Mostly Harmless

Mostly about my amusement

Year: 2011 (page 4 of 6)

June 5, 2011

Waiting for my new toy

The film camera bug has hit me pretty hard. I’ve been using one of my Olympus Trip 35 cameras (see above taken last weekend) and have purchased an Olympus Stylus Epic DLX from someone on eBay. The new one is it’s way and should be here next week.

You can read up on the Olympus Stylus Epic here and for here is a copy of Popular Photograhy’s review here. The DLX version is the same but adds Quartz date and a panoramic mode. This model was introduced in 1997 and like many older cameras is available on eBay.

I’m getting this one because it’s compact, opens wide (f/2.8), and has a reputation for taking sharp photos. It’s also weather resistant (splash proof) and is fully automatic.

Unlike the Trip 35, it’s very electrical and has no manual features. It should be perfect for the kids to use and I’ll give it a try as a walk about camera for street photography.

May 28, 2011

Nikon GP-1

Sometimes you just like to know where you were when you took the photo. Luckily there are many options available for a DSLR and I went with the default Nikon solution.

Last week on a whim I ordered a Nikon GP-1 for my camera. This GPS receiver plugs into my D300s and when it has a lock onto enough GPS satellites (3 or more) it embeds the coordinates and UTC time for when and where you took the picture.

I like it a lot but it’s an imprecise technology. The receiver is only as accurate as the data sources it locks onto, meaning if it locks onto 4 or more satellites, it’s good for ~20 feet or so. My first photos didn’t have any GPS coordinates recorded. Later on I was getting a good signal and got better results.

The default camera settings is to enable Auto Meter off, which from the manual explains

Auto Meter Off

If Enable is selected for GPS > Auto meter off in the setup menu for D3, D700, D300, and D90 cameras, the exposure
meters will turn off automatically after the time specifi ed in the camera Custom Settings menu. This reduces the drain
on the battery but may prevent GPS data from being recorded if the exposure meters are not activated until immediately
before the picture is taken.

I had some problems keeping a lock on the GPS with that feature enabled. Once I disabled the feature, the GPS receiver took a couple of minutes to acquire the satellites. But once it found them, I had a solid green light and was floored as to how accurate the readings were.

If you look at the above map, you can see where the GP-1 did not quite get a lock onto my position. After I disabled Auto Meter Off, the GP-1 put me (correctly) onto 23rd Street. Even with 3 satellites it still puts me in the general vicinity and that’s good enough for my street photography.

After I uploaded the photos to Flickr, I Googled for a tool and found iMapFlickr. After providing a small amount of info I was able to generate the above map in no time. I’ll continue to play around with it but so far it works exactly as I thought it would.

May 26, 2011

Middle age? It took me forever to get here

As you get older, your habits change and you do different things. In the past I have spent a great deal of time building Linux servers and running my domain’s mail and spam filters, my own web servers for family web sites, ftp server, and sometimes hosting a game server.

Linux and open source software is cool and exciting.

This past week? I’ve been working on my own time preparing the pool for Sunday. Last year we opened the pool up for the first time on Memorial day and had a great summer. Since it was the first time the pool company took care of balancing the water, adding salt, etc. This year it’s all me and Lily.

It’s not a great deal of work (vacuuming was a pain), and the pool is really low maintenance. It’s just that I used to spend my time doing geeky things.

Now my geek tasks are actually managed.

  1. My domain’s mail is handled by Google Apps because I was spending serious time losing the spam battle.
  2. I update my WordPress site using the automatic upgrade feature while I weep for my lost SVN commands.
  3. I never host any game servers anymore and feel like I should yell “you kids get off the lawn!”
  4. My Linux distro of choice for my servers is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS because I got tired of updating Linux distros every 6 months.

My hobbies have changed too. I used to play PC games much more frequently but lately I’m more into photography. Unlike other family members, I’ve only gotten into this about 3 years ago. And my 35mm film infatuation is more recent than that, I carry an Olympus Trip 35 everywhere.

I still plan on working on my Gunpla collection, but I’m finding it funny how my spare time is being used. I’m not upset about it, but the observation makes me laugh.

April 19, 2011

Oompa Loompa for President?

I’m finding it really amazing that this extremely talented con-artist talks about running for the office of the POTUS and the press just eat it up. What next, Howard Stern for office?

And don’t think I’m being negative by referring to someone as a con-artist; except for banks (who likes them anyway?) I don’t think he’s ever needed to pilfer from old ladies. It’s not easy on him going on a press road show while pimping his television program.

What does this character have that qualifies him for office? He appeals to the racist birthers, he’s a to-big-to-fail business man, and he has a show on TV. Oh, and he see hatred coming from the eyes of Bill Crosby.

Except for demonizing President Obama, does this bad comb-over qualify get Tea Party branding? I thought they were for smaller government and debt, not “let’s make a deal because I can’t pay my loans”. It is true that he is wealthy and gets away with a lot, but does the “Tax Enough Already” crowd see this man as their candidate?

The only good thing for the GOP is that the other nuts in the field are beginning to look rational and sane. I can easily see Rudy starting his new campaign with “Hey, at least I’m not that guy!”

April 10, 2011

More Film Photography

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My playing with film cameras continues! But it’s not out of hand yet. I now have the following film camera equipment:

  1. Three Olympus Trip 35 (1 from TripMan)
  2. Olympus PS-200 flash
  3. Canon Canonet GIII QL17 coupled rangefinder
  4. Canon Canolite D flash

The kids and I shoot with the Olympus Trip 35s and its great fun. Except for the one from TripMan, it all came from sellers on eBay.

You develop film?

At this time I don’t have any urge to develop my own film myself. It’s just so easy to develop the film at Costco.

My routine is to shoot rolls during the week and then Lily takes them to Costco for development on the weekend. A roll of 24 exposures costs less than $5 with just the CD of the film scans. I also picked up an Epson Artisan 725 and print out what I want on glossy photo paper.

The film was purchased via an Amazon seller and I got 12 rolls of a mix of 200, 400, and 800 ISO speed Fuji Superia. The Costco scans are not bad and I generally don’t do any editing at all. I put a roll of 400 in one of the Trips and put it in my backpack. When the mood strikes me I take photos.

Here is a sample of what I’ve taken already, you can see more via my Flickr account.

Film is better than digital!

Okay, film is not better than digital. But it is different, and it’s tough for me to describe the difference.  On my digital cameras I shoot hundreds of photos. With film I’m conscious of the 24  limit and (generally) think before I shoot. When I get the photos back I do very little if any Photoshop work. I like the way the film comes out.

Could I get the same or better results using a DSLR? Absolutely. I’m proud of the digital photos I’ve already taken and will continue to use my Nikon. But film is less instant satisfaction and more planning. When I get back the CD of the roll I shot days ago, I rush to the computer, pick out what I like and upload to Flickr.

But why pick up a rangefinder?

I picked up the Canonet because rangefinders are cool and slick metal camera opens up to f/1.7 and I can shoot 800 film on it.

With the Canolite D flash, the rangefinder adjusts the aperture bases on focus distance. Nearer focus means stepping down to f/16; farther out mean opening the aperture to f/2.8. For a 1972 camera design that’s pretty cool! I ordered a Wein MRB625 replacement battery and I’m good to go. The light metering is good.

The Canonet is fun and cool but the Trip 35 is a better all around street shooter. You set the focus to infinity and just shoot. No battery to worry about, just keep it in your bag and go. I do use the Canonet but the Trip is my favorite and I take it with me everyday to work.

Try it!

My advice to anyone who has a digital camera is to try film. It’s really easy to do, just go onto eBay and bid for a Olympus Trip 35. Don’t bid more than $50 (that’s too much) because there are a lot of Olympus Trip 35s out there.

But do get your battery free camera, load up some 400 film and start shooting. You’ll have great fun with the results.

March 4, 2011

A short photo walk

I took my Olympus Trip 35 on a short stroll this morning and had the film developed near work. I like the results and shot another roll around lunch time.

It’s an easy camera to have on you and fits in my coat pocket pretty easily. It’s a little on the heavy side but not too much so. I’ll probably get a pouch for it so I can just toss it in my back pack.

These samples were from the CD I received when I developed the roll. All I did was re-size them but this gives a good idea of what this little camera can do.

More photos on the way; I develop the afternoon roll at Costco tomorrow. I still am trying to get the knack of zone focusing. The photos are good and look fantastic on glossy paper, but I want to work on getting sharper results for nearby subjects.

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Jan Dembowski

Jan Dembowski

I am a software enthusiast who is easily amused and definitely mostly harmless.

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