing to spend the money on one. Well, I just did. I ordered one last night from Amazon.com and it should be here early next week. Boy, do I have a lot to learn as photography with these things is a LOT different from digital still photography. I've got six books on order (two are here) on digital photography and my editing software of choice, Adobe Premiere Elements 7, which I picked up today.
I did a lot of looking at various cameras and "talked" (mostly via email) with quite a few people. I wasn't going to put out the $3000 - $5000 for a professional camera system and I decided against even going for an HD system. I don't know how much I'll use it so will just start with a standard definition system that will do a good job with wide screen images. My other systems have been Panasonic brand and that is what I stayed with this time, a Panasonic SDR-H60 hybrid camera. It is hybrid in that it has a built in 60GB hard drive but it also takes SDHC memory cards that it will save your data to. Either the hard disk or the memory cards. The camera has a 50X zoom lens so it covers an extremely wide range of focal lengths and it has what is probably about the best vibration reduction system built in which is important to help keep those very long telephoto views stationary. Just the slight shaking in your hands as you hold the camera (if it isn't on a tripod) can make those long shots look odd as the camera moves around. If you are interested in it, Google that model and take a look.
Now I have a lot to learn about a different area of photography and to start thinking of "stories" I might want to make up videos on. I wonder, how I can get one of me flying my airplane?
But the damage from smaller streams and super saturated hillsides sliding down has brought a lot of problems to many people. A twenty mile section of Interstate 5 about halfway between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, the main north/south highway on the west coast, was closed for over two days. All of the mountain passes through the Cascade Mountains were closed to both truck and rail traffic. They are now as of this afternoon finally open but the cost due to delays in moving freight was considerable. The forecast calls for more rain this weekend but at normal winter amounts, then a week or more of sunshine and dry weather. We need it.
On to Mexican Train. I wrote my last post a week ago, just before we played our weekly game of dominoes called Mexican Train. Everyone antes up a dollar. The challenge is to accumulate as few points as possible, playing from the 12 spot dominoes down to the blanks. A game takes two to two & a half hours. The winner gets all of the dollars except for one, which goes out as a booby prize to the person who gets the most points. Last week, I won one of those, Pat won the other. I won't say who was the big winner and who the big looser, but we did keep it in the family and the proceeds will finance our playing for three more weeks. One of which was last night, when neither of us won anything. Bummer.
Now digital video. I expect all of us have had some experience with video taping things. I've had a couple of camcorders, the most recent one a VHS-C unit we bought ten years ago just before a trip to Hawaii. I've always wanted to go to a digital camcorder but was never willing to spend the money on one. Well, I just did. I ordered one last night from Amazon.com and it should be here early next week. Boy, do I have a lot to learn as photography with these things is a LOT different from digital still photography. I've got six books on order (two are here) on digital photography and my editing software of choice, Adobe Premiere Elements 7, which I picked up today.
I did a lot of looking at various cameras and "talked" (mostly via email) with quite a few people. I wasn't going to put out the $3000 - $5000 for a professional camera system and I decided against even going for an HD system. I don't know how much I'll use it so will just start with a standard definition system that will do a good job with wide screen images. My other systems have been Panasonic brand and that is what I stayed with this time, a Panasonic SDR-H60 hybrid camera. It is hybrid in that it has a built in 60GB hard drive but it also takes SDHC memory cards that it will save your data to. Either the hard disk or the memory cards. The camera has a 50X zoom lens so it covers an extremely wide range of focal lengths and it has what is probably about the best vibration reduction system built in which is important to help keep those very long telephoto views stationary. Just the slight shaking in your hands as you hold the camera (if it isn't on a tripod) can make those long shots look odd as the camera moves around. If you are interested in it, Google that model and take a look.
Now I have a lot to learn about a different area of photography and to start thinking of "stories" I might want to make up videos on. I wonder, how I can get one of me flying my airplane?
Labels: Events, Pat and I, Photo gear
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Valentine's Day and Elvis
Valentine's Day yesterday was wonderful. We went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got some sorting at home done. Then we again went to the Northern Lights Casino at Anacortes, WA to see Danny Vernon as Elvis. Dinner was at their special Valentine Day buffet and Pat's daughter, C, went along with us and to the Elvis show.
This show included people impersonating Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper but for us the main draw was Danny Vernon. This show was in the large bingo hall and I really don't like it as well but it seats a lot more people so I can understand why the casino likes it better. I found the lighting on the stage was not as good here either. And once half of the band went off when a breaker somewhere tripped, cutting off their electric power. I tried taking photos with my big zoom lens that came with the D200 camera but even with it's vibration feature turned on I was not getting sharp photos. I think it is because the lens is slower. So I put the trusty 50mm f1.8 prime lens on and it worked fine. I have a lot to learn about using this camera and a lot more is done manually but that is good as it gives you a lot more control. A lot of that can also be done with the D70 but I never got that deeply into using it's menus. With this one I have no choice as it doesn't have all those automated features.
This first photo is early in the show, just after I changed to the prime lens. It shows Danny in a new jacket and includes the two dancers, Double Trouble.
Here is Danny in one of his full new suits. This photo has had a slight adjustment done in contrast and been brightened slightly but that is about all. You can see the affect of the colored lights used in the stage lighting in his skin tone.
Here a small amount of tweaking of his skin tone has been done but the colored lights are still very noticable. Do note the difference in the look of the clothing color.
More tweaking of skin tone has been done. His flesh tone is nearly back to normal.
And here the flesh tone is just about right. Note that the color of the clothes has not changed a lot in these three where adjustments have been done but they are all a lot different from the first one. Just a few examples of how playing with Photoshop can change and perhaps improve photos.
We enjoyed this show although not as much as the last one where the venue was in the smaller room. I haven't looked at Danny's web site to see when he will be back but when he is again in our neighborhood we will try to attend as we do enjoy his shows. These are the first photos I have posted from the new camera. I think I will enjoy using it but I do have a lot to learn and haven't had much time to just play with it so far. I've got a house to clean out. Got to get to work on it.
This show included people impersonating Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper but for us the main draw was Danny Vernon. This show was in the large bingo hall and I really don't like it as well but it seats a lot more people so I can understand why the casino likes it better. I found the lighting on the stage was not as good here either. And once half of the band went off when a breaker somewhere tripped, cutting off their electric power. I tried taking photos with my big zoom lens that came with the D200 camera but even with it's vibration feature turned on I was not getting sharp photos. I think it is because the lens is slower. So I put the trusty 50mm f1.8 prime lens on and it worked fine. I have a lot to learn about using this camera and a lot more is done manually but that is good as it gives you a lot more control. A lot of that can also be done with the D70 but I never got that deeply into using it's menus. With this one I have no choice as it doesn't have all those automated features.
This first photo is early in the show, just after I changed to the prime lens. It shows Danny in a new jacket and includes the two dancers, Double Trouble.
Here is Danny in one of his full new suits. This photo has had a slight adjustment done in contrast and been brightened slightly but that is about all. You can see the affect of the colored lights used in the stage lighting in his skin tone.
Here a small amount of tweaking of his skin tone has been done but the colored lights are still very noticable. Do note the difference in the look of the clothing color.
More tweaking of skin tone has been done. His flesh tone is nearly back to normal.
And here the flesh tone is just about right. Note that the color of the clothes has not changed a lot in these three where adjustments have been done but they are all a lot different from the first one. Just a few examples of how playing with Photoshop can change and perhaps improve photos.
We enjoyed this show although not as much as the last one where the venue was in the smaller room. I haven't looked at Danny's web site to see when he will be back but when he is again in our neighborhood we will try to attend as we do enjoy his shows. These are the first photos I have posted from the new camera. I think I will enjoy using it but I do have a lot to learn and haven't had much time to just play with it so far. I've got a house to clean out. Got to get to work on it.
Labels: Danny Vernon as Elvis, Entertainment, Photo gear
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
I've updated my profile
I just updated the About Me section of my profile. I don't mention RVing in that part of it and part of that is because I don't know how much RVing I will be doing in the future. It is still mentioned in the upper part of the blog and I do hope we will continue to at least do some traveling that way.
But right now I have other things to occupy my time, like getting my house cleared out and ready to sell. We have decided to live in Pat's house after we marry so will sell mine. Combining two households, especially when one of them is owned by a guy who is kind of a packrat that doesn't throw things away, is going to be a challenge. The two houses are only about two blocks apart so it isn't a big move distance wise.
When we do get to the RV I think we will sell the one I have now, which is Dick & Annie's RV, and buy a smaller one that Pat & I will pick out. It will be Pat & Dick's RV. There will be some changes in vehicles that I own, too. Pat has a VW new Beetle that is diesel powered. We will keep that. If we are going to continue RVing we will want to keep the Saturn as it is all setup to be a towed car and does that very well. The Miata may be traded for something like a 1966 Ford Mustang and the Honda moped will just be sold.
One of Pat's daughters has bought my Nikon D70s camera so it will be staying in the family. I think she will enjoy and get a lot of use out of it. It really is a good camera. Tomorrow night we are going to another performance of Danny Vernon as Elvis. I will take my new Nikon D200 to try out there.
The times they are a'changin.
But right now I have other things to occupy my time, like getting my house cleared out and ready to sell. We have decided to live in Pat's house after we marry so will sell mine. Combining two households, especially when one of them is owned by a guy who is kind of a packrat that doesn't throw things away, is going to be a challenge. The two houses are only about two blocks apart so it isn't a big move distance wise.
When we do get to the RV I think we will sell the one I have now, which is Dick & Annie's RV, and buy a smaller one that Pat & I will pick out. It will be Pat & Dick's RV. There will be some changes in vehicles that I own, too. Pat has a VW new Beetle that is diesel powered. We will keep that. If we are going to continue RVing we will want to keep the Saturn as it is all setup to be a towed car and does that very well. The Miata may be traded for something like a 1966 Ford Mustang and the Honda moped will just be sold.
One of Pat's daughters has bought my Nikon D70s camera so it will be staying in the family. I think she will enjoy and get a lot of use out of it. It really is a good camera. Tomorrow night we are going to another performance of Danny Vernon as Elvis. I will take my new Nikon D200 to try out there.
The times they are a'changin.
Labels: Pat and I, Photo gear, RVing, Wedding
Sunday, February 04, 2007
I guess I have a camera for sale
It looks like neither my son nor my brother will be buying my Nikon D70s digital SLR camera with it's 18 - 70mm zoom lens. If anyone out here is interested, let me know. I will sell it at a good price and it includes some of the accessories that I can't use with the D200 as well as a few third party books that are specific about the D70.
I don't know where the time goes. It has been six days since my last post but it feels like only a couple of days have gone by. We are making progress with wedding plans. Selecting a date was a bit of a challenge with four kids and some grandkids schedules to consider, plus our own wants and wishes. We didn't want to have it in the fall or winter as both of our original weddings were. My son who is in the Navy will be off on a boating trip from early May until well into the fall, so that rules out the summer and leaves the time from now until early May, and they will be out twice for a week or ten days between now and then. My other son works every other weekend and it is pretty hard to get time off since they have already picked their vacation times for the year. One of Pat's daughters and her family are building a new house and have their own business to run, so they are quite busy. The other works nights but does have Saturday and Sunday off so she at least isn't a challenge to schedule around. Her grand daughter is a serious volleyball player so there are tournaments to keep in mind. And there is the Junior Prom. On the day we selected. But it is at night and we will hold ours in the early afternoon. Anyway, we selected Saturday, April 28th. That is the date of the once a year plant sale at my church so that facility can't be used. But, we were able to reserve the club house where we live and if the weather cooperates we will use the outdoor gazebo.
We have been working on invitations. Pat bought a dress yesterday and I may go buy a new suit today. I think we have the attendants lined up. And it is still almost three months off.
I am beginning to see why it is popular to just elope!
I don't know where the time goes. It has been six days since my last post but it feels like only a couple of days have gone by. We are making progress with wedding plans. Selecting a date was a bit of a challenge with four kids and some grandkids schedules to consider, plus our own wants and wishes. We didn't want to have it in the fall or winter as both of our original weddings were. My son who is in the Navy will be off on a boating trip from early May until well into the fall, so that rules out the summer and leaves the time from now until early May, and they will be out twice for a week or ten days between now and then. My other son works every other weekend and it is pretty hard to get time off since they have already picked their vacation times for the year. One of Pat's daughters and her family are building a new house and have their own business to run, so they are quite busy. The other works nights but does have Saturday and Sunday off so she at least isn't a challenge to schedule around. Her grand daughter is a serious volleyball player so there are tournaments to keep in mind. And there is the Junior Prom. On the day we selected. But it is at night and we will hold ours in the early afternoon. Anyway, we selected Saturday, April 28th. That is the date of the once a year plant sale at my church so that facility can't be used. But, we were able to reserve the club house where we live and if the weather cooperates we will use the outdoor gazebo.
We have been working on invitations. Pat bought a dress yesterday and I may go buy a new suit today. I think we have the attendants lined up. And it is still almost three months off.
I am beginning to see why it is popular to just elope!
Labels: Pat and I, Photo gear, Wedding
Sunday, January 21, 2007
My new camera is on it's way!
After quite a bit of looking around I finally went ahead and ordered the new camera. That Nikor 18 - 200mm DX VR lens is almost impossible to get by itself. I did find one place that might have had one to sell but they were asking $1200 for it! I guess Nikon is selling almost all they can (or choose to) make on the D2 and D200 cameras. I found the D200 with that lens at B&H Photo in New York for $2250. They offered a Tiffen UV filter at a good price and I don't have any that are large enough (72mm) to cover that lens, so I added the filter. I know that store has a good reputation so I was comfortable buying through them. I did pay a bit extra for UPS 2-day shipping so hope it will arrive Monday. If not it will be for sure on Tuesday. I thought about getting a D80 camera but am not sure I could get it with that lens and I would have to replace all of my memory cards. The D70 and D200 use Compact Flash (CF) cards while the D80 uses the Secure Digital (SD) size. There is a difference of a few hundred dollars in the camera price but it would cost more than that to replace the dozen or so CF cards I have with SD cards.
We are back to our more normal winter weather pattern of rain but it is warmer than it had been. The temperature today is supposed to be around 50F with over night lows close to 40. There will probably also be some rain although yesterday was beautiful and rain has not started yet so far today. It is not like winter was while I was in Arizona but I did get an email note from friends who are in Yuma and there was one night last week when it got down to 33 there and they said it had been something like 17 the week before in Indio, CA while they were there. Indio is next door to Palm Springs, in the desert east of LA.
Patti and I have kept busy. Yesterday we went to an open house at the new cancer treatment center at our local hospital and I have a couple of photos that I may post when I get the chance to get them ready. We are driving her diesel powered VW a bit more than in the past as the price for diesel fuel seems to be going down. It is about as low as the price for regular gasoline at one local source, at $2.429/gallon. My Saturn is scheduled to go into the shop to have it's rear brakes serviced next week. I have been leaving the Miata parked under cover most of the time but if the weather really does improve it might well be time to get it out and use it more. I probably won't take the top down yet, though. I may sell my little scooter to help pay for the new camera and since I am not using it very much. I have owned it over a year and a half and only put about 300 miles on it. I tend to drive the Miata more when the weather is good and the scooter is only a one person vehicle. Patti doesn't ride bicycles so isn't likely going to try a powered scooter. Anyone close to Mt. Vernon who might be interested in a very low mileage Honda gas miser?
I hope the new camera will arrive early in the week, so I should have some news to post by about mid-week. I will try to do better than once a week in the future but I sure seem to be keeping busy with other things. And I still have a lot more house cleaning out to do.
Edit: I was off on the price of the diesel fuel I listed above. It should have been $2.599/gallon, not $2.429. Either is better than it has been as our price in this area has regularly been closer to $3 for quite awhile.
We are back to our more normal winter weather pattern of rain but it is warmer than it had been. The temperature today is supposed to be around 50F with over night lows close to 40. There will probably also be some rain although yesterday was beautiful and rain has not started yet so far today. It is not like winter was while I was in Arizona but I did get an email note from friends who are in Yuma and there was one night last week when it got down to 33 there and they said it had been something like 17 the week before in Indio, CA while they were there. Indio is next door to Palm Springs, in the desert east of LA.
Patti and I have kept busy. Yesterday we went to an open house at the new cancer treatment center at our local hospital and I have a couple of photos that I may post when I get the chance to get them ready. We are driving her diesel powered VW a bit more than in the past as the price for diesel fuel seems to be going down. It is about as low as the price for regular gasoline at one local source, at $2.429/gallon. My Saturn is scheduled to go into the shop to have it's rear brakes serviced next week. I have been leaving the Miata parked under cover most of the time but if the weather really does improve it might well be time to get it out and use it more. I probably won't take the top down yet, though. I may sell my little scooter to help pay for the new camera and since I am not using it very much. I have owned it over a year and a half and only put about 300 miles on it. I tend to drive the Miata more when the weather is good and the scooter is only a one person vehicle. Patti doesn't ride bicycles so isn't likely going to try a powered scooter. Anyone close to Mt. Vernon who might be interested in a very low mileage Honda gas miser?
I hope the new camera will arrive early in the week, so I should have some news to post by about mid-week. I will try to do better than once a week in the future but I sure seem to be keeping busy with other things. And I still have a lot more house cleaning out to do.
Edit: I was off on the price of the diesel fuel I listed above. It should have been $2.599/gallon, not $2.429. Either is better than it has been as our price in this area has regularly been closer to $3 for quite awhile.
Labels: Pat and I, Photo gear, Weather
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Another busy week, with SNOW!
Our area doesn't get snow very often but this winter we have now gotten it twice. Just after Thanksgiving we had about ten inches of the stuff and this past week, starting Tuesday afternoon, we ended up with something like three inches. But this time the weather turned cold and has stayed that way, with daytime temps barely getting to freezing level. That melts the surface so it can freeze to ice at night when it drops below freezing again. I am ready for it to leave and normal temps to return. But, I don't seem to get to vote on that.
Pat and I had tickets to go to a magician show last Thursday night but we decided to play it safe and stay home rather than going out on the icy roads. So we went to the clubhouse and joined the Mexican Train game. This time I won with the low score and Pat won the booby prize for having the highest score. We each ante up a dollar to start the game. She got her dollar back while I got all the other six dollars.
Son B came up this weekend with his two kids, J & K. I had forgotten how busy it can be to have a 13 and almost 10 year old around! Fun, but there is a high activity level. They just left about ten minutes ago and I probably won't see them for a few weeks as B is going on a cruise for a fairly short trip with his navy ship this next week.
I ordered a couple of books from Amazon.com about Photoshop Elements version 5 on Friday, along with a unit to make a tent around smallish items and have a smooth, continuous background with even lighting. It will be perfect to use to photograph things to sell on eBay. I guess I will try doing that again to see what will happen with some of Annie's Wizard of Oz collection as well as other things. I had some fun a couple of years ago selling a few things there and while I didn't make a lot of money, it more than paid it's costs.
I am also leaning toward buying another lens and perhaps another camera. Nikon has a beautiful 18 - 200mm vibration reduced zoom lens that is designed for use on digital SLR cameras. It sells for around $700 which is quite a bargain for a VR lens. But, I can get it along with a D200 camera for just over two thousand dollars and normally that camera body is about $1750 by itself. So that would be only about $300 for the lens and it will work on both the D200 and the D70s that I have now. I probably should wait until I figure my income taxes first but it might be a good move in the near future. Maybe.
I sure have found a wonderful woman in Patti. We seem to be just right for each other in so many ways. I am really looking forward to the future and spending it with her.
Pat and I had tickets to go to a magician show last Thursday night but we decided to play it safe and stay home rather than going out on the icy roads. So we went to the clubhouse and joined the Mexican Train game. This time I won with the low score and Pat won the booby prize for having the highest score. We each ante up a dollar to start the game. She got her dollar back while I got all the other six dollars.
Son B came up this weekend with his two kids, J & K. I had forgotten how busy it can be to have a 13 and almost 10 year old around! Fun, but there is a high activity level. They just left about ten minutes ago and I probably won't see them for a few weeks as B is going on a cruise for a fairly short trip with his navy ship this next week.
I ordered a couple of books from Amazon.com about Photoshop Elements version 5 on Friday, along with a unit to make a tent around smallish items and have a smooth, continuous background with even lighting. It will be perfect to use to photograph things to sell on eBay. I guess I will try doing that again to see what will happen with some of Annie's Wizard of Oz collection as well as other things. I had some fun a couple of years ago selling a few things there and while I didn't make a lot of money, it more than paid it's costs.
I am also leaning toward buying another lens and perhaps another camera. Nikon has a beautiful 18 - 200mm vibration reduced zoom lens that is designed for use on digital SLR cameras. It sells for around $700 which is quite a bargain for a VR lens. But, I can get it along with a D200 camera for just over two thousand dollars and normally that camera body is about $1750 by itself. So that would be only about $300 for the lens and it will work on both the D200 and the D70s that I have now. I probably should wait until I figure my income taxes first but it might be a good move in the near future. Maybe.
I sure have found a wonderful woman in Patti. We seem to be just right for each other in so many ways. I am really looking forward to the future and spending it with her.
Labels: Grandkids, Pat and I, Photo gear, Weather
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Testing a new lens
I did get registered for the Digital Photography class at Skagit Valley College yesterday and we already have some assignments. It will be an online class but the instructor is available via phone, email or in person at his office if one needs to meet with him. There is quite a bit to this first assignment. I have completed the first of four things to do in addition to reading quite a bit in two of the three texts. It should be interesting. Today is effectively the first day of the class and this assignment is due this Friday. I am glad that I didn't sign up for the Photoshop class at the same time!
Tomorrow I will be meeting two bloggers from Whidbey Island for mochas. It should be interesting to get to know these two ladies in person.
I have been faithful on my trips to the YMCA to exercise. I hope it will do what I want it to do, have me loose some weight & get into better physical shape, and that I keep up with the program. I really want to do it so think it won't be something that gets dropped.
I finally did get the chance to go out and take some photos with my new Nikor 50mm f/1.8 lens. This would be considered a standard lens on a 35mm camera but on mine is fills the CCD (image sensor) like a 75mm lens would on a 35mm. In other words, it becomes like a slight telephoto, but it is fast in that it opens pretty big to let a lot of light in. It will work better in low light levels than my other lenses.
This first photo is of the small island in our front yard. The red lava rock is new this year, replacing cedar bark. It should be more permanent than the bark. The photo isn't all that great but it does show sharpness and depth of field:
Next is a scene in the front yard of my neighbor's house. He painted this manual water pump & set it in place with the old bench. I think it looks kind of neat:
Here are some more flower photos, but this one includes a passenger. There is a snail snuggled down into the bloom on the left:
These are probably the last of the roses for the season. As you can see I can't get anywhere near as close with this lens as I can with the macro one, but the image is pretty close. This is a slight enlargement, not using quite all of the full frame:
This sign came with the house when we bought it and the message on it sure is correct. I am not much of a yard work person but happily the yard isn't too large. I am planning to use more of that red lava rock next year to cut down even more on things that have to continually be done. Anyway, here is the sign:
Tomorrow I will be meeting two bloggers from Whidbey Island for mochas. It should be interesting to get to know these two ladies in person.
I have been faithful on my trips to the YMCA to exercise. I hope it will do what I want it to do, have me loose some weight & get into better physical shape, and that I keep up with the program. I really want to do it so think it won't be something that gets dropped.
I finally did get the chance to go out and take some photos with my new Nikor 50mm f/1.8 lens. This would be considered a standard lens on a 35mm camera but on mine is fills the CCD (image sensor) like a 75mm lens would on a 35mm. In other words, it becomes like a slight telephoto, but it is fast in that it opens pretty big to let a lot of light in. It will work better in low light levels than my other lenses.
This first photo is of the small island in our front yard. The red lava rock is new this year, replacing cedar bark. It should be more permanent than the bark. The photo isn't all that great but it does show sharpness and depth of field:
Next is a scene in the front yard of my neighbor's house. He painted this manual water pump & set it in place with the old bench. I think it looks kind of neat:
Here are some more flower photos, but this one includes a passenger. There is a snail snuggled down into the bloom on the left:
These are probably the last of the roses for the season. As you can see I can't get anywhere near as close with this lens as I can with the macro one, but the image is pretty close. This is a slight enlargement, not using quite all of the full frame:
This sign came with the house when we bought it and the message on it sure is correct. I am not much of a yard work person but happily the yard isn't too large. I am planning to use more of that red lava rock next year to cut down even more on things that have to continually be done. Anyway, here is the sign:
Labels: Friends, Photo gear, Photos
