The life and times of a true knucklehead – No photos to be used without permission
I finally learned after 49 years to play it smart and take the day off from work on my birthday. We were visited by a pair of Canada Geese in our backyard panhandling for food. I don’t know if that was some kind of omen. We had a great breakfast at Ole’s right here in downtown Alameda.
For lunch we ventured to the west side and tried Tu Tai Vietnamese. Sandy had the fish & I had the grilled pork sandwich.
Sandy made a salmon pasta dish for dinner, yum.
Sandy took the above pano at the SF capital building, which is the blogs March header. You can see Rhea, Ysabela & Alex on the right.
BTW Sandy made Linguine & Claim Sauce last night… I’m so lucky.
I had a trip to Sonora today and I turned off the road immediately when I saw the Oakdale Cheese Factory. I bought myself a bag of Gouda Cheese Curds. As I strolled out back I saw a number of of farm animals. You think they make llama cheese? I don’t wanna be the one who has to milk her. BTW I tried to stare that goat down but I’m no George Clooney.
Yesterday I woke up early to water the plants and noticed our royal star magnolia tree is blooming. Later we had brunch at the new Mexican restaurant in town, Otaez. Sandy had the 3 taco (lengua & fish) plate & I had the huevos con chorizo.
Woke up this morning to find a foggy Sunday. I love days like this, so I picked up my S90 and just shot some stuff in the backyard.
As I was out this morning watering the plants this stupid Humming Bird kept taunting me. So I shot him… 105 times. That’s not an easy task as those little b*stards are really fast.
I’m stuck out here in Grants Pass Oregon til Thursday with not much of anything to do. You could say Grants passing time in Grants Pass. Oh I crack myself up, I’ll be here all week in the LaQuinta lobby, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. It’d be even better if I can manage to pass some gas.
Actually I’m dying of boredom.
The welcoming crew for the LaQuinta Inn.
The Rogue River obviously.
What a great name, I just had to try a cup.
Tues – Thanks to my co-worker Raymund I had the worst Chinese food for dinner ever. We’re gonna try Italian on Weds.
Weds – I went to White City today for work and thought about driving up to Crate Lake… think I’ll wait for warmer weather.
Thurs – Flying home and I’m sad to report the best meals I had over here were at Taco Bell & Wendy’s.
Sandy suggested that yesterdays sunset would make a good photo. I disagreed thinking it was such a high contrast scene it wouldn’t work. I was wrong and now must apologize to the Filipino Community at large.
Jim asked for a review of my Canon S90. There a number of photo websites that offer reviews of the S90 so I’ll try not to rehash information.
What I use it for: my photography pretty much revolves around sharing my life on the blog.
Work – Occasionally I shoot a photo for work if I need to document or see something weird.
Snapshots – Quick shot of people.
Animals – I love to have animals on my blog, but they are challenging. They won’t sit still and can be in bad light.
Landscapes & Panos – I take a fair amount.
Low light shots – this includes taking photos of food in dimly lit restaurants and nightshots.
Close ups – Usually food shots and occasionally, bugs.
What I like:
Good image quality – Just about all compact cameras these days give good IQ in well lit situations, and the S90 is no exception. It even does well in moderate light.
Screen – I love big screens and the S90 has a 3-incher.
Battery life – Appears to be very good, although I haven’t used it for an extended shoot. I tend to capture a quick shot here and there.
Size – I love the small size. It’s for this same reason I don’t use my G11 much. Can you believe I think the G11 is too big now? Don’t even mention my 5D. My arm hurts just thinking about it.
Grid display – Applies a tic tac toe pattern on the screen. Not uncommon these days, it helps for hand holding pano shots. Not to forget the R.O.T. shots for my sister-in-law.
SCN – Scene modes, especially sunset. Good for the novice.
Raw Capture – I shoot exclusively RAW and then I can change parameters later.
Servo focus – Great for moving animals. Koa would be a perfect case study.
Cost – $415 which is much cheaper than a Panasonic GF-1 ($900).
Lens – 28-105mm f2.0 Lens – Pilargo el millio as the Pontiac commercial goes, or wider is better. True for photography too. I don’t care for lenses that only go as wide as 35mm. I’d love a 24mm. The fast f2.0 helps too in low light versus my G11 f2.8. Speaking of apertures, the range on the S90 is only 2.0 – 4.9. That doesn’t seem like much on the small end, but I’m comparing it to a DSLR which for me sets the standards in many areas.
Close up work – I can get as close as 2″ without a special lens, one of the advantages of a compact.
Lens Ring – I can configure the lens ring to make a quick change of: ISO, exposure compensation, white balance, focus or zoom.
Things I don’t like:
Slippery – Needs texture on the right side. You have to use the wrist strap or risk dropping the camera.
Flash – Pops up and you have to make sure your left index finger is not in the way.
Low light image quality – This is very common. The S90/G11 promised to be better – I’m not impressed. Improvements in this area will be incremental. Although I’d rather have the noisy shot rather than not have anything. I try not to go over 400 ISO.
Things I haven’t used:
Movie – That what camcorders are for. Perhaps I’ll post one.
HDMI out – To view on a HD TV. I post my stuff on the blog so I haven’t tried this.
Direct printing – I always print from the home PC or have it professionally done so I’ve never tried this. Not to mention when if I’m gonna print a photo I’ll usually work in Photoshop first.
Custom mode – You can save various settings for recall. Perhaps if i did a lot of street photography this would be useful.
Low light mode – Sets the ISO at 3200 – too noisy
Things I rarely use:
Manual exposure – Used once when shooting a pano in difficult light.
Manual focus – Very hard to use.
Things I want:
Touchscreen – Sandy has one on her SD980.
Remote Shutter – For tripod use and not to forget, drive by shooting.
Hot Shoe – Would like to use a small external flash (Canon 270EX) or IR transmitter
Internal ND filter – Like my G11, which is great for water shots.
Another tripod socket on the left side for portrait pano shooting.
Bottom line – I love my S90, I use it more than any other cam I own. I would not try to shoot a wedding with it but for everyday blog photography it is great. I like control and the S90 offers a number of them, more than those offered on most compacts. I wish the low light problem could be addressed. I can’t wait for the day when compacts can focus as fast as a DSLR.
In 2001 I got my 1st digital camera, a Toshiba PDR-M5 (I still have it). It is a crude camera by today’s standards. Nine years later my S90 is a big step forward. We’ve come a long way and I can’t wait to see what we have in 2021.
