LaserBlog.com

I ordered the Gorillapod for my point-and-shoot from kodak.com and loved it so much I got the one for the “slr zoom” from joby.com so it’d hold my Canon D60.  That version does not have a quick relase on it so I ordered one.  This is the one I got:
Bogen – Manfrotto RC2 Compact Rapid Connect Adapter w/3157N Plate

It’s really nice, very heavy duty.  Feels like cast iron.  Much more heavy duty than any tripod I have.  But it’ll be great to have a quick release!

I was wondering… pondering… I wonder if Flickr is going to be a threat to TextAmerica. Now wait, before I go any farther let me just say that I LOVE Textamerica and I don’t want to see any company threaten to be tough competition for them. I’ve just been wondering.

Flickr lets you set up your existing blog, whether it’s at Blogger, an MT blog, a WordPress blog, or other type, so that you can email (like from a cell phone) images straight to your blog. Those images get stored in your Flickr account but also get simultaneously posted to the blog of your choice. You can tell it what size images to post to your blog, what part of the email to use as the body of the blog post, etc.

When I first started this blog, I would take photos while out on the road and then come home, and post them to the blog along w/ commentary. The day after I got my camera phone I signed up w/ Textamerica and got myself a free moblog. After that I decided to pay to make my moblog a premium moblog, more space, no ads.

I’ve used the moblog as a supplement to this blog. Pix from the road of bad drivers and strange merchandise in stores, along with short commentary, have been being posted to my moblog instead of to this blog.

We DID get email-to-blog working for this blog long ago, but including a photo in the email posted a huge, way-too-large copy of the photo, and I had no patience or time to figure out how to change that.

So now, with Flickr, I can email photos sraight to here, the photos display at the size I want, and a copy is in my Flickr account.

I worry that I’ll use this new flickr method more than textamerica.

But-

I don’t want to. Textamerica is neat in and of itself, and I think that a seperate moblog is kinda fun. M and I were discussing this the other day and M’s opinion is that moblogs are different from blogs, and that regular blogs tend to have longer entries and less photos, and that moblogs have a whole different feel and purpose and probably will continue to stand on their own in spite of the ease of Flickr.

I’d be curious to see what other ppl think. I LOVE textamerica, and I admit that I love Flickr too. My gut feeling is that my moblog will continue to grow as a seperate entity, that I may flickr certain photos to this blog, but most typical moblog photos will end up at my textamerica moblog.

Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know.

I finally decided to pay for Flickr pro.

I wanted to do it before they got out of beta cuz then the price goes up.

I REALLY like my fotki account. $30 a YEAR and u get unlimited photo storage and can even ftp up your images if you wanna do it that way.

Flicker has no ftp (yet?), but it has SO many other features, I want to try them out.

It’s hard for me tho, cuz I’m REALLY happy w/ fotki, and I hate spreading myself around. I like having all my photos in once place. Up until recently, all photos were on my own server. But before my Ireland trip I decided I wanted unlimited photos space and I was getting tight on room on my own server. I wanted to be able to, while in Ireland, upload full-res copies of my day’s photos without worrying about space, and fotki was the best way to do that. (It actually kicked ass, they have a fantastic upload interface and all I did was go to the high speed internet cafe and zoom up my pix, it was awesome.)

Now, I don’t really want to start hosting photos in yet ANOTHER place, but flickr just has SO many features, I want to play play play. I want to thy the blogging (you can send photos to you MT blog, your wordpress blog, your blogger blog, whatever, thru them!), among other features.

My photography has gone to shit since I got the dog. It’s amazing, but I have taken not a SINGLE photo except puppy pictures since I got him.

Having a puppy is very time consuming. They are very demanding… of attention, of cleanup, you name it.

I couldn’t wait for fall so that I could go ‘photo-ing’ without getting heat stroke, but now I have the dog and I’m always out on walks w/ him and I can’t really (can’t easily) bring my nice (big) camera w/ me when I have the dog. And if I have time to drive to a nature preserve w/ the good camera, it’s time I should really be taking the dog to the dog park, or staying home taking care of him.

I sorta can’t wait ’till he’s grown and doesn’t have to go outside to potty every 2-3 hours. I’d just like to take a day and go to a nature presever w/ the camera.

I guess I CAN. But I just don’t. Puppyhood is a bitch. Sometimes I wish I got an adult dog. I know that one day I’ll look back and miss his puppy days, so I’m trying not to take him for granted right now. That’s kinda why I do spend more time at the dog park then at the nature preserve w/ the camera.

photoblog updated for photo friday.
http://www.laserblog.com/photoblog/

Just for fun I’ve done a zoom comparison between three cameras and some different ways to zoom.

I have a great Canon EOS D60 digital slr [link || pix], but that camera (cameras with detachable lenses) are not allowed into NHL games and some other similar events, so I often use other cameras for zooming.

Sometimes I use an older Canon Elph S100 [link || pix] which doesn’t have a great zoom but works well held up to binoculars.
Now I have a new Panasonic Lumix FZ1v2 [link || pix] that has a high-powered built-in zoom.

Click here for a comparison of zooms and zoom methods.

I’ve been wanting to do some low-light comparison shots between some of my digital cams. My new Panasonic Lumix FZ1 [cam || pix] is a great cam, but there are a couple issues I’m not real happy with. One is grain in low light conditions, and the other is some sort of light disortion around bright objects, some sort of chromatic abberation (see here)

So anyway, I did some test shots in low light between my Lumix, my older Canon Elph S100 [link || pix], and the U30 [link || pix].

The comparison is here:
http://www.laserblog.com/gallery/00shared/compare/index.htm
Exif data is included.

I basically took a model car and put it in a dim area by a lamp and
did test shots with and without flash.

Some are blurry, esp the older canon elph ones, but once I’d
downloaded the pix from all three cameras, I didn’t want to go back
and re-do them. Also, the shutter speed on the canon was slower than
on the other non-flash pictures.

What I wanted to see was if my $240 (off ebay) FZ1 had more grain than
my $150 U30 or my older Elph in low light ($400-$500 around Christmas of
2000). All are 2mp cams (except the elph is 2.1). I can’t understand
how the FZ1 can have so much grain in low light shots when the older
elph and cheaper U30 do not. That’s a mystery I have not figured out
yet. But anyway, this test satisfies my curiosity some. I reduced
the image sizes for the web but made sure not to change the quality or
sharpness when generating the image copies (using Breeze Browser).

I may or may not want to trade my Lumix in for a Canon S1, which is 10x zoom instead of 12x zoom, and 3.?mp instead of 2mp. Not sure yet.

According to the main page of my Movable Type interface, I have “999 entries”, which means that this will be my 1000′th entry! Whoo! Well, that’s a rough number since I do have a bunch of entries from before I started using Movable Type and also some entries have probably been deleted over time. So it’s a rough number. But still, entry number 1000! Let’s go get a drink!

Anyway…

I have added a shot to my “My Backyard” photoblog.

(I am writing this post so that I can use the permalink in the future to direct people more easily to my photography.)

My Photography:

To see my photography (and some of M’s photography), go to my main page and on the right sidebar is a drop-down box of categories. My photography is divided up by camera, and the cateogry names are labeled as such: “Photography – D60″, etc.

Here are quick links:

** Canon AE-1 Program 35mm.
** Sony Clie (palm pilot) Pics taken w/ the camera built in my to PDA.
** Canon EOS D60 digital slr.
** Canon digital Elph S100.
** Lomo LC-A 35mm.
** Aiptek Min Pencam and Aiptek Pencam SD.
** Sony DSC-U30.
** Sony DSC-U60.
** Photography-General A general category for misc. photos of mine.
** Moblog: Pix taken w/ my Nokia 3650 camera phone (and some from my Sony Clie UX50) can be seen on my MOBLOG at http://laserone.textamerica.com.

** laserblog/photoblog: I have created a PhotoBlog where I put select photos that I submit to photo contests, photo challenges, etc. www.LaserBlog.com/photoblog.

** laserblog/mybackyard: I’m hoping to create a new photoblog for a project I hope to start soon. When I start that, I will post the link to that here. I have started another photoblog for a photo project I am doing. It’s called “My Backyard“. It’s a project where I make myself take one photo each day from my back yard. Check it out.

UPDATE: I have worked on my website and as an option, you can now view all photography (except for the photoblogs) in a gallery-style layout: http://www.laserblog.com/gallery/wehaveagallery.html

HOME: LASERBLOG.COM

I’m checking out Buzznet.com. It’s a “Photoblog Community”. You can upload photos from your computer or, you can upload pix from your cell phone like you can do w/ Textamerica.

Now, bottom line is there’s NO better moblogging community or service than textamerica.com.

If you want to upload larger, higher-res photos, to create a more traditional “photoblog”, Buzznet.com might be neat.

I’m still trying it out. I like the layout / interface / design. I would not replace my moblog w/ it. Nope. Textamerica is the best tool / community for that.

It might be nice for photoblog purposes. I was wanting to set up a movable type photoblog as part of this site, used for just certain photos. I’m still going nuts w/ CSS bugs (or a bug in my BRAIN!), and am tempted to use textamerica or buzznet instead. This way, it’s automated, it’s done, no CSS tweaking. But then u have to deal w/ ads.

Check it: laserone.buzznet.com

I once read that one of the best exercises for becoming a better photographer was to go into your own yard every day for a… month (?) and every day take one picture. This forces you to see things differently, to look for the photograph, to get creative.

I’m thinking of making a photoblog project where each day for a month I take one photo of/in/from my back yard (or just yard). It’d be fun for me and… interesting.

Cheap TinyCam:
TechTv reviewed this tinycam and for $45 it seems you can’t beat it (FOR A TINYCAM),
the Argus DC1730. It’s VGA but it has an LCD! I dont’ know where to
get it, but here’s the link to the cam:

http://www.arguscamera.com/digital/stat_DC1730.htm

UPDATE: It’s the Argus DC 1730, NOT the DC1730. It makes a difference when searching for it online.
Googled

I went to Target today to drool over the tiny Sony Cybershot DSC-U30. (I particularly love the BLUE one.)

While I was there, I took a photo comparing the physical size compared to the Aiptek Pencam SD.

Then when I got home, I did a comparison shot of the Aiptek Mini Pencam compared to the Aiptek Pencam SD and the Sony Cybershot DSC-U60.

So if you want to see how they measure up, size-wise, have a >>>click.

Here are some pix of the new Irish Pub in town. It’s killer, so authentic. Great ambience.

So on the 4th, I did a sort of “day in the life” kinda of thing, took a ton of photos, and have yet to organize them and put them online. But I will.

On the 4th we headed to the ballpark for fireworks but there were none.

But when when we got home, our whole neighborhood was ablaze w/ fireworks. The street next to use looked like a warzone: all smoke and lit up w/ all kinds of fireworks.

Then we got to our street and our next door neighbors were out w/ their stash. It’s amazing the cool fireworks you can buy here. So we were out in the street w/ all the neighbors and mosquitoes doing fireworks. It was fun! I took a ton of photos. I have yet to sort through those either.

The ballpark had a sign saying they would do fireworks on the 5th. So we went back on the fifth, parked on the next street (I cannot stomach baseball) and waited for the fireworks that come after the ballgame. That’s where I found out about the photography club. A nice lady came along and she had a camera and we got to talking.

Anyway, the fireworks were a letdown. They usually have AMAZING fireworks after all ballgames. But this time they had very few and none of them were “real” fireworks that went up into the air. The only thing we can think of is that there was an explosion of a truckload of fireworks a few days before that killed 5 people, maybe the ballpark’s inventory was on that truck. That’s really sad, about that explosion. Well, I hope to sort and upload those pix soon.

I’ve updated my FotoLog.net photoblog. It’s pix from my archives, but maybe u have not seen them before.

UPDATE 6-5-03: Fotolog.net only lets you upload 1 photo a day now, so I no longer recommend them.

I have NO NEED for another camera AT ALL, but I am so in love w/ these little cameras. I’ve been resisting buying one for a long time and now they are cheaper AND cuter as they are coming out w/ new colors and some even have prints on them (at least at Target they do): art-deco-looking retro squares and blocks on red… flowers on bright pink… etc.

P.S. I just love TinyUrl.com.

UPDATE: Fixed above link. I forgot the “h” in “http”. Ooops.

I updated my FotoLog.net FotoLog. So far it’s pictures you’ve seen before if u r a regular. But as I shoot more, I’ll put fresh ones up. But in the meantime I’m putting up ones from my archive.

UPDATE 6-5-03: Fotolog.net only lets you upload 1 photo a day now, so I no longer recommend them.

I’ve updated my FotoLog.

UPDATE 6-5-03: Fotolog.net only lets you upload 1 photo a day now, so I no longer recommend them.

Ooooh, found a neat site: PhotoFriday.com. I found this via Liisa’s FotoLog. Here’s a quote from PhotoFriday’s About section:

“Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week’s theme. When you’re done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday.”

I can’t wait to participate.

I’m just going thru the snapfish online scans and picking which ones I want to put online and I’m pretty excited about the nighttime downtown shots. (Downtown around here does not mean what you think. It’s just old architecture w/ some restaurants and clubs. This aint no Toronto.) But there are some neat colors and stuff. Thing is, I have no idea which film produced which results (I tried different types of cheapie film). I hope that when they come in the mail I will be able to tell from the negative.

I got my physical photos back from Snapfish today. (You ship them film, then first they put the photos online for you to see, then they mail the photos). I found that the photos that arrived were WAY better than those online. Perhaps the scanner they use to put your photos online needs to be calibrated. But the photos that came in the mail were much more colorful than the online scans. Only complaint is that the photo paper is thin, but frankly I don’t really care.

UPDATE: ok, one more complaint: they don’t put the negatives in any kind of sleeve.

I want to get this scanner, as it has a stack-feeder and is way faster than my serial scanner. You can put a stack of 4×6 or 5×7 photos in the feeder, walk away, come back later and it’s scanned all the photos. It also has a slide adapter and negative adapter, but depending on who you talk to (or what site you read) none of those adapters are worth sh*t, and that even @ their highest res the imgages are not sharp, that you really need a dedicated slide/negative scanner. I wonder if that’s true. But either way it’d be faster than what I have. And now that I’m used to digital, I’ll want most of my photos scanned.

It’s really hard for me to go back to film after digital. I want feedback NOW. There’s a new Eckerd’s near(er) to my house, but I had a HUNCH that I could not do 1-hour in spite of the signs in the window. I just get hunches about things. Maybe I’m psychic. But anyway, I go, and sure enough, no 1-hour. There was NO reason to suspect this, except that they are new and may not have their act together.

So I would have had to come back in rush hour traffic for the film so I figured I’d do “next day” instead. But that was a dollar more because they “throw in” double prints. But I don’t want double prints and I certainly don’t want to pay more.

So I said “forget it” and went across the street to the grocery store where I had to go anyway, and figured I’d do the next day film there.

Nope. No way. If u do it there it’s “2 days”. After being digital and getting instant feedback, I don’t want to wait two days and come back in all this damn tourist traffic to pick it up. I’d rather do longer developing and not have to drive back to the store.

So I sent my film into snapfish. That way, in a few days, I can at least view them online and have lo-res versions to share online. Then the film will come in the mail a few days later.

I like snapfish alot. I’ve used them to reprint old photos and do prints of digital photos. I have a great photo printer at home, but ink-jet is not archival, it fades over time, esp. if the photo is in a frame or on a wall w/ any sunlight at all hitting it. So when I want to give a print to somebody whom I don’t want to have to keep reprinting ink-jet photos for as they fade, I upload them to snapfish and have the prints sent to them. It’s cool.

Compulsive Camera Collector? One day last week as I was getting ready to leave the house I realized just how many cameras I had ON ME. In my bag I had my D60, but I also had my pencam around my neck, and in my bag is also my sony clie which has a built in camera. I had 3 cameras on me at one time. I wonder if they have a Compulsive Camera Collector’s Anonymous group? Oh, that reminds me, my LOMO comes this week! EEEEEEE!!!!!

Never say “oh, I’ll take that photo tomorrow”.

I saw a beautiful photo at PhotoSig.com and there was an update from the photographer that said he went back to the site a few days later and the trees in the background were all gone, bulldozed.

Also, there’s this tree in my neighborhood that is all white flowers. For some reason this one tree has a single flower growing out of where the tree splits (at the trunk, not on a branch). It was so unique looking. So I took the photos. And I knew that in a day or two that flower would have wilted. But in a few days there were TWO. Then 4 days later there were FIVE. It was wild. Now there are none. (img)

Also, there was this huge wall of pink and white flowers. I never made it back to take a photo, and now the landscapers cut them ALL down. A missed opportunity.

OH! OH! Ebay guy got my money order and my lomo is on it’s way! Two weeks and counting! Yay!

Am I a photoblog? I think so. According to PhotoBlogs.org I am. Their FAQ says: “A photoblog is a type of blog that is regularly updated with photos. Some photoblogs focus only on photography, while others have photos in addition to other content. All photoblogs, however, consider photos to be an important part of their chronological blogging structure.” I don’t have photos in every post, I don’t have photos every day, but I do have photos often.