FMA Aberdeen Beach

I’ll blame some of my students for this morning’s trip down to the beach at 0630am. In the cold and dark, I stood taking some snaps to compare my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 with last year’s Canon Ixus 950 IS

I had read the reviews on DP Review, and so was a bit concerned about the noise, but Play.com had knocked a lot of money off the price, taking it down to the price that I was looking for. It was too good to miss. I wasn’t bothered about the 14.7mp (just under twice that of the Ixus), as quality is measured in more than mega-pixels. I was finding the Canon Ixus a bit ‘flat’. I know that I won’t get a decent depth of field with a point-and-click, but speaking to some students and talking about our cameras had given me the impetus to go looking. The camera arrived yesterday, and had a fun time in the cold, wearing my Alpkit down jacket and liner gloves.

Things I noticed: in fully-auto mode the Lumix remembers flash settings (unlike the Ixus, which will switch the flash on even in ‘night snapshot’ mode). The ‘rule of thirds’ gridlines are thicker on the Lumix than on the Ixus (meaning some details disappear from the screen when composing a shot). I like the separate review setting on the Lumix, meaning that the mode dial is just for taking pictures. The ability to shoot in 16:9 widescreen is a boon on the Lumix, unavailable on the Ixus. The Lumix’s intelligent focus is better than the Ixus, and has more choice in the settings.

So, without further ado …

 

Beach Boulevard.

 

Focusing in on illuminated sign.

 

Wide-angle 16:9 shot for the Lumix, and comparative 4:3 for the Ixus.

 

Text quality. Legible on both, but neither camera has a built-in grammar checker. Shouldn’t that be “it’s” rather than “its”? The funniest I saw was just along from here where the council note “Do not surf” in this area, but designate it as a “surf board and water craft zone”.

 

The larger number of mega-pixels shows through in the Lumix, as I selected the car our before resizing both images down to the same size.

 

The warmth of the final Lumix shot sells the deal for me.

Conclusion: as the pro-reviews stated, noise can be problematic. I was pointed to Steves-Digicams by a workmate after I had ordered the camera, and I agree with his conclusion. It was a blast to use, and I’ll be locking out the ISO to reduce the noise. Not sure to what setting yet, possibly 400. I’ve some other photos to post, where I had been shooting in RAW and trying the dynamic tracking - features unavailable on the Ixus 950 IS. Shiny.

The Akto Standard of Measurement

Mike borrowed his Slik tripod back for a few days. Despite the fact that I hadn’t used it for a while, taking most of the recent Honey Stove videos using the Velbon 2nd hand tripod. I did get some good shots with the Velbon but it isn’t as stable or good looking. I felt that I needed to have a decent stable tripod for myself. Something that looks right and feels right.

A look at the named brands found a sale on the heavyweight Slik Pro 700DX kit. Although the head on offer is different from the one in the video (via a review link from photographyreview.com), it sealed the deal. I ordered from fotosense.co.uk despite others having similar deals. I had used them before, and they have free shipping.

That is almost 2 Aktos in weight. At under half and Akto in price.

I aim to do away with kilograms and pounds and weigh everything in relation to my tent. I did that when buying my Scarpas. The cut-off weight was the Akto’s weight (approx 1.5kg). It ties in with the ‘beer standard’ used in “White Dwarf” years ago.

And I haven’t even had my breakfast yet.

REMF

Not much been going on this week. Okay, so that is a lie, there has been lots happening, but nothing vaguely related to this blog.

Paramo short gaiters arrived from Foothills. Part of my WHW AAR. Also part of this was the ordering of a pair of Goretex over-socks from Furtech. My feet don’t do well in Sealskinz socks – great for river-crossings, and for around the tent, but not for hiking in. Oversocks had been on my radar since some people, eg Dawn, had mentioned them.

I’ve been reading some more of Jon Vonhof’s “Fixing Your Feet” . There is a great section on solutions for feet problems…lots of solutions. Great – everyone is different, and there is no one solution. Something it takes time to realise.

A very nice woman has mailed me her … sorry … their BushBuddy woodburning stove, and I’ll be having a play with it over Christmas. I’ve given Honey Stove feedback to Bob, so it will be good to see them both side by side. He has certainly piqued my interest. I want to see how it all works – or doesn’t – in a moorland situation.

The StickPic arrived during the week. I had found that they were selling off ‘seconds’, so got a few dollars off. Which was nice. I hadn’t had the chance to try it out yet … well, I have, but you really don’t want to see late-night photos of me in my PJ’s waiting for the cold-drugs to wear off so that I can sleep. In case you don’t know what a StickPic is, here is George and Jason’s videos about it. I’m sure they can send John and Andy a typed transcript instead ;-)

Having had problems with my tv recorder, I finally cleared off all the recorded shows and re-formatted the hard drive. No longer will every activation of the device start up with a clip of Chris Townsend pitching his Akto! Och. But hopefully it means that the recorder will stop ‘forgetting’ to record programs. A very useful device, and has changed my viewing habits.

Cheated and painted the gun crew in a uniform expensive black cloth, and based up the demi-culverin.

And my new washing machine was delivered today. Hopefully the saga ends there. A tale of attempted DIY, poor online shops and poorer real-world shops.

Having caught the “Culture Show” special on Baz Luhrmann last night. Besides being another chance to see some great clips from his work, I was left pondering a quote of his: “we don’t have anything if we don’t have stories”. Even something as humble as a washing machine has a part to play in the epic.

So far, so good, and no leaks.

NCIS Cairngorms

Some geartalk in this video from yesterday morning.

And one of the chaps at work wondered about camera fittings, so here is how I secure my Berghaus hardcase to my Osprey Atmos hip-belt. Means the camera can be taken out quickly.

As the Atmos has a split-belt, I can hook in a d-karabiner, and clip it to the loops of the camera case. when I unclip the belt-buckle, the case (and camera) don’t come flying off.

*Ask Darren about the NCIS reference.

Club Night

A close-up taken with the Nokia 6220c phone’s 5mp camera (with flash). Do I care what applications the iPhone 3g has, when the camera on it cannot approach that on the Nokia (at the moment)? I can guess that it will change, but such it the marketplace in mobile phone technology. And we users can only benefit.

Long live the Digital Revolution.

28mm WW1 figures painted by Hugh. Wall by Games Workshop. Ruined church by Hovels.

Beach Front Development

As it takes so long to get to Bennachie, and with the price of petrol being what it is, I decided to walk up to the mouth of the River Don and back (maplink). A couple of hours trek, watching the waves and people go by. 2 1/2 miles there and back, and more experimenting with the camera on the Nokia 6220 Classic mobile phone.

I reckon the camera on the Sony Ericsson K800i was better than it. Certainly a better interface, but the 5 mega-pixel camera holds a lot of promise. I'm just getting tired with having to use the "automatic" feature to get the best from the new phone-camera. The focus on the "landscape" view is poor in comparison.

Surf's Up

Mike offered to show me how to use my new dSLR, so we went down the beach and took some snaps. As some were taken by Mike, you might see them again on his blog. No doubt they'll look better over there.

All taken with the Canon EOS 350D, and standard 18-55mm lens. Some shots had lighting tweaked in Photoshop Elements, and the last one was just a way to use a blurred photo which was taken by me when standing on the running board of the car to get some height across traffic as the light faded. More experimentation required. Resisting the temptation to just turn the dial to the automatic settings.

Impulse Buy

It's not often it happens, but I couldn't resist. I am weak. Found the Canon UK Online Store (via eBay), and bought a refurbished Canon EOS 350D, with 18-55 lens.

Link to DP Review page.

Just noticed on the Canon page, that they only list English counties and USA states, and an option that then says "Non UK or non US".

I've already had a call from a mate wanting a go. Comes round, borrows my dehydrator, chooses a better movie than I did, brings beer and crisps...yeah, of course you can play, so long as I can get as much info from you about using it. Of course, it'll mean a trip up Bennachie too.