An upgrade & Solo

As most of you know, I frequently upgrade my photographic equipment. I actually prefer the film days as film cameras had a longer life span. Also analog equipment had a trade in value. Most camera shops in Vancouver do not take digital cameras in trade which forces you to pay full price for what you want, then leave you to sell your old stuff on your own. It seems that every few months a new digital something or other is announced which makes the old model redundant and of no value. You will seldom, if ever, find me without an instrument capable of capturing an image. I have one in my pocket, and often another strung over my shoulder and perhaps a video cam in my backpack. I am not very successful in selling things so I find it easier to just "give" it away. I had a Canon G10 which I purchased new a few years ago which is basically brand new. Hardly used but it has travelled with me on many trips as a backup camera. Although I took it to China I didn't use it at all.

My friend expressed interest in it so before I handed it over to him, I updated the Canon firmware, and hacked it with CHDK (<-- click link) With CHDK it allows you to access more options with your Canon camera. I was interested in timelapse which is easiest done on a P&S type camera rather than a dSLR where you would wear the shutter out. At 30 fps you would have to trip your shutter 1,800 times just for one minute of video.

Anyway with my Canon G10 gone it gave me an excuse to purchase its replacement.



I wanted something with a larger sensor, and with more adjustments. The APS-C crop sensor is perfect. The short focal distance means that I can use alternative lenses with adapters which I already have on order from Hong Kong. I am not sure which lenses I am going to use so I purchased 5 adapters which will allow me to use: Nikon Ai/AiS, Pentax M42, Leica LTM L39, Zeiss, and Leica M39 bayonet mount as I already have lenses. If you have been following the flood situation in Thailand you will already know that the Sony and Nikon factories are still underwater which means no camera production until Spring 2012. Also most of the worlds Harddrives are made there which will bump up the costs of laptops. So while I didn`t really plan on purchasing my Sony NEX-5n until spring 2012, I thought I better get one now before stock runs out. Excellent review here
I also picked up the 16mm 2.8 pancake lens and spare battery

In an effort to make more professional videos I also purchased a new tripod with Pan Head. Not that I need another tripod as I already have several, but none for video. All my tripods have a ball head so you cannot pan horizontally. I didn`t wish to pay for a top line model so my new tripod does not have a level which presents a problem. Anyway this is my first test video using a Pan Head



I have found that you first must level the tripod horizontally then do a practice Pan to ensure that the horizon is level, then you can start recording.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A month ago before signs of winter I took a day off and decided to ride by myself to see how I like to ride solo



I took the long route taking the highway and ended up on some backroads around Steveston where I was planning to have a bite to eat. It is not very pleasant on the highway with the speeding traffic, it felt like a raceway . I mounted my GoProHD and was trying to shoot some video so I would have something to do in the winter. Of course with the GoProHD you have no way of knowing if it is recording or not, unless you stopped and looked at the front LCD. Here I was travelling on the freeway, taking on and off ramps, lots of heavy traffic then I travelled along the River turning the GoProHd on and off and a couple of hours later when I finally stopped I noticed that the unit was OFF. I thought I had forgot to turn it on, but then it wouldn`t turn on . . . dead battery ! My spare battery was at home

Sometimes it is nice to be by yourself and have time to think things out, to solve your personal problems, and have time to think. I feels refreshing to hear the sound of your engine, shifting up and down, leaning into the corners but then I craved for some company when I noticed a small group of people outside the Cannery just enjoying the day. They asked me to join them



they told me it was okay to snap their photos so I posed too . Then the soft-spoken guy on the bench made room for me to sit down beside him



There we were, all four of us, solving the world`s problems. They weren`t really that talkative but they seemed friendly enough. The soft-spoken guy was really friendly and said I could sit on his lap



so I did and they asked me to come back anytime, and would wait for me at the same place as they really enjoyed my company.