Ok, I have finally done it. Its not that I did not have a digital camera, I have had one since 2006 when a friend gave me his old one when I took the kids to Disneyland. I liked them, appreciated their abilities..but never really thought they were compareable to my film Nikon's, especially my FM3a.
But I know that they are much better than they were. I finally decided to buy one, and picked up the D90. I wanted the D300, but I felt that it would be better to wait and see what was coming next. The difference between digital and film is that they become obselete. My film camera will never change, I may change the film I use...but the capabilities of the camera are primarily in my abilities. Sure, I may wish for a slower speed than the current 1-sec before I jump to bulb, but in reality I can live with it. The metering system is excellent and will never cause issues.
The D90 is a fabulous camera, loaded with features I have no understanding of. Now I am worried about colour balance, gray-scale, noise reduction and other things which are simply not a part of my film world. Heck, I can chose the ISO...wow...
Many things I like, and I will get used to some of them. I have not yet been on a creative shoot yet, but soon I hope. I want to see how it compares and how I can work with its abilities. I see the two cameras as complementary, I will continue to use my film camera a lot. In fact, I want to take a course next year and I will most definitely bring both my film and digital cameras to the course. They are different ways of expressing yourself.
Now, that said...I do not like what is happening in the industry. I don't like seeing new models every 6 months and I do not like the focus on the megapixels. Nikon has been good about that, they have not really produced a continuing advancement in the mp range...they are at 12.3 now...been so for a number of years. I would suggest that they will move to 15 with the D4/D400..but we will wait. What I would like to see is more full-sized sensors, and lower prices for those. I do not like the lenses they have. Most companies are moving to small-sensor lenses, the DX series in Nikon nomenclature and DII in Tamron. Sorry, I want my lenses to work on both my film and digital cameras...so I am finding this frustrating. They are both more expensive and lower in number, increasingly so, and I think that is the wrong move. Not that I think a Nikon DX lens is of lesser quality...I just want to be able to move the lenses back and forth between cameras. Right now I am using my 28-100 lens I bought with my F65 (yuck). It is a G-type lens and has absolutely no usefulness except on cameras which have internal aperature mechanisms. For digital this is fine, but it most certainly is not a great lens. I want a nice all-purpose lens, but I am having troubles finding one. Oh well, this will work for now.
Anyways...I am now in the digital world....be interesting what the next few years will bring.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Small steps
I had an interesting discussion with someone the other day. They drive their car to work every day. Their commute is about 5-10min by car, not a challenging commute by any stretch, and it got me thinking. What prevents them from riding, or walking?
Here we have a law that you must wear a helmet when cycling. While I agree with the reasoning for wearing a helmet, it also prevents many people from riding on a daily basis. If you are going to work then your workplace needs to have a setup to allow you to shower, or you have to have the type of employment where this does not matter.
You can always have business attire at work, and change when you get there; but it is hard to deal with the hair/sweat factor.
What are some of the other reasons though? I think it really has a lot to do with people being lazy. We have established patterns and we are simply unwilling to change. Walking or cycling takes longer and we are not willing to give up that extra 5 minutes. In many countries, this is a way of life though. Admittedly, in Vancouver where I live, there are a significant number of hills. It is not an easy ride to many places. It rains a lot here and it can get cool, wet and icky. We do not have a lot of safe, independent trails for cycling. We share the roads with cars and they are not always the nicest about it. I have been pushed off the road, just about clipped (thankfully not been hit yet)....we are an annoyance. Part of that is the car mentality.
Back to my discussion earlier. This person was unwilling to change. The thing is....it is not about cycling every single day, its more about small steps. If you were to modify your working behaviour NOT to commute or use the car just for 1 day a week...what a difference this would make. That is 20% people...a 20% reduction in your environmental fingerprint. Wow, it is that significant. We need to make a difference, we need to change our attitudes about these things...and it is nothing to do with riding a bike. While I would like to see everyone ride, its not about that...its all about changing the patterns in our lives.
Here we have a law that you must wear a helmet when cycling. While I agree with the reasoning for wearing a helmet, it also prevents many people from riding on a daily basis. If you are going to work then your workplace needs to have a setup to allow you to shower, or you have to have the type of employment where this does not matter.
You can always have business attire at work, and change when you get there; but it is hard to deal with the hair/sweat factor.
What are some of the other reasons though? I think it really has a lot to do with people being lazy. We have established patterns and we are simply unwilling to change. Walking or cycling takes longer and we are not willing to give up that extra 5 minutes. In many countries, this is a way of life though. Admittedly, in Vancouver where I live, there are a significant number of hills. It is not an easy ride to many places. It rains a lot here and it can get cool, wet and icky. We do not have a lot of safe, independent trails for cycling. We share the roads with cars and they are not always the nicest about it. I have been pushed off the road, just about clipped (thankfully not been hit yet)....we are an annoyance. Part of that is the car mentality.
Back to my discussion earlier. This person was unwilling to change. The thing is....it is not about cycling every single day, its more about small steps. If you were to modify your working behaviour NOT to commute or use the car just for 1 day a week...what a difference this would make. That is 20% people...a 20% reduction in your environmental fingerprint. Wow, it is that significant. We need to make a difference, we need to change our attitudes about these things...and it is nothing to do with riding a bike. While I would like to see everyone ride, its not about that...its all about changing the patterns in our lives.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Vancouver Bach Choir
My daughter is involved with the Vancouver Bach Choir (youth). It is an awesome organization and really good for her. I never even thought about it until one day we, by chance, were told about it. She auditioned and voila, she was in.
They have 3 incredible performances each year. These include the Christmas performance which is at the Orpheum Theatre and includes the adult choir. They have a great spring performance which also allows for virtuoso performances by the kids on other instruments. Some of them are simply scary they are so good.
The summer concert is also fantastic, held at the Chan Centre.
This year the VBC is also a part of the Cultural Olympics held during the Olympic games. Heather has an opportunity to be a part of this. I sure hope that this is what happens...it would be so cool.
They have 3 incredible performances each year. These include the Christmas performance which is at the Orpheum Theatre and includes the adult choir. They have a great spring performance which also allows for virtuoso performances by the kids on other instruments. Some of them are simply scary they are so good.
The summer concert is also fantastic, held at the Chan Centre.
This year the VBC is also a part of the Cultural Olympics held during the Olympic games. Heather has an opportunity to be a part of this. I sure hope that this is what happens...it would be so cool.
Raingear
Ok....raingear.
My son has been riding his bike to school every day. To some this may not be a significant accomplishment, but in my world it is nothing short of amazing. In order to keep him riding I have spent some money getting him the right gear.
It started last year, when he promised he would ride his bike to school and never did. I bought him a commuting bike, a fabulous bike (Kona Dew). We bought all the stuff...paniers etc etc..but he never used it. Well, this year he is. I bought a hard-sided panier which is waterproof, a waterproof jacket and a light. I also got him a special cycling carrier bag....everything was perfect when it was dry. Now that is starting to rain I wanted to get him some raingear. But there is none to be had. The first good rain and everyone panics and buys up all the rain gear.
Groan...have to see what I can do. Would hate for him to stop riding because he was getting wet.
My son has been riding his bike to school every day. To some this may not be a significant accomplishment, but in my world it is nothing short of amazing. In order to keep him riding I have spent some money getting him the right gear.
It started last year, when he promised he would ride his bike to school and never did. I bought him a commuting bike, a fabulous bike (Kona Dew). We bought all the stuff...paniers etc etc..but he never used it. Well, this year he is. I bought a hard-sided panier which is waterproof, a waterproof jacket and a light. I also got him a special cycling carrier bag....everything was perfect when it was dry. Now that is starting to rain I wanted to get him some raingear. But there is none to be had. The first good rain and everyone panics and buys up all the rain gear.
Groan...have to see what I can do. Would hate for him to stop riding because he was getting wet.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Blogging
I have attempted to keep a blog in the past. I succeeded for a while, but fell away. I have a technical blog in Wordpress where I journal some of the things I think about my chosen field, technology.
Not sure what I will write in these blogs, but we will see.....
Wish me luck.
Not sure what I will write in these blogs, but we will see.....
Wish me luck.
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