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I've got a horrible cold at the moment, but my days of misery have been punctuated by news of two glorious events. Yesterday there was news of my niece Titi's birth, and today there was an email from Katz Eye Optics that they now have a model available for the D700. Woohoo! I couldn't type fast enough to order one.

I've long complained about the stock focus screen on the D700, particularly in conjunction with low-light photography.

Since getting a Katz Eye for my D200, I've found it to be indispensable. I got so used to it that the first time I tried my D700, I thought the focus was broken because even manually, carefully, I couldn't focus sharply. It took a few moments for me to realize that the lack of sharpness was the stock focusing screen.

So I'd been waiting... hoping... for the folks at Katz Eye to solve whatever technical problems stood in the way, and finally today they did. Woohoo! I expect it in the mail in a few weeks...

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Whoa..... Light.     Cool!
my neice Titi
58 minutes after discovering light

Congratulations to my brother Alan and his wife, Natalie, who welcomed little Titi to their family this morning. 6lbs 6oz, 20 ¼” long (2.74kg, 51cm). They weren't expecting her so soon – she's a week early – but all are doing well.

Titi and Natalie

Nice To Meet You
3 minutes after birth

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kyoto's “I Fall” Tower
because if you can get this close, you drop dead from exhaustion

On the way to Anthony's first ski experience last month, I took a route that runs along Lake Biwa (and past Shirohige Shrine), but on the way home I used a mountain route, and took the opportunity to explore something I'd seen driving by in the past...

In the middle of the mountains, barely visible off to the side of the road among the nothingness that Route 367 winds through, you briefly see this innocuous set of steps...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looks Harmless Enough

And at the top this sign...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos

NTT Dokomo Kansai Corp
( telephone company name )

Tochu
( location name )

Wireless Relay Station Ascent Entrance

This sign made with recycled cell phones

And then this:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Well, it starts off steep, but then it looks to flatten off. Let's take a look!

Here's the view from the top of that run:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
“To Infinity and Beyond!”

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Perhaps Halfway Up
looking back down

How these steps attach to the stringers, with the sturdy adjustable clamps, are, of course, the subject of yesterday's “What am I?” quiz, which didn't fool anyone except perhaps those who gave me too much credit for being crafty.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/9, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
End of the Stairs, but
Not Yet The Top
( way below, you can see the road where this all started )

After this, it's another 100m or so of easy climb up to the base of the tower, which is surrounded by a fence, so this was the closest I could get:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

The fence is helpful, though, as it helps support your body as your legs collapse into a quivering mess, and your heart attacks you for doing something as stupid as climbing all those steps.

The tower is in the mountains north of Kyoto, but is not visible from Kyoto, nor is it actually in Kyoto, but officially, in the city of Otsu (which people normally think of as being 20km away over the mountains and by the lake). There wasn't much view from the top except for other mountains, but stretching a bit I could see part of the lake and, I think, Moriyama or Kusatsu Cities on the other side.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/14, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Much of a View

One thing I thought was funny was a thin green wire attached to the base, trailing off over to one of the fence posts buried in the ground....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Quite Up to Code?

I can't imagine what it was for. As a grounding wire, it wasn't thick enough for a small residential house, much less one on top of a mountain prone to rubbing up against thunderclouds. The fence itself was already well grounded, should that have mattered, so I'm at a loss to guess what it was for.

After a short rest, I headed down, counting the steps as I went. Even the trip down was an MI-inducing effort. In order to not forget my count, I made a note to myself:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/60 sec, f/20, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
308 Steps
plus another 20 or so stone steps back to the road

I'd like to be able to tell you how high it was, and normally I'd be able to pull the geoencoded altitude from the photos, but for some reason the altitude was completely wacky in the tracklog I pulled from my GPS unit, giving essentially no altitude change over the 300+ steps. Very odd. It's the first time I've noticed that happen.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
What am I?

Well, I feel a bit iffy about this for a “What am I?” quiz, but let's try it and see how it goes....

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/22, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Gate of the Shirohige Shrine
Takashima City, Shiga, Japan
as seen from the shrine entrance

Having used the torii from Takashima's Shirohige Shrine in two previous posts, I thought I should at least provide some context for the scene.

The shrine is tucked in a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the mountains and Lake Biwa. I'm sure the location seemed appropriate when it was founded (the main hall was built in 1605), prior to cars and trains and heavy weekend traffic, but now it's got a road passing between it and the lake.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Landside Gate
in a reverse angle, with the lake at my back

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gate is Just Off Shore

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
In Between
Looking Southwest; Kyoto is over the mountains, 23 miles away

A hundred years ago there was perhaps a footpath running along the lake, but by 50 years ago there was a road and a train track pushing through (the latter can be seen in a photo on the shrine's website). The train has now been rerouted through a tunnel, and the road widened.

Having been on my way to Anthony's first skiing experience, I didn't stop to explore the area at all, but from the signs I recall, there are paths up into the mountains that seemed interesting.

I didn't enter the shrine grounds, but did take a moment to snap a picture or two of these big bundles of straw hanging from a big straw rope slung across the landside gate.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bundle-of-Straw Thingie

It was extremely windy that morning, and so these things must have been blowing around frantically. Doesn't show in the pictures, though.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos