Swine Fever!

Today I must confess I crossed the line from interested to addicted. I mentioned the Bath pigs in an earlier post and the fear that, seized by collector urges, I might might find my self traipsing around the city trying to get a picture of each one.

The addiction started quite innocently, I would encounter Pigs on my way to places in Bath, and take a quick picture. No harm in that I thought. Then I found myself taking little detours, just to see if I might ‘happen’ across a pig or two. Then the chaps at work started to talk about ones they’d seen, and I’d find a vague excuse to walk that direction. Yesterday I crossed the line, yesterday I set out specifically to photograph pigs on the other side of the city. Its a slippery slope down from here.

I’m not alone though, flickr already has a support group for pig spotters, and perhaps, once we have all one hundred, we can get back to life and resume our normal lunch hours.

At least I’ve been able to indulge my geek urges by geotagging pig locations on flickr , using the tremendous trippermap . Using trippermap and google earth actually turned out to be far more fun than using the GPS on my phone.

Pigs in….Bath

A couple of weeks ago pigs started poping up all over the City Bath. At first I was somewhat puzzled, where they a student prank? a CCTV cameras hidden to catch felons? A race of slow moving alien beings who had skimped a bit on their preparatory research?

It may surprise you to learn that it was none of the above, as I found out reading the website of the people behind the project. The sculptures are collectively known as King Bladud’s Pigs. Legend has it King Bladud discovered the healing properties of the Bath springs, which lead to the foundation of Bath itself.

I was delighted to see that the aim of the stunt is to raise funds for the Two Tunnels project, a new sustrans cycle route, that could knock miles off journeys by cutting through a fairly substantial hill.

I was less delighted to learn that 100 different pigs are to be scattered about the city. Although I shall try to resist, I fear my spotter urges will take over and I’ll feel obliged to try to photograph them all.

Flashgun Overload Concerns

In a recent post about the Metz 36 AF-4 Flashgun on the Canon Powershot G7 I mentioned the alarming warning in the Metz manual stating that, when using fast recycling times, one should: ‘observe an interval of at least 10 minutes after 15 flashes, otherwise the flash unit will be overloaded’

I wrote to the British Metz distributor to find out more, and I was impressed to receive an answer the following day.

They explained that the warning is actually applied to all their flash units, even the top end models. I happened upon a Mecablitz 58 manual and this is indeed the case.

The danger is basically that repeated rapid firing will cause the unit to heat up, fry components, permanently damage the flash and spoil your day.

The rapid firing which can lead to the problem is said to be continuous shooting where recycling times are less than two seconds.

Considering this input from Metz I asked myself if there was anything to be concerned about?

I use 2100mAh NiMh batteries and these regularly charge the flash within two seconds, considering it’s continuous shooting speed is two frames per second, I expect that if pushed the G7 could take a shot, with external flash, every 2.5 seconds, fairly close to maximum Metz warned about.

So, the short answer to the question is yes, but not very often.

Powershot G7 & Metz 36 AF-4C Flashgun

Hmmmm, the title sounds rather like one of those dodgy industrial bands I used to listen to at college, but actually this post is about cameras.

I recently brought a Metz Mecablitz 36 AF4 flashgun for my Canon Powershot G7, I thought I’d scribble down my thoughts, for no other reason than during my research I couldn’t find any other posts from people using the same combination.

First and foremost, the flash works, talks to the camera without a problem and gets exposure close each time, I normally only need to underexpose by a third of a stop to get it right. It does introduce a slight lag, and is by no means as quick as the internal flash. That said, at Gn36 it has a plenty of pop.

As you might expect, the handling of the G7 is thrown by the attachment of a large chunk of plastic, roughly the same size as the camera itself. It takes some getting used to, although the addition of a lens adapter brings the balance back and makes it feel quite natural.

For a G7 or G9 I think the Mecablitz 36 AF4 is a good match, it’s one of the most compact flashes to offer a tilting head, although its a shame it doesn’t have a built in diffuser. The battery compartment id is very fiddly, but battery life is good, so its not a big problem. The other reservation I have is that the manual recommends a 10 minute break if you fire off 15 flashes in quick succession, especially when high powered batteries allow rapid recycling. This is to avoid thermal overload and permanent damage to the unit. The manual doesn’t specify what interval ‘quick succession’ is so it makes one rather cautious.

Is that a (D)SLR in your pocket ?

Earlier this month I was looking for a new camera. My 2001 vintage digital Pentax Optio 330GS has served me well, but I couldn’t help but feel it lacking compared to modern cameras. In particular it only had 3MP resolution, the auto-focus was slow and the shutter lag was so marked I mostly took pictures of places my daughter had just been.

I wanted a capable compact, most of my photography these days is incidental, I never go out to take photos, but I make sure I always have my camera should opportunity present itself. Unfortunately this is invariably when I’m trying stop one of my kids causing mischief, so one handed operation is a must, a built in child net wouldn’t go a miss either.

The need for ‘compact and capable’ lead me pretty quickly to the Canon Powershot G9. It boasts full manual, a raft of convenience settings, hot shoe, good resolution and fairly fast lens. The real clincher was the lens adapter, it allows any 58mm filter to be fitted the camera, genius!

I was ready to part with my cash until I realised; “I can get a DSLR for that!”

Now there’s another thing, where did I find the best price on a DSLR? The Internet? The camera specialist? Nope, Dixons. The much maligned high street retailer. They had the Olympus 410, the smallest DSLR on the market, with a decent kit lens for less than a powershot G9.

A lot folk don’t like the E-410, mostly due to the four thirds lens system. They say the E-410 doesn’t compare well to other DLSRs, especially if you consider the cost and choice of wider system components like flash, and lenses. That may be so, but compare it to a compact camera or a bridge/prosumer in the same price bracket an you have a very strong contender.

I pondered for a while. The Olympus offered good resolution, and all the creative potential a DSLR brings, especially the promise of more options around depth of field and the potential to add at least one more lens. A standard zoom is reasonably priced even if most other four thirds lenses are costly. Unusually it offers compact like live view in the back LCD.

It was a close run race. Until I handled the E-410. I just didn’t sit right, it’s compact because it doesn’t have hand grip, but what a difference that makes. The camera lacks balance compared to say the Canon 400d or Nikon 40. I could have easily put up with that, the G9 doesn’t handle all that well either, but that’s somewhat expected with a compact. Then I squinted through the view finder, I found it small and narrow, I knew that having been spoilt by the brightness and generous dimensions of my Canon 50e view finder I couldn’t down size.

Dejected I left the shop, I needed my gadget fix, but I wasn’t prepared to spend DSLR money on a compact, and I didn’t want a DLSR that handled like a compact.

Something had to give, and for once taking time to make a decision payed off, in the time it took me to research the alternatives, the predecessor to the G9, the G7, dropped in price. The gap, in terms of features I wanted, between the G7 and G9 was pretty small, and there wasn’t a decision to make anymore. I’ve ordered a G7 and I can finally get my head out of specification tables and back into taking pictures!