Cell phone camera

I've updated my cell phone and it, of course, comes with many features, games mp3 player, calculator, and alarm clock to name but a few. It also has a 1.3 mg camera. As you know, the photobear has to try out all his cameras. To be specific, my idea of a camera is that, it should operate in as many ways as possible. Being a 'you press, we do the rest' there are no controls on the camera. Dang. It is fully automated. That's not a bad thing, just a limiting thing. To our advantage, the aperture is very tiny. That equals great depth of field. (The distance, that is in focus, is about a foot in front of the camera to infinity. That's a long way.) There is an optical illusion, that if everything is in focus, the picture appears sharp. We can discuss the large aperture later. Using the small aperture, we can get, apparently sharp pictures. Also, the small aperture requires a great deal of light, such as the sun. These were taken in overcast conditions. The little camera phone performs quite well. Above is a pine branch, to experiment with the lens' close up ability. It's pretty good. If you notice the fence in the background, it's sharp for this type of lens. The brown end of the branch is no more than 5" from the camera. That's a down right good close up. There are lots of things in the close up world to take pictures of. Like this light blue flower. I don't know what it is, a 'violet'? Inspect the picture for a moment, is something wrong?

Of course, the flower is out of focus.

Why?

because the massive depth of field starts a little further away from the camera. Hmmm...this would be a nice shot but the flower is not sharp. It's too close to the camera, about 2.5". A part of the photoworld, we can't shoot. But wait, I have accessories, among them is a magnifying lens. I held the magnifier in front of the taking lens and guessed at the distance. It's quite good, don't you think? The color shift is caused by the magnifier being coated sort of a golden hue. I do have a clear one, somewhere.

That is the fun of photography, experimenting. Let me know what you think of this little trick. I've got more things to shoot.

Photonote: The camera has a digital zoom, but when I boosted the resolution to maximum, the zoom function went away. Because there is nothing to crop out when zooming at max. But,... you can crop in the computer, later.

Just up the road from Disney, ( I-4) there is another park complex. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. This park is smaller than the Big 'D' but they pack a lot of excitement into a small area, (its not that small). These are my pictures of our excursion to the place. The right hand park is the original Universal Studios, based on several hit movies put out by Universal Theaters. The Terminator in 3-D, E.T., and more. Here is one of ours favorite shows, Beetlejuice.

this is as great musical, and we always see it each time we go. Play, Frankie, PLAY.

ah...sorry

Here is the Blues Brothers Review, taken by my son, the photocub. Looks like he's gonna be a chip off the old bear.

The other side, Islands of adventure, has a big lake. See, water. My favorite ride is between Spiderman and the Hulk. You'll just have to hold on and decide which one for you.

http://www.universalorlando.com/tickets.html

There seems to be a ticket war going on and here's the address to find out more, this is a really good deal to maximize your vacation dollar. Among other places.

The Photobear

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Well howdy, we are going to visit the Animal Kingdom at Disney, with a few features and some advice when you get there.

This is some big gazelle or is it antelope? It's big though. The animal safari ride is my favorite and it is worth the effort. Since the Animal Kingdom closes at 6:00 pm (there is no fireworks show, it would totally freak out the animals) the staff has time to care for the beasties and give them a break from a hard days work. The shorter hours also works to our advantage as us older folks won't be walked to death. First, get there when the park opens, and make a bee line to the rear of the park, sort-a to the left when you see the big animal tree. Don't stop to sight see, it will be there when you get back. Get your fast pass at the entrance to the Safari, don't delay. The reason is, the animals are in the cool of the day and as it gets hotter they seek shade and get harder to see. This is the only time you have to hurry all day.

These zebras kept passing in front of each other, and they blended together almost in a confusing manner. Wonder how a lion picks out just one? After the safari, take your time. There are plenty of things and attractions to fill the rest of the day! Make sure to see the Lion King show. Its great.

In the center island, make sure to get plenty of pictures of the tree. It's covered from all sides with animal sculptures, and really makes a great background for group shots. Watch the lighting and use the shade to lessen the harsh noon light. The lady is a standing bush, I almost walked by her till she moved. I used a fill flash to soften her face, the sun had her in shadow and she was dark. The Nikon D70s worked perfectly.

For you adventurous ones, there is The Everest roller coaster. Great ride! We used the fast pass and had an icecream to cool off, and then rode the mountain. It looks good and by not including scale stuff in the picture the mountain stands out like the real thing.

I like this view, makes one want to climb it.

Then you notice, oh, its a ride. Go get on it!

Roaring Fork, National Park, Gatlinburg, Tenn.

These photographs were taken in Roaring Fork Park in Gatlinburg, Tenn. And you thought I only visited Disney. We discovered the park quite by accident and were really impressed with its beauty.

There are rocks, rocks, and more rocks everywhere. The people who ecked out a living in this incredible place WORKED. Hardship was the byword. You have to see it.


The hardships of living here must have been man killing difficult, tough people.

A photonote: These photographs were taken with my new Nikon D70s, and I was just getting use to it. It is a fabulous tool. I can make 8x12's with it and they are sharp. If you noticed, I love foamy fluffy water. To get it, you must use a slow shutter speed, perferably 1/4 second or slower. The camera records a history with each picture and they say I was at 1/6 of a second. Next time I'll go for 1/2 sec. or slower. Tripod used for the long exposures was 'rock'. They are laying aroud everywhere. The daylight pictures were easy, just f/8 and be there.

Photobear.

New Direction

Greetings fellow journeyers, the time has come to make a direction change. The original idea for the photojourney is going to be moved to a new type of web site called a knol. There we will continue on my way and misdirections as I stumble along my path. THIS one, however will be more to the fun of photography, taking photos.

Like the above, this is at Disney's outside place called 'Downtown Disney', think of it like a park without the rides or the entrance price. Those who know of it, skip ahead, if by chance somebody doesn't, here's a quick review, GO THERE.

It has something for the kids, bigger kids, adult kids, and even mom. Shopping, restaurants, a five story arcade from space, because it wasn't invented here. Movies and a massive Virgin Records store. The gift shops are not the local junk shops, if anything, I haven' found many like them anywhere.

After dark the center section, Pleasure Island, offers music, dancing, food, adult beverages, and a whole lot of fun.

So, when I get this new place figured out, a knol, I'll see you there, too.

The Photobear

No, that's not me, the Lego people have a cool exhibit. Note the McDonald's behind it.


This is Fultons Crab House, looks neat with fine dining.

Canon 4

Man, have we got off course in my photohistory. We know there is a goodly amount of Pentax to go, but I left the Canon saga hanging, let's see... we were in college, lens died, loaner, handsome guy. Now, when I leave this some what interesting time period I'm carrying a few lessons with me. First and importantly, you must have working equipment to do the photothing. It doesn't need to be the most expensive or the finest ever built (which violates the Photobear's thrifty rule) but it should be capable of making the image with the least fiddly amount of input.

Next, spare tires, your car has one, not so you can use it all the time, but so that you won't be stuck out there without a paddle, sorta speak. the good part of this spare situation is you CAN use the spare a bunch, which is part of the fun, making photographs. This lead me to my first thoughtful purchase, a wide-angle lens. Just like the Olympus 28mm, almost like the Olympus 28mm, ok, a 28mm. The thrifty part, do I buy the Canon brand for $130.00 or the small, cute Quantaray for $99.00?

Now, I'm running around with a Quantaray wide-angle, 28mm f/2.8 FD mount. She's a real little gem. I have never regretted getting this lens, and thirty years later, we are still clicking on and on.



"Ah", you say, looking at the picture, "what lovely do we have here?"



That, my photobuddies, is the Canon FTb, in black, my manual everything body, as I was into setting the camera.

This is Canon's scaled down version of their mighty F-1. Not smaller but with fewer features that I found I didn't need. Not that an F-1 wouldn't make a neat toy. This was my first used camera buy after I found out there was such a market. Boy am I slow. The lens is also used, but it is the second of this type, a Canon 50mm f/1.4 S.S.C. FD lens, the first one had the fatal oily aperture blade syndrome. I'll explain, there is a surplus of oil on the aperture mechanism, it leaks out on the blades and makes them close really slow, too much light hits the film, it goes eeeeee! and is over exposed. That is the characteristic of oily blades, an over exposed roll. I got a great deal on the replacement lens.

The FTb has an almost unique metering system. On the right of the display there is a ring that moves up and down depending on the aperture setting, and there is a floating needle that responds to the shutter speed and how much light there is coming in the lens. You turn the controls till the needle lines up with the circle and matches it. That is correct exposure, it is called match needle. On the FTb the width of the circle is one f/stop, putting the needle in the center of the circle is correct exposure, the top is 1/2 under exposed and the bottom is 1/2 over exposed. Simple.

The FTb also meters stopped down, you push the lever to the right of the QL label toward the lens and the lens stops down to shooting aperture AND the body converts to stopped down metering. This is with the modern FD lens mount and the older FL which requires it.
The stopped down metering doesn't require any computing power to determine correct exposure, less to go wrong. My older Canon TL needs stopped down metering to correctly expose film and it is accurate. There are those who felt that closed aperture metering was more accurate but they are wrong, don't limit your journey with blocks, challenge the older ways with newer technologies, make photos faster.
Some of you might be a little bored with the stopped down metering, but it allows new paths especially those of us who like older equipment and there is a lot of inexpensive stuff floating around out there.

A quick note: the oily 50mm found a home on the TL as it requires stopped down metering and the lens is already stopped down when shooting.
The biggest advantage to stopping down: it forces you to look at the depth-of-field before you shoot.

Next: Depth-of-field

Pentax 4

Here are three of my Pentax's. Two 50's and a 28mm, these are the main stay of my shooting with Pentax. "Ah," you say, those who have been paying attention, "Don't you have other lenses that fit the 'K' mount?" Yes is the right answer. The 28mm does the bulk of the work. See the 50mm f/1.4 on the right? It went to Puerto Rico, and took a grand total of one picture, because I remembered I had it. The 28 got the rest, I'm a wide see-er, and 24 to 35 does me just fine. Does somebody make that in a zoom?

Here is the front view of these lenses, from this angle it is apparent that the holes in the middle are different. This is called the aperture, in this case, the maximum aperture. The apertures let in light, if the aperture is smaller less light goes in, if larger; more. That seems simple and it is but here comes the catch, (there is always a catch). It is easier to make a sharp small aperture lens than a sharp large aperture lens. That is why, the super fast lenses are more expensive than the slower. The other social thing, "Look, he has a bunch of super fast (expensive, professional) lenses and that guy has slower (cheaper, amateur) therefore he is a better photographer" Which couldn't be further from the truth.

This is my Pentax ME Super SE. I believe that stands for Special Edition. I'm not sure what makes it special other than I love to make photographs with it. This would be the upgraded version of my old ME that I foolishly ignored in its abilities.

I have a wrist strap for it and I like it better than the standard shoulder strap. The one advantage, the longer strap will hang on everything you walk by and snatch the camera out of your hand and crash it to the ground where you will score a direct hit on the largest pointed rock in the area.

In case you wanted to know, I climbed EL Yunque with the camera held like this and didn't have a bit of trouble. If you are into small 35mm bodies these are just the ticket. (Olympus users will have to wait for another chapter).