The Castle's of Disney

First let me start off with apologizing for the delay (again).  I wanted to work through the Disney pictures as other are building up.  However, I had to get a new computer (and I still have not installed Photoshop yet, so all these pictures are directly out of the camera).  For this reason when you click on the image, you will be getting full size images (I have not cut them down at all).

When one thinks of Disney, the castle pops right into head.  The Magic Kingdom is known for there main castle (technically Cinderella's castle).  But a castle by any other name (maybe a giant hat or a golf ball looking thing).  Here are some interesting pictures on what might in some cases be termed loosely as castles.

Since our first Disney day was at the Animal Kingdom, lets show the Tree of Life (technically not a castle, but its my blog and I can be loose with the definitions if I want to).

So we have a hot Quin and Autumn (I have not said this yet, but we were in Florida during the major heat wave).  The tree of life is in the background.  It is one of the more interesting structures of Disney (well thought out) with all the animals together in the bark. Not the best picture of the tree (I think I have one from the past somewhere), but I wanted to include this park (and the weather did not cooperate as when we were closer to the tree later, it was raining quite hard).

The next Disney Park we visited was the Magic Kingdom.  This one is known for its castles (and it is adding more).

The theme of having people stand in front of the castle is prevalent (hey its a vacation and we need some of the "standard" pictures, and the castles are the best places for them).  The castle looks good during the day.

It also looks good at night.  This is just before the fireworks.  It required a very steady hand to hold the camera up over my head, steady enough for a dark shot in a crowd of people moving around. Came out pretty good.  I needed an ISO of 800 (which I try to avoid on the SX260), but I did not get much noise at all, and was able to hold still for 1/13 of a second (and a reasonable zoom).

I did say that they were adding castle's and here is one of them.  This is Beasts castle.  It is quite far back behind a wall (in an area under construction).  I had to use almost all of the 20x zoom to get this picture.  It looks interesting (looks almost like a toy).  I wonder how it will be setup when it is open.

So next we were off to EPCOT.  There are multiple buildings that might be able to be called castles in the different areas of the world, but I will just stick with the globe at the beginning.  My best pictures of this came at night.

So I was being funny in this picture.  The princess (see she is wearing a tiara) wanted a picture with the globe.  I figured I would set it up around her head.  I had to use flash, but with a slower shutter speed (to get the dark areas).  She and I did a good job of holding still.  I can't say that for everyone else as they all look like ghosts of themselves (I like this one).  I did take another after showing this one off (guess my sense of humor was not appreciated).  However, that one is not as interesting.

Our last Disney park was Disney Movie Studios.  If I stick with my theme of the main icon of the park being a castle, we will get a wizards hat.  Note, I obviously did not take this picture (was my turn to join the group in the foreground).  Not much special about this one except to say that it is nice that Disney hands out those little cards (we used the same through all the parks).  Hand the card to the photographer, and when you are done, with your vacation, log into the site, and you can see all your pictures.  It is a bit pricey, but a nice alternative to have everyone in many shots.

Florida Animal Pictures

Well, just got back from doing the Florida tour with the family.  So, I did not get a chance to edit while I was out, but I have lots of pictures from the parks (and other).  So, I am armed with lots of material, lets see if I can get a few updates out there in a more timely manner.

I had to pick some way to group the pictures.  I could have done by day, but decided to go with subject (lets see if that is still a good idea after a few updates).  I will start out with animals. Figured it seemed fair.  On a cautionary note, not one of these pictures has had any photo shopping.  I normally at least touch the sharpness (and to down the resolution a bit so looking at them would be faster), but my computer died (yeah lots of things working against my update) and I have not installed any software on the new one yet.  So these are right off the card.

So what do you think about when you think Florida.  Well one thing is killer whales working to make people in the first few rows wet.  The little guy had never seen one of these shows (so we had to get him here).  I chose an action shot, as they are a bit harder to get (the SX260 does have a little delay, though not much).  They do not have any called Shamu anymore, but its ok the ones they had were fine.

The seals did a spoof on the other shows (yes this is really a walrus).  Didn't any of these kids pay attention during the day, everyone else knew what was coming (and it was not just a photo op with the Walrus).  This was probably the funnest show (the seals really have some fun, in fact as they can not get the crowd as wet as a whale, one seal comes out carrying a hose - this works for him).  That and the Walrus did a really good wiggle wiggle wiggle in the Party Rock Anthem.

Still in Sea World, here is a Seal in its normal habitat (a pool, not a stage).  This one did not look too interested (people were allowed to buy fish and feed them, but this one was just enjoying the sun).

Well enough of SeaWorld, obviously, if you are thinking animals and Florida, Disney's Animal Kingdom comes to mind.  This guy seems quite happy there (give him a head of lettuce, and he will just hang out and let people take pictures of him).  There were quite a few of them together.  It was interesting, almost like they were trained, they all picked up there food, and walked over to a nice area for better pictures.

Well, the little guys favorite animal is the elephant, so good we got to see one on the safari.  There was also a little one following this one around.  I have separate pictures of the two together (but those pictures were screaming out for a little modification).  Animal Kingdom is nice as the animals do appear to be in more natural settings.

Well, good for me I guess.  I always like the Rhinoceros, and lo and behold here one is.  Probably could have cleaned up a little better for the picture, but I'll take it.  They had both White and Black Rhinos, but I really did not see a color difference (probably because they are not named for the color).

Even EPCOT gets in on the animals with there Manatee.  It is also eating lettuce (Disney must go through lots of lettuce).  There were two in the tank that you could watch from above or below.  This was the favorite of my oldest (who did not make the trip).

Though this one looks a little weird, I decided to use this giraffe (the wife's favorite animal and no we will not find the middle ones favorite animal, so she loses).  You do not get a picture of a giraffe looking right at you too often, so it is a little different.  This was taken at Silver Springs (I also got a Giraffe in the Animal Kingdom).  Not sure why it was looking at me.

This was also taken at Silver Springs, and is one of the main attractions there.  They have not one, but two albino alligators.  They claim that they do not do well outside, and that they do have to put sunblock on them (I wonder who gets that job).  These were inside (through glass hence the noise).

Ok, so this is cheating as we are no longer in Florida, but at South of the Border (at there reptile exhibit).  Apparently nobody piles on the gators like South of the Border.  I thought it was cool just to see so many in one little area.

Ok, so maybe not technically an animal, but definitely a creature many a man has hoped to run into while out boating.  This was taken in Weeki Wachee.  The Mermaid is also having a snack here (but she gets an apple, not lettuce).  They have 2 shows, one the little mermaid (ok, so not too original) and the other a history show where they do some interesting feats.  You can see a turtle swimming over her hand (many a turtle out in the spring).

Finally a Sunset and a little "HDR light"

I finally got the timing right on one of my drives home from Canada.  There are a few nice farm houses on top of a mountain that looks over to a rest area.  I was hoping to get there for a sunset, and finally, the timing worked out for me.  As you can see from before, I tend to like the sunsets anyway, so any chance at one really makes me happy.  However before the sunset, lets look at the farm house (I will get to why).

Remember to click the picture to get a full size.

I have always liked old farm houses, and enjoy taking pictures of them.  Notice here the sky is white (as I exposed for the farmhouse.  Now lets look at the sky on its own.

So, now HDR (High Dynamic Range) is getting really popular in photography.  HDR is basically accomplished by taking multiple exposures and combining them so that all the pixels are exposed properly.  I do not do much with this, but I have often put the sky back into the picture (which I guess is sort of like HDR light).  So, I will now combing the exposures (note the sunset is zoomed out a bit more, but that will not matter).  

Had I not zoomed out for the sky, the dark clouds would not have been there (they were higher in the picture).  I could still have easily removed them by just sliding the picture up.  However, I tend to like the look that they give, so I figured I would leave them like this.  

This is a pretty cool image.  All I had to do was put the farm house on a layer over the sunset, use the magic wand and select the sky and delete it.  Then a nice picture with an exposed farm house and sky (in very simple steps.  Notice, I used this technique with the church photo down further in this blog (but tried multiple skies) as well as others.

Comparison for a new camera (SX-260)

I picked up the SX260 to carry around.  I just seem to find I use smaller cameras much more than the DSLR (it really helps that it just slides into my pocket).  So I am always looking at a way to improve my pictures in the smaller camera (improving the camera I carry most supplies more bang for the buck).  With the SX260s 20X zoom, I can use it to get the kids even when they are far away. I tried the SX240 when it came out, but did not purchase that one as the improvement did not seem worth buying another camera (there is a comparison of that on in my older posts)

The SX260 dropped the resolution to 12.1 MP (from 14 for the SX210).  This is good, I still think 10 would be better (look at the old review to get an understanding of why, but in short it would reduce noise).  Obviously the quality of the pocket camera does not compare to the DSLR, but as it is around me more often, it gets points for that.

So instead of posting lots of pictures showing the comparison (as I did last time) and boring most people, lets just get to the point.  For that, I only need 2 pictures (remember to click them to get full size pictures).  My biggest complaint with the SX210 (and SX240) was noise.  So does the SX260 help that.  Lets use the picture of my book shelf as a guide.

As my office is not the brightest, both pictures were taken at an ISO of 800 with no flash (remember this is a noise test, not so much real world).  The upper picture is from the SX210.

The picture below is from the SX260.

If you compare the images on a pixel by pixel looking for noise you would get this:

The SX210 is on the left, and the SX260 is on the right.  Though neither image is really great (go back to see how the DSLR did with this image in the first comparison), there is less noise in the SX260.  So it is making strides in its weakest area.

However, was that enough to justify buying a new camera.  I am not sure, it is definitely an improvement in what I considered the chief weakness, but fortunately, I did not need to use this as the sole decision maker.  The SX260 also has some nice new features.  One being live mode.  Below are two pictures taken one right after the other outside in real world conditions (sun set over a hill).

The first is from the SX210.  Note, I have taken lots of sunsets with this camera (again see some of the past posts), so I know how to configure the camera to get the best of the situation.  Even with all of that, below is the best I could do.

Note, I could most likely enhance this in photo shop, but that adds another step.  Below is what I was able to get out of the SX260 just using the live view sliders.

The SX260 matched the actual colors much better.  Using the live controls it was easy to get the camera to match what I was seeing.  This is something that the SX210 does not have.

The other feature that made the SX260 nice was the slow motion video.  Both do regular video fairly well, but the SX260 adds a feature to do a reduced resolution slow motion video (again, something the SX210 does not do).  Take a look at the example below.

Note, that this was ball 4, he was not hit, nor is he rushing the pitcher (though I thought it skimmed his helmet at first).

Though the resolution is really low (I would like to see future cameras increase the resolution in slow mode), it is still something I have lots of fun with the kids.  We have taken videos of all kinds of things, and it is always fun to watch them play back in slow motion.

So to conclude this, the quality out of the SX260 is better than the SX210, and that alone is most likely worth the purchase.  Additionally with some nice creative and fun modes, the camera really stands out.  So I kept the camera, and am using it regularly.

Note, my next update will be soon.  I have been using this as an infra red cam already (and the reduced noise again helps here as well).  I have posted one of the pictures on Google+, but will go through it all here a bit more.

Tis the Season for night light pictures

I do not seem to be updating this as often as I at first hoped, but judging by my reader count that is not bothering anyone.  I have linked this to my Google+ account (and I may move more over there, my web page is going next).  Maybe if I can put it all together, I will actually update this some more.  Enough of that, now onto the task at hand.

Normally when I go out for an outing, I take my little SX210 with me.  It is easy (as we are doing other things).  Funny thing is that I have not been really happy with the SX210 from a quality perspective (noise is the big issue here), and wanted to step up.  I have not been able to find anything that made me happy though (no small package - might as well use the DSLR).  So since I own a Digital Rebel, I took it with me to Kozair's Christmas Village this year (I wanted some better pictures - not getting anything from the DSLR if it is being protected in the closet and only used on specific occaisions).

Though the goal was to improve pictures, this had a funny side effect that ended up messing me up though.  The DSLR gets better pictures, but has more configuration on it.  I last used it taking pictures of the Soccer playoffs (in November, so it was not that long ago).  Now, I am smart enough to change the mode appropriately for Christmas lights (as well as other settings), but I am obviously not smart enough to check the focus settings (it was set for center which I use for fast moving activities so I keep my subject in the middle and go).  Alot of my pictures had the close subject but off to a side (so they were out of focus and it did not stand out in that little screen).  I think I would have caught this sooner but my new glasses seem to not do the job quite as well (I did not notice the focus light shining in the middle with all the lights - it just blended in).  So the first of my pictures were ruined (this is a side effect of using a more simplified camera so much I stopped thinking when doing other activities instead of focusing on the camera for a few seconds).

Additionally though the 28-135 is my favorite multi purpose lens, it has drawbacks.  For some of the shots of the buildings it was great.  However when I wanted to put someone in the foreground, it was tough.  With all the crowd (and it was crowded when we went), I had a hard time standing back far enough to frame it properly.  Also I took a picture with Santa (they allowed one picture).  I just could not get far enough back.  For these photos the 10-22 lens would have been best (now I am starting to remember why I carry the SX210 most of the time).

Enough of the crying, I will be carrying the DSLR more often.  I know how to use it, so I will get more used to checking the settings before I take the shot (not letting the camera do it all).  Laziness should not be an excuse (strange that I am using it as one though).  Picking the right lens will be more difficult though.  I tend to use the 75-300 most (kids sporting events wildlife etc), but if I have it in more settings I will have to be more aware of what I carry.

The image above (way up there) is on the other side of the lake at Kozair's Christmas Village.  Gives sort of a nice reflection in the lake (though the water was not perfectly still).  I figured it was a good start to my blog (sent the right message so I put it up front).  However, now lets step back and be a bit more ordered.  The first of my pictures was actually the one below taken at the Ottawa Parliament building.

You can see the trees in front are lit up, and they project snow flakes onto the building.  There are lots of random lights scattered throughout the city, but we did not see a concentrated display like the others below. Note that this was taken with the SX210.  It actually did  not do a horrible job.  For the picture it took, there was not alot of noise (so the SX210 might be fearing losing snaps to the DSLR?).  The 210 did not do as good of a job with someone in the foreground (one of the other came out well).  So I kept none of those pictures.

The picture above was also taken with the SX210.  Again not a bad job at all.  I tried to get a little bit of reflection in the stream in the front, but it did not work out that well.  However the lights are sharp and noise is not an issue (note, these pictures work out better as there are lots of black, put some other dimly lit object in the picture and noise starts to become and issue).  These were dancing lights, so it was hard to capture (they kept changing).  I had to snap alot of pictures to get one with the colored lights on.

The above was taken from the road leading up to Kozair's.  This was also taken with the SX210 (its what I had on me, the Digital Rebel was in the back).  No, I did not pull over to take the shot, but believe me, I was not moving.  As I said, we picked a bad day (Saturday instead of a weeknight).  The traffic was backed up, and we were not moving at all at this point.  Just needed to snap when there was not a car on the other side (which fortunately there were not many).  However a few shots were ruined by cars coming up the road in front of me.  Normally I do not like pictures taken from the car (through the windshield etc), but this one is not bad (again a not bad for the SX210).  

The above shows a good example of what can happen taking light pictures (handheld in a crowd).  It is often  hard to hold still.  Here it makes the bulbs look a little long (must have shifted left to right a little).  The exposure was long (1/3 second) and I was zoomed a bit.  I used ISO 800 to try and limit the time, but maybe I should have gone to 1600.  Note, to me this looked fine in the display on the camera (not the best of displays, and my new glasses as I commented before seem to be lacking - good to blame something).

Now this one worked out a bit better.  I was not as zoomed, and the exposure time was a lightning fast 1/5 second (ok, I jest).  Either way, I was able to hold still and get a nice shot of the house (still in Kozair's) all decorated and some of the trees in the yard.  This one came out well, and is the type of picture I hope to get more of with the Digital Rebel.

Now too bad I was sort of bumbling with the Rebel at Kozairs.  The picture above had some nice depth, and adding someone in the foreground would have really added dimension.  However, as Kozair's was the warm up, we have the picture below from Nay Aug Park in Scranton.

This is not a good picture, but I am a bit limited.  First, it is hard to get them together for a picture.  Second, there was not alot of good opportunities (they removed all the walking areas at Nay Aug and it is drive through only.  We had to park, let cars go by and go out and get a picture (I wanted to get something).  Because it was just for drivers, it was just a bunch of flat displays along the road.  I did get some in the back ground though to show how it could have been captured.  It would have been nice to not have been such a bone head, had the focus setup right, and taken some pictures like this at Kozair's (there is always next year).

I do plan on using the Digital Rebel more this year (so next time I will be more used to it, and not expecting the more automatic SX210).  This should change up this blog a bit (as pictures will be taken with a phone, pocket camera and DSLR).

Ocean City Kite Fest

Well, here we are with one hobby meeting another.  I enjoy flying kites, and taking pictures, so what to do.  Guess I should do both.  So, I will probably be commenting more on the kites (and a little less on the photos) in this update.

Before I get into the pictures, a comment about cameras.  I spent sometime here stating how nice it is to have a camera in ones pocket.  I even took it as far to start to compare that SX210 with my phone (portability is most important when quality is close).  I am now questioning my logic.  When I look at pictures with the SX210, and the Digital Rebel there is really no comparison.  Still way too much noise in the SX210 (guess its time to try and find something that better fits my desires).  Personally, I am thinking that the sensor is just too small, and I need to really think before I move on (but have started looking already).

Having said that, I was happy to have the SX210, not the Digital Rebel for the kite fest.  I wanted to do some flying and not focus on the camera.  This year I even competed (well we will get to that, competed might not be a good word).  Carrying around the DSLR would have been tough (and I might have had to lay it in the sand for the kite fights).  Additionally, I gave the camera to Denise to take some pictures while I was competing (that word again) and she would not have had an easy time with the DSLR, but the SX210 was just point and shoot for her (I will show one she took later).

Lets start off with some of my kites (its my blog).  A word of warning, weather was far less than optimum (both for pictures and for kite flying).  The sun did not show itself at all during the weekend (and there were many periods with no wind at all).  As always, click the image for a larger one.

The kite above is just a 6 foot delta (nothing special).  However the wheel is cool (if this were a movie and not a picture, you would be watching it spin).  I needed the 6 foot delta to get the wheel up (not alot of wind).  Was not easy to put up, but I worked it up (using air spaces between and around the hotels etc).  Because of the tail, it got alot of looks.  

Before we move on, this picture is a good example of an issue with the SX210.  Notice the corners are a bit dark (in this and the other images).  This was not just the cloud pattern, but happened on all the images at full zoom.  So not just noise, but vignetting at full zoom.

Above is my EO 10 (Expandable Object).  I think it should be EOS (edge of sanity).  Kite looses its wind, collapses flat (which is how it is carried) and comes down in an interesting dance (as I said, wind was inconsistent).  It looks better when the sky is a bit brighter as you can really see it has three colors.  However, this is less than optimal conditions (so it is what it is).  This is considered a box type of kite, did not replace my old favorite though.

Above was one I bought this festival, still hoping to give my favorite a rest.  This is the Mega Wolf Cross Box kite (impressive name isn't it, good start).  The top is a box, and the bottom a cross.  I think this would look really cool in sunlight, as the black would really make the colors stand out.  

This is my favorite kite.  The sky should be a give away that this was taken last year (but I wanted to include it).  I did fly it this year, but I had the camera in the housing - see the post below this one.  I was taking pictures of the kids on the beach and playing in the sand and wanted to keep the moisture and sand out of the camera.  I had this picture (which was better than anything I would have gotten on that gray day anyway).  

Notice most of my kites are darker in color (I think darker colors stand out better against the bright sky, so I avoid light colored kites).  This is a simple box kite, no wings nothing but box.  This always gets alot of looks and points from the people going by.  Also when it is up in the sky, the colors give an optical illusion (starts to look inside out and like it is standing up, not laying down).  

That's enough of my kites.  Lets look at the festival a bit.  There is a nice selection of kites you just do not see anywhere else as well as activities (stunt kite demonstrations, fighter kite contests, and games (like dancing and even a silly band drop).  

Speaking of interesting kites, here is a squid (flying above the ocean, wonder how he feels about that).  Do not see this one everywhere (bright and colorful, though some sun would help).  The vignetting looks particularly tough here (though mostly in only three corners this time).  

In addition to kites, there are also alot of interesting wind socks.  These are tide to the strings of big kits and lifted by them.  There was not as many up this year as I have seen in the past (the wind was a little less than helpful).  Even here the red and yellow turtle just cant get fully off the ground.  Wait is that some blue in the sky in the background (I do not think so).

Even more traditional kites are operated in a less traditional mode (here are three strung together. I liked these.  The black with the color really stood out (again could have been better with some sun, even a drab, drizzly day on the beach flying a kite beats a day at work anytime).  

As I said above, there are lots of stunt kite demonstrations.  The Revolution is probably the most popular being demonstrated.  The four lines make them highly maneuverable (they can tap the shoulder on people on the boardwalk as they walk by).  They also require surprisingly little wind.  Here are three strings of revolutions all flying to music (music is a large part of all the performances).  This is really the best part, and the biggest reason to go.  Alot of the demonstrations are really good, and they even setup a little space in the background to let others try there hand at stunt kites (more wind would have made it better).  

Finally, I made the comment about err competing.  Below is a picture of me in the mini Rokkaku fights (getting ready).  I participated in this and the fighter kite.  I was able to do both without scoring a single point (even my kid scored).  To make some excuses, I do not normally kite fight (I do fly a single line fighter, but I fly it like a stunt kite - kites do not want to fight, they want to fly).  

I am the one in the hat in the picture above (I am normally the one in the hat).  I did give my kid my kite in the Rokkaku fight (it was flying better (and took his which was giving him problems).  There was no wind so the only thing keeping the kites up was us pulling them in.  First two rounds I went down quick, and then I used a different attach point on the bridle (which seemed to be working better - I did not want to win, but a point would have been nice).  However my kid (yes mine) was in front of me, got my string under his arm and ripped it.  I also ran into the eventual winner (she is behind the gentleman next to me in the picture) in the first round of the fighter kites and she just took me out.  

Well, those are the pictures.  Not great, but I had fun.  Better conditions would have made better pictures.  I think the DSLR would have done a bit better getting over those conditions (but then I would have to carry that and I was really there to play with kites (and throw the occasional boomerang) not so much take pictures.  So I guess the pocket camera has its uses (as well as its drawbacks).  

My next update will be back to infra red.  There will be pictures from both the phone (I fixed the issue seen a few posts down) and the SX210 (the DSLR is not setup for infra red).  Still not as sharp as I want, but better.  I just want to grab one more example before I do the next update, but hopefully soon.  I will show some examples of true infra red and false color.  All will be processed as shown previously (way down in this blog).  So the next update should be back to more photo focused (pardon the pun).  It should be fun.

Water Fun

With the summer, water becomes a huge draw. It is a shame that on there own most cameras do not do well in a water environment. In order to work around this a good camera housing is required. My first one was a special one made specifically for the camera. It was a hard case with water proof buttons lined up with buttons on the camera. It was nice as all push buttons and controls were easily accessible.

However, every time I upgraded cameras I would need to get a new housing as well. As these are generally expensive (over $300) that makes it difficult to justify the cost (just bought a new camera, and need to come up with another $300+ for a water housing). In order to save some money instead of buying a second dedicated water housing, I bought the one pictured below from Ewa Marine. I have had this for many cameras and many years. It is still available under $100, and stands up to almost anything (may not look it, but the rubber is quite thick).

This works with any small camera (and not so small). I currently use this with the SX210. It does not support the full zoom range, but lets me do some zoom. Though it is not as easy to operate all the controls on this generic housing as on a dedicated one it does gets the job done. The rubber is soft enough that most controls can be operated with some playing. This approach has saved me considerable money as I continue to upgrade to get the latest and greatest camera, but can continue with the same water housing.

The folded up paper in the housing is actually silicon gel packets. These are helpful for two reasons. The first is that they keep moisture out of the casing, so the lens does not fog over. The second is that they are good to place around the camera, in order to hold it in place so the camera lens lines up with the lens in the housing.

A final advantage of this housing is that it floats (so if you do let go of the camera, it will go to the surface). Additionally, if you need to go deeper, the housing will accommodate this (within reason). All you need to do put more air inside the housing with the camera, and it will support deeper dives (though the controls might get harder to operate).

Even with the housing, there are still obstacles to getting good water fun pictures. For example, it is tough to see and time pictures well inside the housing (or underwater), so sometimes you have to try a few times to get a good picture. The picture below is a fun example. I snapped lots of pictures of the little guy diving/falling and jumping into the pool. Though I did fairly well percentage wise, not all were equal (for example some just had a splash, no little guy). The one below was just as the arm was starting to break the water and really looks fun.

In order to get this picture, it was obvious that both I and my camera were going to get splashed. Well, I was already wet, so no worry there, and the camera was safely protected inside of its housing (so we were good to go).

Of course,with the housing, one can also go under the water (no reason to just hang out on top). Though this picture below is a little boring, you get the idea. We have had lots of fun posing for and taking pictures under the water.

I would like to show one final shot. The picture below was taken way back in 2oo5. Though it was a different camera, it was the same housing (that's why buying a generic housing is so nice). We are here standing in the ocean, getting hit in the back by a large wave (the little guy's facial expression is great). I shot this myself, and the wrist strap is really handy in these cases (obviously holding onto the kid is more important than the camera, but with the wrist strap, you can let go of the camera if necessarily). Obviously, I would not want to take this picture without some protection for the camera.

The water housing makes a nice addition, as it gives you a good reason to cool off while you are still snapping photos. As you can see, though the generic housing has some drawbacks regarding ease of use, I definitely have gotten alot of use from it. I find the housing a necessary part of my camera kit, and allows me to have alot of fun with my photo hobby.

Why then a DSLR?

I think I have been doing too much comparisons on the low end (my pocket SX210 vs the Inspire cell phone). Though both have there places, and can take reasonable pictures once there capabilities are well understood, there is a reason people pay more for a DSLR. This update will show that off extremely well as I compare some pictures from the SX210 and the Digital Rebel XTi (the recent holiday provided the perfect opportunity).

All these pictures were taken from a tripod (it was needed due to the long exposures). I took these while sparklers and other small fireworks were being burned. I did not get a chance to play with the settings too much (I think both sets of pictures could have been helped a bit). However, the difference between the DSLR and the SX210 is dramatic.

First lets start off with a picture from the SX210. To start off simple, we just want to see some pattern in the sparklers. We shoot, no flash, and just grab what is there and should get a nice trail. Actually there is a good mode for this already on the camera (fireworks).

Unfortunately, it is hard to get a long enough exposure to really get a long stream from the fireworks. This could be worked going into a manual mode (but A manual mode is more complicated on the smaller cameras, and B due to the limited aperture range, we would still be limited in our timing).

Now for the Digital Rebel. There is no fireworks mode on the camera, but by setting a higher apeture (in this case 7.1) we are able to get the camera to fire for a longer period. Note all pictures were taken in aperture priority mode (so I tweaked the aperture and let the time calculate itself).

There is a bit of the background getting lit up slightly. Might have reduced the ISO (it was 200) and that should have cleaned that removing any background. The advantage of the tighter apeture is increased depth of field (so focusing becomes much easier). This is also evident in the sharpness of the stream.

The stream from the DSLR picture is easily long enough that a word can be written etc. Obviously it is an easy adjustment. Want more time, tighten the apeture, if you want it shorter, open the apeture up. The DSLR definitely wins here for flexibility.

What if we want to see the person behind the fireworks as well (especially for family members etc). Then we would want to fire the flash. Again the SX210 has a mode for this (night protrait), but can also be coaxed to fire the flash and still provide some time for exposure in other modes.

You can see here, that we can definitely make out the person in the picture, but there is not a long trail on the fireworks. Though there is the ability to adjust this, there is not as much (there is not as much aperture range on the SX210 as on the Digital Rebel (will with the DSLR, it is really a function of the lens, but most lenses have considerably more aperture range than a pocket camera.

Finally lets look at the same setup with the Digital Rebel. I used the on board flash (it has more power than the SX210, but there are also external flashes that could be used). Again using the same trick to close down the aperture, and in this case, I bumped up the ISO to 400 (to better grab the person).

This ended up being a 10 second exposure. The problem with this is it is hard for the individual to stand still (especially when waving fireworks frantically), so you get a little ghosting. It is obviously a trade off, opening the aperture (I used 7.1 here again) would decrease the time, which would reduce the ghosting, but would also reduce the fireworks trail. I think the flash did a nice job of grabbing a sharp subject and really overpowering the ghosting (though you see it off to her left).

You can see depending on what you are looking for, it is possible to get nice pictures of fireworks. As the actual firework itself is really bright, small apertures can be used as the bright will still capture on the sensor. Firing a flash can stop action for a particular portion of the picture. This is useful with the fireworks, but can also bring out other portions of a picture (I once took a long night exposure of a tree in the fall that had the leaves change to a fiery color - I walked under the tree and fired the flash up into the tree during the exposure (hiding the flash behind the trunk) for a very nice effect).

With all the talk about how phones are replacing cameras (well the pocket variety anyway), I seemed to have gotten caught up in it. Prior to having a good camera on my phone, I would say I took about 70% of my pictures on the SX210. However, the hard ones, or the important ones, I always grabbed the Digital Rebel. This allowed me to focus where important, but not have to carry the big DSLR around much. I am finding that I now take some of the pictures with my Inspire (though I have not really started to do anything with them).

Though it is possible that the line might blur between the Inspire and the SX210 at some point and the SX210 might lose some of its snaps to the Inspire, the Digital Rebel still has its strengths and will not see its snaps diminished in the least by improved phone cameras (well not for the foreseeable future anyway).

Infra Red Comparison

Ok, here is a comparison you will not see on too many websites.  Its the SX210 in one corner with the HTC Inspire in the other corner.  Both wearing the infra red filter (well the SX210 has its brace and gorilla tripod, and the Inspire has me holding the filter in front of the lense).  This did not seem to hurt the Inspire as shutter length did not appear to change with the filter in front.  There must not be any filter to stop the infra red light on a phone.  This makes some sense as cost and size is the priority.

Note, all pictures are processed as outlined earlier in the blog.

I had another visit to Mohonk Mtn, and figured this was a perfect opportunity to take some infra red pictures.  The one above is from the SX210.  I had hoped for more sun (that would have popped the sky a bit better and driven better contrast), but I had to deal with more of a grey weekend.  Given the troubles, this is a great example, with the water (which comes out so black) the foliage and the sky.

The picture above was taken a few minutes later from the inspire.  There is a bit of a dark spot in the middle (and if you remember my orginal write up on using digital cameras with an infrared filter this can happen sometimes).  It should be possible to miminize ita bit if playing with the sliders (instead of just going with the defaults in the process also as described in an earlier post).

There is an interesting point not evident from the pictures themselves.  First a low ISO (80) was used on the SX210 to reduce noise seen in other pictures.  This worked well, but required a long exposure (1 second in this case).  The phone used an ISO of 604 automatically, and the exposure was just the same as normal (not listed).  It might have a little more noise, but it is close (I was able to handhold this picture holding the filter in front of the lense).

The picture above is of the monument on top of the hill taken by the SX210.  It is interesting how the rocks ended up a bit false colored.  This is nice and sharp and with out unwanted noise.  Again this was at an ISO of 80 (which I think really helps).  The drawback is the exposure took a whoppping 4 seconds (yes it was on a tripod - a large gorilla tripod). 

Finally the monument from the Inspire.  Obviously the ability to zoom does not exist (I do not believe in digital zoom, just throws away pixels you paid for, better to crop afterward).  Again the dark spot in the middle.  It can probably be minimzed with a little work, but probably not removed easily. 

Well this is the comparison.  I would say that for outdoor landscape pictures, the flexibility and quality of the SX210 was too much for the Inspire.  The pictures hold more capability for false color with the SX210 (though the whites in the Inspire are stronger).  However, having said that, with a cheap filter, it appears possible to get reasonable infra red pictures out of your cell phone (well the Inspire anyway). 

Unfortunatly, none of the pictures were in ideal light.  There was some sun, but it was broken, so it is possible that the performances might have improved on both with better lighting (next time hopefully). 

Note, I was specific with the outdoor landscape pictures for a reason.  I have tried to take indoor portraits (against soft light backgrounds) with the SX210 with no success.  I just have not found a light that puts out enough infra red to get the picture.  The Inspire with its much quicker response might allow me to do some portrait work (I know, it will look funny holding the filter over the camera, but I think it is worth a chance).