{"id":143,"date":"2006-02-04T23:37:44","date_gmt":"2006-02-04T14:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-02-04\/143"},"modified":"2007-12-18T23:46:06","modified_gmt":"2007-12-18T14:46:06","slug":"day-of-fun-with-camera-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-02-04\/143","title":{"rendered":"Day of Fun with Camera Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n

Oh, what a fun day. Too many toys<\/span>! But not for<\/span> Anthony.... for me!<\/p>\n\n

I try to be prudent with our funds, so I don't<\/span> buy a lot<\/span> of “toys” for\nmyself. Last year I got<\/span> an iPod<\/a>. The previous<\/span> year I\ngot<\/span> Photoshop and other Adobe “Creative Suite” software (although at a nice<\/span>\ndiscount, thanks to the kindness of some friends). I probably<\/span> have a number<\/span>\nof other things on which spending money I've conveniently forgotten, but in\ngeneral, my idea of pampering myself usually centers more around Orville\nRedenbacher's Smart Pop Microwave Popcorn<\/a> and a beer<\/span> than trendy\nelectronic gadgets.<\/p>\n\n

However, last month when our old camera broke<\/a>, I indulged<\/span> myself and bought a Nikon D200<\/a> digital SLR and\nsome stuff to go with it: a couple<\/span> of 4GB compact flash<\/a> cards,\nand a camera bag and\ntripod<\/a>.\n\n<\/p>

I needed some other things, but the prices here in Japan are\nsometimes ridiculous, so I ordered<\/span> a bunch<\/span> of things in the US (how did\npeople survive before the Internet?) and had them shipped to my brother,\nwho kindly assembled them all into a package<\/span> and sent to me.<\/p>\n\n

It arrived today!<\/p>\n\n

(On top of this, Canon replaced the broken camera with a newer<\/span> model,\nwhich arrived yesterday, but that's for a different<\/span> post.)<\/p>\n\n

Here are my new toys....<\/big><\/p>\n\n
\nGarmin GPSmap 60CS<\/b><\/a>\n\n<\/td>\n\n

I got this GPS unit so that I can geoencode my photos. I can hook<\/span> it\nup directly to the D200 (it has a special<\/span> GPS-data port), but that would be\na clumsy<\/span> arrangement (and require a $100 cable to boot!).<\/p>\n\n

Rather, when I'm out with the camera, I'll have it keep a running<\/span> log of\nlocation+<\/b>time snapshots, and synchronize with the pictures\nduring postprocessing. I just have<\/span> to make sure that the camera clock is in\nsync with the GPS unit's clock, and then I can<\/span> extract the photo location\nfrom the log at the time the picture was taken, and insert that geodata\ninto the picture data.<\/p>\n\n

This'll be particularly fun when we go to Malaysia next month.<\/p>\n\n\n

My first impression of it is that it's bigger than I imagined.<\/span> Also, the\nmanual, although being 97 pages long, is extremely<\/b> light on\nspecifics, which I already<\/span> find frustrating to no end.<\/p>\n\n

For example, in the settings for the position log thing, it has an\noption for how often to save a location<\/span> snapshot to the log: by time<\/b>\n(every such-and-such seconds), by distance<\/b> (after you've moved\nsuch-and-such hundred meters), or auto<\/b> (which means what<\/i>? The manual<\/span> doesn't say!!!!)<\/p>\n\n

As another example, there's a setup field for “Map Datum”,\nwith 113 different selections, with names like “Tokyo”,\n“Afgooye”, “ARC 1960”, “WGS 84”,\n“Sapper Hill '43”, “Old Hawaiian”, etc. I have no<\/span>\nidea what any of these mean. Living in Japan, should I use<\/span> “Tokyo”? The manual<\/span> says absolutely nothing about what any of these are. Nothing<\/b>.\nFrustrating.<\/p>\n\n

It comes with US maps built in, but has room to download others. I must see<\/span> if I can<\/span> get Japan maps to put on it.<\/p>\n\n

[Update:<\/b> more comments on it here<\/a> ]<\/b><\/p>\n\n

[Update:<\/b> most-excellent Japan map for Garmin GPS units. Free.<\/a> ]<\/b><\/p>\n\n

[Update:<\/b> this unit has been replaced in my bag by a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx<\/a> ]<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\n\nNikon SB-800 Flash<\/b><\/a>\n\n\n\n<\/td>\n\n

This is a big hunkin' flash unit that I can<\/span> aim (e.g. to bounce light off\nthe ceiling for softer lighting), or even use off camera, as it can be\ncontrolled wirelessly by the D200.<\/p>\n\n

It's really beyond my skill, so I have<\/span> some learning to do.<\/p>\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\n\nLumiquest Pocket Bouncer<\/b>\n\n<\/a>\n\n<\/td>\n\n

This thing unfolds and sticks on top of the flash to bounce the light,\ncreating a softer,<\/span> less harsh, more diffuse light than a direct<\/span> flash. It's useful<\/span> when you don't have a white<\/span> ceiling to bounce light from.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nIt's supposed to bounce the light at 90 degrees from the face of the flash\n(using the flash facing up), and I would<\/span> suppose that this means that the\nangle of the reflecting surface should be 45 degrees, but it's been built\nwith the pre-folded angle at about 30 degrees. I just don<\/span>'t get it. <\/p>\n\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n\n
Some books....<\/big><\/td><\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n\nUnderstanding Exposure<\/a>\n[UPDATE: Understanding Exposure<\/i> is one of the worst books I have<\/span> ever seen. It's extremely<\/span> poorly written,\nand even if you can get past that, presents a woefully<\/span> scattered and incomplete presentation of what one needs to learn. It's truly<\/span> bad in any sense I can think to measure.]<\/span><\/font>\n\n<\/td>\n\n\nPhotoshop\nFilter Effects Encyclopedia<\/a>\n\n<\/td><\/tr>
\n\n\nPhotoshop Photo Effects Cookbook<\/a>\n\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n\nPhotoshop Blending Modes Cookbookfor Digital Photographers<\/a>\n\n\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n\n
\n\nRubber Eyecup<\/b>\n<\/a>\n\n<\/td>\n\n

It may seem like a small thing, but I'm really happy with this $7\naccessory for my D200. It blocks<\/span> out more light to give me a better<\/span> view\nthrough the viewfinder. Frankly, I wish it<\/span> were larger (extended out from\nthe camera body more), and made of softer rubber, but compared to the stock\neyecup, this one is so much better.<\/p>\n\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n

I also picked up a spare battery for the D200, since the price in the US\nis only a bit<\/span> more than half the price here.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, tonight I'm overflowing in new toys and have many manuals and\nbooks in need of reading.....<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, what a fun day. Too many toys! But not for Anthony.... for me!<\/p>

I try to be prudent with our funds, so I don't buy a lot of \"toys\" for myself. Last year I got an iPod. The previous year I got Photoshop and other Adobe \"Creative Suite\" software (although at a nice discount, thanks to the kindness of some friends). I probably have a number of other things on which spending money I've conveniently forgotten, but in general, my idea of pampering myself usually centers more around Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Microwave Popcorn and a beer than trendy [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}