Charles in Japan

Clear Day

Here is the view out my window at work toward Tokyo Disneyland. Don't be fooled by how nice it looks. It's hot, humid and miserable.

Technology Update

I know you probably want to hear more about Japan. I have a lot of pictures to post, if I ever find time to make room on my computer. I've gotten used to things here and life has become more comfortable, so it's time for me to get out a bit more. I think I'll be doing to Hakone for the weekend sometime soon, even with this hot weather.  I've seen a couple fireworks shows here and for now I'll just say they are pretty damn impressive.  July 4th just isn't going to be the same anymore.  I'll post some pictures and tell you more later.  Promise!

Yesterday Softbank 'lowered' the price on the iPhone data plan.  Well, not exactly lowered, but if you don't use it, or use it just a bit, you pay a lot less.  They also opened up reservations, so I went off to Roppongi yesterday at lunch and reserved a 16GB black iPhone.  After playing around with the software on my iPod Touch I'm really excited to get it.  My biggest worry is battery life.  The phone could probably replace my computer for 80% of what I do.  I won't say it's for everyone, but if you do a lot on the net, especially if it has software you can use it's very tempting.

The second huge annoucement from yesterday was micro Four-Thirds.  This is a new standard from Olympus using the same sensor as existing 4/3s cameras.  It looks like it's going to be the first EVIL camera.  It stands for Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangable Lenses.  A compact camera with interchangable lenses has been desirable by a segment of the photography community for quite a while.  This nich is currently filled by range finder cameras.  Not perfect, but a lot of people enjoy them.

Take a look at the page to see some of the advantages.  One of the biggest is going to be smaller cameras.  The lenses will also be smaller, but to what extent I'm not sure.  Although the current 4/3s standard (which will continue) boosts an advantage in many cases, this should be much more noticible.  The most noticible difference is the loss of the mirror or prism meaning you no longer have an optical viewfinder, at least in the sense of a traditional SLR.  You can either use the LCD to frame like a compact camera, but without the speed loss of flipping the mirror, or put an electronic viewfinder in.  Basically a small LCD.  These have been pretty bad to date, but there isn't a reason they need to be with todays technology.  The loss of the mirror means the distance to the sensor can be cut in half.  The loss of the mirror should also mean a much more silent camera. 

One thing SLR cameras have always lacked has been the ability to record video, and the micro 4/3s standard supports video.  You can even use existing 4/3s lenses on it with an adapter.

Honestly, I'm glad I didn't pick up the expensive lens I was looking at.  I think this will be my next camera.  Even smaller and lighter.  People are really wondering where Olympus is going to try and place this in the product line.  I think you'll end up with a consumer line for those people that want more then a super zoom camera, but less then an SLR.  A lot of people are very comfortable composing on the LCD now.  I think you'll have a mid-range/prosumer camera.  To early to guess exactly what features it will have, but I bet one has a flip out LCD, maybe a high end electronic view finder.  I don't know if Olympus will do it or not, but a weather sealed version with lenses to match would be awesome.

A few attempts have been made to push into this area before without much success, but it's exciting to see such great inovation.  Olympus's decision go create a new digital standard I think is paying off and it's allowing them to go into areas where Canon, Nikon and some others are going to have a hard time following.  Seeing their new products go in the same direction I'm interested in makes me glad I invested in their system.

Woot! New Firmware!

I just read that Ricoh released new firmware for my camera that fixes one issue I've had.  The GDR has a fairly fast lens for a compact camera and like many compacts it uses the aperture blades as the shutter itself.  The problem with this is that when it's wide open the fastest shutter speed is 1/2000th of a second and when it's bright outside that's too long.  You end up with an over exposed picture.  I keep forgetting to close the aperture or reduce the ISO.  Fortunately, now the camera will do that automatically.  When my brother was visiting me I ended up with quite a few over exposed pictures of Himeji castle, so this is a welcome enhancement.  I'm sure there is some other good stuff in there too, but this is the important one for me.

Losing weight

I think I've lost some weight. All my pants seem bigger. I've got to start eating more. I got my furniture in today. Looks good. (^_^) I need to try and finish getting things picked up. Tino arrives tomorrow evening. Heading out to do some shopping now before it gets too late. The Tokyo new friends meetup is tonight too and it looks like we'll have over 20 people there so I'm going to try and make it too.

Here is a picture I liked of a student in the subway. I wish my lens was a bit wider though. I couldn't quite get him all in. He was concentrating on his DS game like so many other people you see.

Flickr!!!

If you didn't notice I figured out how to put a selection of my Flickr pictures on the side column!  It's set up to show a random selections from Tokyo right now.  Enjoy!

Camera rant

I've been really happy with my Ricoh GRDII.  It has a lot of limitations, but what it does it does very well.  I knew the problems it has before I bought it, no big deal.  I'd still like to get another camera to fill in where a compact camera isn't enough.  For me most of that is shooting in low light.  I don't like the size and look of a lot of modern SLRs.  I love the smaller boxy look of the old 35mm film cameras.  People just don't notice them as much.  It's almost enough to make me go to film if I really want to jump in. 

I was really excited about Olympus's 4/3s system.  The promises of smaller cameras and smaller, lighter, cheaper lenses.  The Cameras are a little smaller and lighter then the competition, but not by a huge margin.  The lenses have been a disappointment though.  For example, a 25mm f2 lens (equal to a 50mm f2 lens on a 35mm camera, but a larger depth of field) weighs 2-4x as much, and often more expensive.  This is true for everything until you get up into the telephotos.  Wide angle lenses on 4/3s are similar too.  Looking more closely it's turned into a bit of a disappointment.  Rangefinders still look my best shot for all the features I want even though they aren't as flexible.  At least by the time I save enough money to buy one it will give me plenty of time to think about it.

I hope this is just a matter of time before they solve some of these problems.  In the mean time could someone make a compact camera with a fast fixed focus lens.  Even better would be a something like the GRD with replaceable prime lenses.  Even priced at a premium it seems like there is enough demand to make it worth while.  The digital world lacks the high quality compact/small 35mm cameras of the past.

Creepy underground pictures of Tokyo

Take a look at these amazing pictures. The page says they are sewers, but that isn't correct. This is part of an elaborate scheme in Saitama to prevent flooding during the rainy season. This is what I understand from the Japanese web page. There are five of the giant cylinders 32m in diameter and 65m deep. That is big enough to hold not just the space shuttle, but the boosters and fuel tanks when it launches. 6.5km of tunnels 10m in diameter (I think), a giant holding tank for water 177m long, 78m wide and 25m tall. The support columns in that room are 7 meters long, 2 meters wide and weigh 500 tons each. I think in all the system holds 670,000m^3 of water. The drill used to make the tunnels weights 120 tons. There is a gas turbine that generates over 10,000kW of power for the pumps that can push 200 tons(!?!) of water into the river a second! All you say is WOW!

How could all this get even better? They give free tours! I know where my next date will be.

Pictures from my new camera!

I finally decided to pick up a new camera and I got another point and shoot camera. I got the Ricoh GR-D 2. It's a fixed length 28mm lens, no zoom. It has it's limitations, but I like it. You just point and shoot, and if you want your subject closer then you walk/run toward them. I'm starting to understand the advocates of prime lenses a little better. The more you use a fixed lense the more you learn how the camera sees. I'm already getting a feeling if the picture won't work out before I even bring the camera up.

I've meet Keisuke a few times at the restaurant near my place. He delivers... something. I'm not quite sure what. Seems like he's gotten a bit of photography bug lately and picked up a Sony A100. We were playing with my camera over there. Not the best in a dark restaurant like that, but fun. I've heard there are some Tokyo walks where people head out together and take photos. A couple of the bloggers I have in my RSS reader have done that, so I can always ask them.

One thing I do like about this camera is that it captures raw and writes out a jpeg so you can preview the pictures quickly. They say this camera excels at B&W street shooting, which I won't disagree with, but I like the fact raw retains all the color information, so you can make a color picture or B&W without losing anything.

Leave a comment if you like any of the photos. The flickr stream is here.

Some Christmas photos

Click on the photo above for a few snapshots from Christmas.

Daily Photo

My cell phone on the counter at the restaurant.

Still shopping for a new camera

I got fed up that I couldn't find my camera charger (but I found it just recently) and was looking to buy a new camera to replace my Canon S400, 4MP.  It's been a good camera for 1000s of pictures, but it's finally time for me to upgrade.  I bought it over 4 years ago which is pretty good I think, considering how fast digital cameras have advanced.  I've been doing a lot of reading on line and talked with Julie last night.  Some things I've learned (or been reminded of).  It doesn't matter how good your equipment is if the person behind the lens isn't skilled.  That's me, at least right now.  Two, the lens takes the picture.  You are better off spending your money on a good lens then anything else.  Hopefully just get one you can use on a better body later.  So, what do I get?  Here is my wish list. 

• Good low light shooting (high speed lens)
• Wide angle lens
• Small size (I really don't want a large, heavy and intimidating SLR)
• Manual controls (I want to learn more about the basics of photography)
• I'd like it to shoot RAW (in addition to Jpg)

I'd love to get something even smaller then I have now, but I realized the quality is probably going to the same or worse as I have now.  I'm not sure the trade offs are worth it.  They aren't THAT much smaller, and I have cellphone.  Canon, my preferred brand only really goes down to 36mm in most of their compact cameras and I'd really like something around 24mm or even lower.  28mm is about the best you find.  There are a few compact cameras that have manual controls, and even fewer with RAW.  Leica and Panasonic are two that have one.  10MP that came out in Jul 06.  I'm wondering if it's waiting a little bit to see if they release new versions.  The optics on both are superior to almost any other point and shoot.  Ricoh also makes a few cameras that are worth considering, including one that goes down to 24mm.

They have those one piece cameras that look like like a SLR without the removal lens.  They don't seem worth it, especially compared to the Leica D-Lux 3.  You can't put a real wide angle lens on them.  Some come with adapters for more zoom or wideangle, but it just isn't worth it.

SLRs have gotten smaller, but they are still big and heavy.  It isn't something I want to haul around, but I might need to look closer.  To get the interesting lenses you need a removal system, or carry a specialty camera.

The last option I've seen lately really intrigues me.  Rangefinder cameras.  These almost got wiped out by SLRs but they seem to be making a comeback.  They don't see through the lens like an SLR, but that makes them simpler.  Thinner, light(er) weight.  Lenses tend to be smaller and lighter too.  Quality is normally beyond what you get with most SLR equipment.  The downsides?  No zoom lenses, no auto focus, max of 135mm zoom lens and difficult macro.  Carrying around the camera and 3 lens tends to be smaller and lighter then one SLR according to articles I've read.  They excel at wide angle photography and are great for natural light photography.  Unfortunately there are only two digital bodies available and they are expensive.  Hopefully if/when newer models are released the price will come down.  Since these have been around forever you can find some 35mm cameras fairly cheap on the used market.  If I decide to seriously buying one, I'll probably buy a 35mm first and try it out to see if I like it.  I remember really enjoying Mom and Dad's old 35mm camera and I'd like to try something simple like that.

All that said, I  like the Leica D-Lux 3 and I think it's appropriate for my experience.  An SLR would be up there if I'd carry it around.