T-Shirt Tales Tuesday: Believe In Your Selfie

T-shirt tales? Because every t-shirt tells a story, don't it.

And I have so very many of them. Shirts. And stories. ---- Whaaaaat??

All T-Shirt Tales

SUMMARY: Photographing myself plus a pun. What's not to love?

Historically, for photos of me taken on my own camera, I've used either human tripods ("stand here, hold my camera, aim to see the top of my head down to my waist...") or built-in timers -- usually 10 seconds, which often isn't sufficient time to get into the perfect sexy position.  

1975 Photo-by-human-tripod:
Hey, we're all dressed up, please take our photo!
Oh by all means make us as tiny as possible,
 surrounded by meaningless messy darkness, please.
(Before I learned to be more specific...)

2008 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:
Get the camera set up, push the 10-second timer, 
and get back into position to lean casually against the railing...
didn't quite make it.

With my first small digital camera in December, 2003, it became easier to hold it in one hand at arm's length, aim it at myself, and click, hoping to get what I wanted, although I preferred setting it somewhere and using the timer. At least with digital I could immediately see whether I had achieved the ideal artwork (unlike small film cameras).

But if I wanted more than my head and shoulders, and some of the background, too, and decent quality, it would have to be the DSLR. Which also has a 3-second or 10-second built-in timer. And then a rush to get into position and look casual. Heh. Ha.  

Finally after enough frustration, in 2010, before leaving on a long driving vacation, I bought a remote shutter release. Allows me to set up the camera, compose the shot, get into position, compose myself, and simply press the button in my hand. Love it. But I don't often carry my DSLR or a tripod around.

When an iPhone came into my life not quite 2 years ago, suddenly I could hold it at arm's length and see myself to compose the shot.  Nifty indeed, although it's designed for a one-person head shot, really. Hard to get more than that. And, although it has a timer, it's hard to just set it down somewhere and move away from it like I could with the regular pocket digital cameras.

If I want more than just my face, there's always the Mirror Selfie strategy.

2019 Mirror Selfie. How about if the camera is *here*?
What about over *here*? Or maybe over *here*?!?!

Fact is, I like having photos of myself doing things and going places. (As a kid, I often resented people taking my photo. But I liked seeing them as long as I didn't look too terribly ugly.) So I have taken photos of myself (sometimes with friends or dogs) for a long time.

2012: Nice Canon digital pocket camera--could actually get more than just my own face
when held at arm's length. By then I understood how to [usually] get my composition
when staring at the camera lens. Can't get this wide a shot with the iPhone in selfie mode.

The act of taking your own photo has been around as long as cameras, but holding it up in front of you and snapping yourself was still a novelty in 1995.Surprising to note that the term "selfie" itself didn't appear in any paper or electronic medium until 2002, although the person who used it said that it was commonly used slang by then. 

In any event-- in 2014, while walking through Target, I noticed this delightfully soft, lightweight, clever shirt making a pun on "Believe in yourself." At the time, I had no t-shirts related to photography, and this shirt said: Time to rectify that. So I did.

Since then, I've taken only one selfie (that I've found so far) with me in this shirt (setting the camera on a nearby table). Crazy, right? In 2016 with a friend at In'N'Out Burger. Not at the fascinating place where later in the day we spent three hours taking photos. Nope. Doh. But, well, here it is.

------

Fun read: Selfie article on Wikipedia

Photo #P1010003

SUMMARY: A rousing round of randomness

So, here's the thing. Ya take a lot of photos, the camera numbers them for you, but the camera has only a certain number of digits, say, up to 9999, so eventually, after 9999 photos, it rolls back around to 0001 again. But some cameras have wayyyyyy many more digits.

Sometimes, when I search for a certain photo number, the variety of photos that appear intrigues me.  So, just because-- here are my photos numbered P1010003.

(It's a single collage this time instead of each file individually. See the text below the collage.)

I've done this before:

• #2119
• #2150

These are random, hence quality is, too.

Left to right from the top:

1. April 2008: Haute Dawgs' USDAA agility trial at Dixon. Friends with his and hers Segways let us all try them. Learning curve, very fast on a wide-open lawn, and oh so cool!
   We had fun fun fun till our buddies took the Segway away.
   Third day of a 4-day trial. I did not sign up for the fourth; that is too too too much agility. Thirty runs over just 3 days. Tika completed her ADCH-Bronze. (This is a Big Thing.)
   
2. Feb 2008: Sun sets on another agility weekend. Heading home from VAST's Turlock USDAA trial. Another 18 runs between the 2 dogs over 2 days. Plus walkthroughs of probably 10 minutes each. Lots of pottying and warming up and cooling down and volunteering. Tired, always tired physically.
   Driving west into the sunset. Better than driving west into the blinding sun above the horizon, an all-too familiar nemesis.
   
3. Feb 2007: Commuting to work in essentially stopped traffic. Inch, stop. Inch, stop. How often have I been in this exact traffic jam?! Some  places are just bottlenecks. --we have lots of them. But the fog on the coastal mountains is a nice backdrop.
   
4. Feb 2017: Restaurant dessert at the family's dinner (about 15 of us) after Mom's (and Dads') Memorial. The Executor held the keys to the Estate pocket book. Seemed like this would be a good use of funds, so no holds barred. Emotions must be tended to.
   Signed,
    -- The Executor.
   
5. Nov 2009: Stevens Creek Reservoir (not "Steven's").  Water level is low-ish, not surprising after the long dry summer months. Rain might have started in Sept but more likely Oct.
   Short hike up the hill to Picchetti Ranch Reserve for the view with a former work colleague friend.
   
6. Aug 2009: Wearing a glow bracelet in my car. Why? Where is this? Why did I have one at all?  These photos are with photos from a late afternoon hike in the hills with the dogs at Santa Teresa Park. Which makes no sense. This appears to be one of the folders in which for some reason dates and times are hosed. And/or photo numbers. Or they were hosed in the camera and I didn't notice.  The *numbering* would fit there, but I can find no info anywhere on glow bracelets in the car, clearly at night. Not in my blog or my other photos.  Sadly this might remain a mystery.
   
7. June 2009: Used to take the dogs with me when I'd drop the car off for maintenance, then we'd go for a long walk instead of waiting in the facility's inevitably stark waiting room. This time they weren't done with the oil change when we got back, so we waited in the waiting room together. No idea whether they minded. Didn't care. Was hot outside, nowhere to sit, and the car wasn't ready. And the Merle Girls were well-behaved.
   
8. May 2008: Hiking with the Wednesday Sierra [Club] Singles. After work, all year round. This day, to the top of Black Mountain in the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve.
   We'd meet after work, drive 20-30-minute drive up from the Valley nearly to Skyline Rd. (twisty turny winding road up about 2000 feet). We'd have to be out of the parking lot by half hour after sunset.
   
   So we'd have to hustle to the top of Black Mountain from the parking lot, admire the view briefly, maybe have time for a snack if we were lucky, and hustle back down. No time to sit and relax! About 3 miles one way, gaining 800 feet (and 3 miles/800 feet back down again), but many sections are exhaustingly steep. So there's the crew, there's the view, how do you do!
   OK, it's not a view, just us and the mountaintop and clouds. Trust me, views are lovely.
   Back when I could do that kind of hike.
   
   Because I'm nice, here's the actual view that day of the south Bay Area and mountains to the east. (In the other direction are ridges of forest and clouds and, on a good day, a view of the Pacific.)
   
   

Why so many photos with the same number within those 2 years and none after? Something odd happened. As you can tell from the number of digits, it should've kept going up. And, in fact, at some point it did, because here in 2020Land, that camera is at P1130988.

Father's Day...

SUMMARY: notes from facebook June 6, '16

Backfill: Didn't post this until August 2, 2016

A friend posted on Facebook today:

Just realized for the first time in my life, I don't have to worry about Father's Day plans.
That was a blow.

And I replied--

I've been going through exactly the same thing this year. And we are not alone [based on other comments I've seen on FB lately]. 

I've been seeing or hearing things that might have turned into nice father's day gifts (such as activities), and then -- oh, right. 

I empathize. It's interesting how Father's Day was no big deal--I did try to do something most years, even just a card--but now, this year, it looms large.

Several additional people noted on this post, "Same here," or the equivalent.

And then, of course, this reminder from another person:

25 years for me this year...and it still will be sad

Fathers are both not forever and forever.

I look a lot like my dad.

Another Hike

SUMMARY: January 2, with friends.

This time, from the Mendoza Ranch entrance to Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park. I'd never been there before, and the day was lovely--somewhat chilly air but sunny, looking to be a record high for this date (upper 60s (~20C)).

A friend organized this, including 8 people and 10 dogs (2 Whippets, 2 Border Collies, one Great Pyrenees puppy who was bigger than any of the adult dogs, and a slew of Aussies). I thought I'd get a photo of everyone at some point, but I had to turn around after 45 minutes to be able to make a noon meeting. Then I realized that I didn't even have a photo of myself, so I set up the little camera on the little Gorillapod, and voila. (I think that's Loma Prieta peak again, towards the right in the farthest range; saw it from the north in yesterday's photo.)

Tika stayed home, which made me sad every time I thought about it. However, after yesterday, I knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up with a herd of younger, healthier people and dogs. She doesn't seem to mind so much when I take Boost somewhere in the car, but boy, try to take Boost for a walk out the front door without her, and look out world!

It was a bit hazy, but still the views were nice enough looking across the Gilroy area. And, sure, it was a weekday rather than a weekend, but in the 3 hours I was there, I saw only one biker and only one other hiker.

Looking pretty much due west, with the trail wrapping out around the grassy slope.

Looking northwest from another spot.

Looking mostly south towards southern Gilroy and Hollister. Still a lot of farm land here.

Lines! Probably cattle trails; the ranch still hosts tons of yellow-white cattle. We saw only one up close, and she and Boost eyed each other suspiciously as we walked by. (But you can see how dry things still are. The lack of rain is becoming an omnipresent topic of discussion here.)

I almost missed my meeting anyway. Got back to the car and discovered that my camera was no longer in my pocket. The last place I remembered having it was at a pair of memorial benches where I sat to give Boost a drink, and it had been a bit uncomfortable so I reached back and adjusted it a little. Those benches had to be at least half a mile from the parking lot, maybe more. I confirmed for sure that the camera wasn't in my pack or other pockets, and looked for my friend's cell phone number but didn't find it, so was in a bit of a panic. Put Boost's leash back on and headed towards the trail to go back.

Now, here's the good luck-- I commented to the park folks (who had just finished working on repairing a water valve by the gate) that the reason I came back early was to leave for a meeting and now I don't have my camera, just to ask them how far back they thought the benches were--and the ranger had a truck, and offered to race back and look for it. Off he went in a cloud of dust, came back the same way in probably a lot less than 5 minutes, and I was on my way! Had I gotten back 5 minutes later, the crew would've been gone and I'd have had to go back for the camera myself. Whew! I was a little late as a result, but all's good.

Two days in a row of hiking with some uphill after so much time off was a little much (even though it was only about 4.5 miles today with mild ups & downs)--the muscle in my right front thigh is sore, and ditto for my left ankle front,  I noticed after my post-meeting nap. So I bagged on class for Boost for tonight and I promise not to go hiking tomorrow. Maybe just a short walk.  Generally feeling good, though; it is SO nice to be back out in the hills!

Hiking in the Rain With Glass

SUMMARY: Sierra Vista sunrise hike with spectacles and telephoto lens.

The Santa Clara County Open Space District planned this nifty event--on February 29, just because it's an unusual date, do an unusual thing by allowing a limited number of people to drive up and park in Sierra Vista Park (normally you can only get there by hiking up 1500 feet from Alum Rock park), watch the sunrise, and go for an early hike. We've had such great weather all winter--even spring-like lately--and so I signed up.

Of course, last night a big storm blew in. They sent email asking whether anyone wanted to cancel. Apparently a bunch did, but not me, and not an intrepid dozen others.

Here's how it worked out:

Sunrise over San Jose: Ha ha! Just kidding! That's the glow of the city lights through my rainy windshield at 5:30 in the morning.

OK, the *real* sunrise over San Jose. In other words--it merely got a little lighter and the blasting wind and rain let up a bit.

We did actually hike after the sun theoretically rose. Here are those of us who decided to keep on going for a mile or so before the weight of the mud on our boots and the total soakage of our clothing made us think better of doing more (I'm on the right in, yes, bluejeans).

Even with a hat and a hood, I looked like this at the end of the hike. The brim on my hat did nothing to keep my glasses dry.

And despite a plastic cover for my camera (and a sunguard on the lens) and my attempts to baby it, the lens repeatedly became covered with water droplets, and so almost all the photos are blurred like you're looking through water. Because, ha ha, you are.

This was my first attempt at shooting in the rain, on the go, with a plastic cover, using a tripod. I learned some things but the results were less than stellar.  With that caveat, you can see my very few other photos that weren't completely terrible: http://elf1.smugmug.com/Hiking/Sierra-Vista-Sunrise-Rain-Hike/21696926_r6XLQq

A Good Time Was Had By One Too Many People

SUMMARY: CPE weekend out of town.

I really don't like getting up at 4 a.m. and driving two hours before I can compete in agility. I debated driving up to Santa Rosa Friday evening and staying in the same motel I was planning on staying in on Saturday night, but that meant leaving around 8:30 to avoid traffic and getting there pretty late in the evening, plus my budget is always a little tight and I didn't want to spend the extra $60-ish. Instead, I came up with the great idea of imposing on my gracious cousin and her spouse, who live only a few minutes off of my route and about halfway to Santa Rosa.

Got into the car Friday evening around 8:30, and the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. A few minutes of experimentation and growing panic before it occurred to me to find my spare key and try that. It worked. But I should probably take the car & the key in for a check-up and at least a replacement. That won't be cheap, probably.

I drove uneventfully up to Richmond, hauled my suitcase and computer and camera bag and purse and dogs all into the cousin's house, visited a bit, went to bed, and didn't get up until 5:15, which seems almost reasonable. Hauled everything back out to MUTT MVR, where I was puzzled to notice that the cover on my cooler was ajar. When I walked around to the driver's side, my heart sank as I saw that my door was partly open. Sure enough, someone had been in my car and had gone through the glove compartment and the "junk box" between the seats. That's where I keep my first aid kit, work gloves, cough drops, things like that--oh, yeah, and my old Olympus point and shoot that didn't work the last time I tried it, and my nearly new $500 Canon S95 subcompact, neither of which were there any longer. &%#@*%*!

Also apparently they had used the flashlight from my glove compartment, because it was lying on the floor, turned on, with the batteries almost completely discharged. Why on earth would the sight of a cooler make someone want to break into the car? I don't know what they were hoping for, but I take pleasure in knowing that all I had were cans of diet soda and bottles of water, and apparently those didn't interest them (although they sure dug around in the ice to be sure). And they didn't think to open the ashtray, where I had several dollars worth of change. So, hah!

I *think* that's all they got. I don't really remember what all was in my junk box or glove compartment. And apparently they didn't bother trying to dig around in the fully loaded pile of dog gear in the back.

But now I'm back to no point-and-shoot again. :-(

Still, I was surprisingly calm and undevastated by the whole thing. Maybe because it seems so minor compared to the major theft and insurance disaster of 2 and a half years ago. They didn't even break a window. Really, they slim-jimmed a car to get into the cooler for a beer?! Jerks.

Drove uneventfully up to Santa Rosa (hah, they also didn't steal my FastTrak toll gizmo, I noted as I went across the bridge), unloaded everyone and set up the Cabana Crates and all. About an hour into the trial, someone came to tell me that Boost had ripped open the side of her crate and was lunging out at dogs as they came by.

Sigh.
I don't know whether I can repair this. Might be a duct tape job. We'll have to experiment.

Boost made up a little bit of it by winning two bags of Zukes in the raffle--that'll save me $8 or 10, woohoo.

Saturday ran VERY long, mostly due to a new judge being supervised with long discussions and no nested courses, requiring significant course buils and more discussions each time. Still, I had a good time. I love agility people--and CPE trials. We had a costume contest in the evening with some really great costumes (I'll post photos later), then pizza dinner for about a dozen of us, just sitting and talking there at the show site.

The Motel 6 was comfy and I slept fairly well.

Sunday was a little more efficient. At the end of the day, we announced the winners of the Kevin Gast Memorial Award, which goes to the highest-scoring novice dog (defined as level 1, 2, or 3, who is not in a higher level in any other organization, either). Kevin was a fun guy who died suddenly and too young in 2008. Here's my photo of a blown-up photo they displayed of him and his shelties.

There's now a plaque for the winner and a perpetual plaque with each winner's name on it.

After we packed up, we ran the dogs ragged in the field by the agility ring, then a few of us went out to dinner (Denny's, and actually most of us had breakfast), then I headed home. Had to pull over about halfway home & sleep for an hour in a shopping-center parking lot. Home around midnight.

Anyway--RESULTS:

Tika picked up 8 of 10 Qs (knocked a bar in jumpers, drat, and another oddball gamble where I think she was heading for the correct obstacle and then pulled off--something she never used to do but seems to do more often now. Particularly odd since Boost, the sticky dog, did get it.) Boost picked up 7 out of 10, including that final pesky Colors Q to finish her CL4 title! Whew!

Boost missed BOTH Snookers, and one Standard where I misjudged a handling situation so she jumped a jump in the wrong direction, but she also finished her level 5 fun title, and Tika got her first EX title, EXSt (Standard--that's 30 Level C Qs--in the range of a USDAA Gold title).

Saturday

• Snooker: Well, Boost took herself out of the Perfect Weekend running first thing in the morning--a mess, really, and I think I bobble it so badly that I also confused the judge. Anyway, I just didn't really pick a good course for her, although Tika ran the same sequence successfully but messily as I was late or in the wrong place on my cues. Only a 2nd place for Tika.
• Standard: Boost and Tika both had nice runs, although Boost left the teeter early & I made her down, so wasted some time. Still, both 1st places & Qs.
• Standard #2: Just Boost. I underestimated how far she'd carry out in a certain sequence and so she backjumped a jump instead of coming inside it, but otherwise really nice. And she still came in 2nd of 4 dogs.
• Jumpers: Just Tika.  Nice fast run, fastest of all 50-ish level 4/5/C dogs.
• Gamblers (Jackpot): Tika had highest opening points of all dogs at the trial, but then pulled away from the gamble that I thought was right in front of her, for an NQ. Odd, because Boost--although we had some issues in the opening keeping us from quite as many points--actually got the gamble. So a win for Boost, and still a 2nd out of 4 for Tika despite the NQ.
• Wildcard: Both dogs ran nicely, and fast, too--only 3 dogs of all 70-ish 3/4/5/C dogs broke 20 seconds, and they were the fastest two of those three: 19.32 for Tika and 19.07 for Boost--ALMOST breaking 19!
•  

Sunday:

• Snooker,  again a mess with Boost, interrupted by the judge blowing the whistle when she shouldn't have, confusing me no end; she let us rerun but we were worse the 2nd time. Tika got through it nicely, doing 3 7s in the opening for a total of 51 and taking 1st in her class of 6.  Lots and lots of dogs got the 51 points, which made it even more embarrassing for not being able to get through it with Boost.
• Gamblers: This was nontraditional, and Tika did everything I asked her to except that in doing the 2nd (easier!) gamble, I lost my balance and stepped over the line before she exited the tunnel (another one of those dark tunnels where she seemed to be in there forever, the thing that made me wonder about her vision), so instead of having 70 points which would've been 5 more than anyone else in the whole trial, we ended with 55, and there were 8 dogs with more points than us. Boost also did both gambles, but we had some bobbles here and there, so ended up with only 56 as well. Still--first place in each of their classes, and Qs.
• Colors: Woohoo, Boost finally finished her last Level 4 Q! With a really nice run, 15.07 seconds. Not quite the fastest of all dogs in 3/4/5/C--that was an aussie at 14.78, wow. Tika's run seemed smooth to me, but she came in a lot slower at 16.87--but still, these were the only 3 dogs out of everyone in 3/4/5/C to break 17 seconds.
• Standard: Both dogs I thought had very nice runs. Tika felt only marginally slower by this time, and in fact she came in only 2nd in her group of 6. Boost I did a stupid handling maneuver and had to actually stop in the middle and line her up again. Even so--she was only 1.5 seconds slower than Tika and got a 1st.
• Jumpers: Both dogs had a bar down in the same general area of the course, but not sure if it was exactly the same bar. Nothing wrong with either dog's speed; Tika was 2 seconds slower than Boost although I think Tika had tighter turns. Boost had the 2nd fastest time of all 60 3/4/5/C dogs (.1 slower than on other dog in her exact same class, figures)--one of only 3 dogs to get below 23 seconds, at 5.85 yards per second--and Tika's 2 seconds extra made her only the 10th fastest. Yeh, think she's slowing down a bit.

SKILLS SURVEY:
Tika: Knocked one bar in one Jumpers course. Only one dogwalk and did that fine, one iffy Aframe departure, one turn-away in the gamble. Nothing really identifiable to work on.

Boost: Quite a few weaves this weekend, mostly 6-pole, but did them all great, even the 12-pole that headed into the fence while I moved away in the opposite direction.  Contacts: Leaving most of them early w/out a release; must must must fix this again. Bars: Knocked one in Saturday's snooker, one in our 2nd attempt at Sunday's snooker, knocked one in Sunday jumpers. 3 bars for the weekend isn't bad for her.  Runouts and refusals--just one run-by of a jump in gamblers, one turn-back on a series of obstacles where I got behind--I think mostly it was pretty smooth and she mostly kept moving and taking obstacles. I was pretty happy with her this weekend.

Start-line stays: Both dogs just lovely.

TITLE CHASING:

So, for Boost to get her C-ATCH (Agility Trial Championship)

• 6 standard
• 5 colors
• 2 wildcard
• 3 snooker (can't believe we didn't Q on EITHER one this weekend. Doh! Our Snooker "curse" continues even into CPE!)
• (She already has all she needs of Full House, Jackpot, and Jumpers, go figure--but really that's because you can Q at level 5 in Jumpers with a bar down, which she did this weekend)

For Tika to get her C-ATE (Agility Team Extraordinaire):
She has 4035 points, so needs 965  more. I estimate an average of 21 pts per run based on the distribution of points per class, so realistically, 46 Qs. At an average Q rate of about 80%, that's about 60 runs that we have to sign up for. Am signed up for 15 at WAG thanksgiving. Bay Team March I think will have 9 runs, not sure yet about Bay Team July, either 8 or 10 I'd guess. So that still leaves another 27 runs to sign up for--so another 3 or 4 trials beyond those three.

Sigh. That's still a lot of extra agility weekends.

Gratuitous photo, too cute for words:

Meanwhile, I noticed an odd pattern--so to speak--in people's clothing on sunday.

Wild Flowers and Calm Dogs

SUMMARY: Where the wild flower-things are.

Yesterday morning, I took only my little point-and-shoot camera and my dogs, expecting to do a brisk solo hike and to not see many wildflowers. Instead--tons of wildflowers and almost no hiking because I stopped constantly to take photos. And such a beautiful day! Dogs were a little bored but hike was uphill so they got a little workout.

I discovered that there are still lots of things that I don't know about the camera--that is, that I don't remember from one read-through of the user guide. How to set the exposure time in manual mode. How to pick a fixed focus spot instead of letting it pick its own. How to see what aperture and time it's picking before I take the shot.

Meanwhile--if you like puppies and poppies--the couple dozen photos that turned out ok are here.

Bird Photography is Really Hard

SUMMARY: Hummingbird family.

I have this awesome opportunity to get some wonderful photos of a hummingbird raising her family. Except--not.

She built her nest on a string of fake ivy on my back deck right above my dogfood bin. See it?

I wouldn't have, either, except that when the dogs and I were gone one day, the Renter noticed it while he was in the kitchen and pointed it out to me.

The challenges: It's very close to the deck roof, so my SLR & lens don't really fit in there to look down on it. There isn't even a good way to get a side-on view, because there's ivy between me and it, and it's too close to the back wall to get in behind it. The fake ivy isn't that sturdy, really, and I'm afraid of knocking it down if I get too close. I have to climb on a stool or ladder to try to get at it.

I've tried, but none of the photos are ready for prime time. Still, kind of fun trying, and they're not terrible. Here's the best I ever got of mommabird sitting on the nest. Now she doesn't seem to do that any more, even at night.

This is a typical view, even with me standing on a stool. Babies two days ago.

And babies this morning--I gave up on the SLR and am using my new little point-and-shoot--it's so slender that it will slip into the space above the nest, and there's just barely enough distance that it will focus properly--if I try about 8 times (and I can't see what I'm aiming at because the camera is up on the ceiling pointing down). I don't think my old P&S would've gotten this!

You can see why mommabird might not be perching there any more--it's getting a little crowded!

Fortunately they're high enough up, and mommabird is small enough (and fast enough!) that the dogs don't even notice her, or else Tika would challenge her every time she came around.

New Toy

SUMMARY: New camera.

I have a nice DSLR camera with a couple of decent lenses. I use this camera when I want to concentrate on my shots, when I want photos of more difficult situations, when I want better-quality shots (part due to the camera itself, part due to the control I have), when I'm thinking of photos that people might want to buy, I use this camera.

When I'm out hiking with crazy people (like the sierra club--average speed on hikes could be competitive at Indionapolis), or when I'm hiking with my dogs so need to focus on them (so to speak), when I'm dashing around madly from here to there, or any other time when I don't want a heavier, larger camera hanging around my neck--say, for example, walking an agility course, dashing around an agility site with or without the dogs, working at the score table but wanting a camera readily at hand--I like to have a little point-and-shoot that fits in my pocket and that i don't have to think too much about.

This old Olympus, which I bought in 2003, actually takes pretty good pictures. As long as--[fill in a long list of restrictions--it's not too dark, it's not too bright, nothing's moving, it's not too small for the camera to notice and focus on, you don't care about depth of field (where the background blurs out to emphasize something in the foreground), the graininess of the photo (ISO setting, just like film ISO values), being able to crop in (because it's only 4 megapixels compared to most nowadays are >10.].

Lately I've been too frustrated at missing too many shots because it took too long for the camera to open, or things were moving (it just won't take the photo if it can't clearly focus), or they're so grainy that they're pretty unusable (e.g., some sunset shots).

A couple of weeks ago, sorry old Olympus, one day this came home with me.

There are a lot of purely physical things that appeal to me. Like: The size of the viewing screen:

Or the width of the camera--slides much more easily into a pocket.

Start-up speed: From completely turned off, the new one is ready to shoot much more quickly. My timings--old one: 3.5 seconds; new one: 0.7 seconds.

Low light: The new Canon seems to work better in less-than perfect lighting conditions--the photos above of the Olympus (using the Canon) were done in natural light near a window, and it took perfectly lovely shots without the flash. The Olympus insisted that it needed the flash.

Controls: The old one has no control over ISO, speed, or aperture. Well--minimal, but only by inference. For example, you can tell it to not use the flash in a low-light situation, and it accordingly uses a slower shutter speed. Which is usually insufficient. The new one--I can set it into full auto mode just like the old one, or partial auto (which I use a lot on my SLR, too), or go aperture priority, shutter priority, or full manual if I want! And sometimes I want!

Sheer raw data:

	Old Olympus	New Canon
Megapixels	3.2	10
Aperture	f3.1 to 5.2 (auto only)	f2.8 to 8.0 (controllable)
Speed	1/2 sec to 1/1000 sec (auto only)	15 sec to 1/1600 sec (controllable)
ISO	60-400 (auto only)	80-3200 (controllable)
r7c1	r7c2	r7c3
Weight	213g	193g (.7 oz lighter)
lens	Equiv to 35 to 105mm on 35mm	Equiv to 28 to 105mm on 35 mm
Focus modes	Single	Single, AI servo, manual
Zoom	optical: 3.0 digital: 3.8, total = 11x	optical: 3.8 digital: 4.0, total=15x

Video: They both take video--I never used it on the old one for some reason; seemed difficult to me although it's not, really: Press one button to see the Settings display, another button to switch to movies. The new one seems easier--it's a dial setting on the top. I've been playing with the new one's videos a bit, as you may have noticed.

Dislikes: One thing I don't like so much about the new camera: The battery and card are under the same little door. The card pops out with just a little push. So, when I'm inserting a fresh battery, I keep popping the card out. That ranges from minor annoyance to the possibility of the card falling out at a really bad time. 

One thing I haven't decided about yet. The new camera takes a special rechargeable battery. The Canon brand costs $40-60 each. (Generic for $20ish, but they don't seem to rate well.) At least they're rechargeable, so if you have 2 of them, you can switch them and never throw one away or pay more. On the other hand, there's something to be said for being able to drop into a drug store or supermarket and buy a new battery on the spur of the moment for the Olympus when you've forgotten to, say, recharge. And, in a pinch, I can use two AAs in my Olympus. Sure, the longer-lasting battery packs for the Olympus typically run $9-12 each, but i don't spend any electricity recharging them, and they're available instantly. But, when done, they became hazardous waste. I probably spend $60 a year on those batteries. So--still pondering.  The rechargeable/cost/convenience issue is similar to my DSL battery.

Oh--and my current card reader doesn't read the card from the new camera, so I actually have to have a separate cord and actually plug the camera into the computer to be able to transfer photos. I'll have to see whether I can get a newer version of the card reader that'll handle these cards.

Results: Does the new one take better photos, that's one big question, and does it solve my issues with the old one, that's the other big question. I've only just begun to play around and can't actually yet answer yet, although the start-up speed improvement is a biggie.

Here's a quick comparison of both cameras on full auto setting. They're pretty comparable. The first one has slightly richer color, is slightly sharper (although that could be me rather than the camera), doesn't blow out the brightest whites quite so much, and the background's blur is more pleasing, less distracting. It's good that I like it better, because it's with the new camera.

Here's another set in automatic. They picked essentially the same exposure, so the lighting is OK in both, although achieved it with slightly different aperture and shutter speeds. What's obviously different is the automatic white balance settings--the first is much bluer and the second is much yellower. My slight preference is for the first one (again, the newer camera), and indeed, if I open them both in Photoshop Elements and apply auto color correction, it makes the 2nd look much more like the first. So my judgment matches that of software. ;-)

Here they are, cropped in--I'm not sure whether the softness (that is, not quite in focus) aspect of the 2nd (from the older camera) is due to the camera or due to me trying to take two quick snapshots without picking my focus point carefully. Will have to experiment more.

That's all the camera geeky stuff for today! The weekend's almost over and we haven't practiced ANY agility once again, except for lots and lots of tunnels (because they're fun). Oh, and while on my knees in the garden doing some weeding, I'd tell Boost "weave" or "thru" without any body language involved, and she'd have to find the obstacle and do it correctly to get the toy. She was really good at it! Hmm. So it's *my presence* that's messing her up! Maybe I should shoot some vids with the new camera--