Ian Lind’s Photo Blog

I spent an hour on Friday at Kaaawa School, where they were finishing up several weeks of fundraising for the American Heart Association with a bit of fun.

Students compete in six different events, from a sack race to jumping rope.

I’m trying to get better at ignoring the competition and just trying to focus on the kids.

I did a quick and dirty collection of photos to share with the school, which you can see by clicking on this photo, which is one of my favorites.

I’ve got some work ahead culling out the best shots and working on them.

Sounds like fun.

Top photo: Canon EOS 400D, Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS lens at 275mm, 1/500 sec at f/5.6. ISO 400.

Bottom photo: Canon EOS 400D, Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS lens at 300mm, 1/800 sec at f/8.0. ISO 400.

I’ve been “eye buying” for a while, poring over online reviews while thinking about upgrading to the latest versions from my Canon G9 and Panasonic LX1. I was leaning towards adding the LX3 alongside the G9.

Then our house was burglarized two weeks ago and my G9, as well as my Canon XTi, were taken.

Now the shopping is no longer idle fantasy. I needed a replacement camera, and I decided to go with the less expensive small camera and waiting on replacing the DSLR until the insurance kicks in.

I have to admit that I never fully warmed up to the G9, in contrast to my love affair with my old G2. The G9 was obviously a much better camera, but I never became as comfortable with it.

But now I needed a quick fix. An immediate replacement was necessary to avoid being limited to photos using my iPhone.

All things considered, and looking at this replacement being my primary camera for at least a couple of months, I opted for the G10.

It was ordered on Wednesday from B&H, and arrived in Honolulu on Thursday afternoon. Can’t complain about that service. I charged the battery on Friday, put on the strap, and installed a new SDHD card. Early Saturday morning we went off on our daily walk on the beach at dawn, new G10 in hand.

First impressions. When I first opened the box, the camera was wrapped in plastic and looked quite small. Then I picked it up. Very different impression. It’s a heavy camera, solid, sits in your hand like a rock. It’s probably no bigger than the G9, but on first impression feels bigger and heavier than it looks.

There are some subtle changes in the body. The grip on the front right of the camera is bigger, reducing the need for the add-on grip that was popular with the G9.

Looking at the top of the camera was a bit disorienting at first for a former G9 user. The dial on the left is now for adjusting exposure plus/minus two stops in 1/3 stop increments. The familiar settings dial on the right is smaller, but surrounded with a new wheel for setting ISO speed. The combination looks complex but sems to work quite well.

The rear of the camera features a bright LCD screen and slightly rearranged buttons, but if you’ve used other Canon cameras then they all feel familiar.

There’s a power button on the top of the camera, and a button on the back for reviewing images without firing up the camera and extending the lens.

The wider 28mm equivalent wide angle field of view makes quite a difference in the feel of the images.

I took several dozen photos while out walking, then a few more back home with our cats. The camera feels good and solid in your hand. Focus seems good. I don’t yet know whether the lens is extremely sharp, but that LCD screen certainly is. The camera is fast enough, although wasn’t quick enough to keep up with a couple of the dogs that we ran into. The lag still hasn’t fallen down into DSLR territory.

The G10 handled exposure well except for a couple of photos with a very bright patch of sky. In those, all highlights were blown out, although I could recover them from the RAW images.

RAW. That was the next adventure. I got back home, plugged my photo drive the MacBook Pro, popped the card into a reader, and Lightroom downloaded, but only the jpeg images appeared. The RAW images were reported as unreadable.

Dang! I forgot that the new RAW files from the G10 are a problem with older software. I’ve been using Lightroom v 1.something, along with CS3. A bit of searching and it seems the easiest solution in my setup was to upgrade to Lightroom 2.2 which reads the G10 RAW files and imports them as in digital negative format, which in turn open in CS3. The Lightroom upgrade from version 1.x cost $99, but is probably well worth it because of the added features and functionality. The installation was straightforward and finished without problems.

After the upgrade, Lightroom updated the catalog I’ve been using and proceeded to load the new RAW files.

I was pleased with the camera’s performance in the early morning light. It caught the subtle colors and differences in light. For example, you can see the surf spray that is hanging like mist at the base of the cliffs on the far side of the bay.

At wide angle, there’s a good deal of lens distortion. Check the curve in the horizon in this photo, easily corrected using the PT Lens plug-in.

I used the macro setting for this close-up of a strawberry at breakfast. Nothing to complain about there.

Focus is very good in this shot of Ms. Annie. It was in relatively poor light, shot at ISO 200. But the focus was quick and accurate.

I really can’t comment yet on noise at higher ISO.

But my first impressions of the G10 are all very positive. It’s too early for an enthusiastic recommendation, but I’m already feeling better about it than the G9 that it replaces.

I haven’t been feeding photos to this blog recently, so I’ll make a Chinese New Year resolution to pay more attention and share more photos here.

With new intentions in mind, here’s the view from our room at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel on a recent weekend run-away.

I always seem to come back from Hilo with photos. I think it’s the light, which is softened by the nearly ever-present clouds. Or maybe just the fact that you see more when wandering somewhat aimlessly and following the spirit, as those Situationist rambles used to aim for.

Whatever. Just click on this rainbow for more from Hilo.

It’s hard to capture the subtle mornings.

At this time of year, we get down to Swanzy Beach Park just a few minutes before the sun makes its appearance.

Each day is a little different, much like the uniqueness of a musician’s particular performance of a set score.

Canon XTi, Canon 17-85mm lens, 1/50 second, f/5.0, ISO 200. Lens distortion corrected with PTLens.

What do you do when your wife wants to do a thorough search of the Goodwill Store which greatly exceeds your browsing limits? Take a camera and wander. That’s what I did the other day. Pickings were slim, but this colorful pile of donated clothing made the cut.

Canon G9, 1/8 second at f/2.8, ISO 80.

We were driving home late on a Saturday afternoon in May when Meda spotted a sign for a ceramics sale at Windward Community College. After a quick debate, I made a u-turn and we headed back.

It was a good decision. Although we wandered in during the last couple of hours of a two-day sale, WCC students had churned out high quality work and were enthusiastic about the ceramics program.

I was carrying my Canon G9, which I still feel is on double secret probation.

Click on this photo to see several more.

Canon G9, 1/800 second at f/4.0, ISO 200

About the time that we’re out walking every morning, Verne is out collecting empty cans and bottles from the parks along our little stretch of coast that he then redeems for cash. On Sunday morning, we met at Swanzy Beach Park in the midst of some awesome dawn colors.

I used the built-in flash on my Canon Digital Rebel XTi to put some light on Verne while keeping the lens closed down enough to capture the brilliant colors of dawn.

Canon 400D • Canon 17-85mm lens @ 17mm • f/4.0 • 1/60 second • ISO 200

Every morning is different. Some mornings are dull and gray and remain that way. Some start gray and explode into colors when the sun makes its first appearance. Others start with colors about 40 minutes before sunrise and hold those colors through a series of stages. And some, like today, feature a relatively fleeting display of color that fades within a few minutes. I think today’s spectacular colors came and went within five or six minutes.

Canon Digital Rebel XTi • Canon 17-85 mm f/4-5.6 lens @ 20 mm • f/5.0 • 1/50 sec • ISO 200

Sometimes you stumble across images.

This one showed itself while I was cooling my heels waiting outside a collectibles shop while Meda rummuged through the stuff looking for treasures.

I looked around for interesting images to pass the time. Not much luck. Then I glanced down and was struck by the pattern of  shadows on the sidewalk. Out came the camera. Then, at some  point, my own shadow entered the picture by accident. It seemed to complete the picture.

Canon G9  – ISO 80 – f/4.0 – 1/320 second

A short visit to Hilo, on the island of Hawaii, offered lots of photo opportunities. The light in the early morning and late afternoon, coupled with fine weather, made the camera happy.

The site of the former daily fish auction is on the waterfront just a very short walk from the main Hilo hotels. I found myself with two basic choices. There was the wide view with the small boats in the foreground and, across the bay, Hilo town with Mauna Kea rising into the sky in the background. In the larger version of the photo, you can see the snow that’s still on te summit. Somehow the mix of palm trees in the foreground and snow in the background makes for a good picture.

The second photo removes all the context and focuses on the shapes, textures, and colors as we walked alongside the boats tied up at the dock. While the first photo conveys the time and place, this one strips out everything but the essentials.

I like both images. Perhaps they need to go together to convey a sense of the moment.

Canon G9 – ISO 200 – f/4.0 – 1/640 second

Canon G9 – ISO 200 – f/2.8 – 1/50 second