Remember that Spare Battery

Battery life can be a real spoiler for a lot of digital cameras, specifically for those without a separate optical view finder, such as most compact cameras or the newer mirrorless cameras. The problem is you need a fair bit of power to light up the LCD screen on the back. Especially to get it bright enough to read in ambient light. A few mirrorless cameras offer a view finder with a tiny LCD screen. My experience was these has been mixed, the earlier versions of such systems where very “laggy” and not so clear but the technology has improved a lot and perhaps also the power consumption. However with one of these cameras it is pretty likely you battery will run out at a crucial stage. The solution is a spare battery in your camera case

Owners of the traditional DSLR, with the mirror that has to flip up, generally get much better battery life. I changed the battery today after 83 days and 2643 photos taken (but I have taken only a few flash photos). I always take a photo of the discharged battery when changing batteries as a easy way to keep track of my battery rotation (and likelihood of being low on stored energy). I must admit I probably only consult the LCD screen on the camera occasionally, usually on the first few shots in a new location/lighting. Evidently moving the mirror must take a lot less energy that lighting the screen.

It doesn’t matter which sort of camera you have

Buy yourself a second battery for your camera and keep it fully charged and in you camera bag.

Taming the Tangle

One issue that has bugged me for a long while is the tangle of cables and cords, in my computer and camera bags. Preparing the photo to illustrate my previous blog post highlighted just how many USB cables I depend on, and that doesn't include power transformers and battery chargers! So here are few interim suggestions.

Reducing the number of cables

This is a lot easier said than done. However there are only limited number of styles of USB cables. Instead of carrying three or four that are identical, you should carry only one (or two). Also carry the shortest version when there are multiple cables. When it comes to battery charger and power packs they are probably all different size and not interchangeable, but the power cords to them may be shareable. They are unlikely to all be needed at the same time. Typically in Australia they are either 2 or 3 pins and one cable might connect to several. Between my wife and I we need to carry three different battery charges when travelling but they fortunately they all share the same two pin power connection so I only need to carry one extra short power cable.

Where a device can be charged via a USB connection, you will save having to carry yet another transformer, and either charge it off your computer of carry a small USB charging adaptor.

Some duplication may be desirable. There is nothing worse than not being able to charge your phone or connect your camera because the cable is playing up. I found a great universal USB cable set, which was inexpensive and has several "heads" that fit an longer USB extension cable. I pack this in my luggage rather than take up space in my camera bag. I also carry a second inexpensive USB charging plug here.

Staying tangle free

Having your cable in a scrunched up mess is courting disaster, not to mention a lot of time spent untangling. Whilst there are a number of clever cable windup gadgets around, I have found, from bitter experience, that the smaller spring loaded ones are more likely to damage the cable or make its performance flaky. This is because most data cables now are complex in their inner design with fine web shielding etc, small or tight kinks will cause stretched connections or broken strands. It is the end connectors that at particularly venerable to coming loose or breaking off when cable is tightly bent at the junction.

I find winding the cables as open loops  that suit their natural flexure, thinner cables can be kept in smaller loops. Then storing these in cloth pockets or mesh zip bags (as in my photo) really helps keep things organized as well as avoiding damage.

Lunar Eclipse II :: as it happens

Just like the last time I photographed an eclipse of the moon I plan to blog my photos as it happens. Wish me luck and stay tuned.

9:30PM July 15th. 2011. The Full Moon is high in the sky and its a lovely clear night, no clouds and no hint of fog (yet) but it is a very cold night. My first attempt at getting a good photo is a disaster. I’ve let the camera do the focusing (and it tracked back & forth a few times) before firing.  The exposure the camera has selected is 0.7sec and aperture f4.5 and ISO set to 400. Out of focus and pretty much a disaster.  The next shot I focussed manually and I get a sharp edged albeit burnt out white disc on an almost black background, still not good enough. Then that moment of dread for most outdoor photographers, as the possums looked on quizzically the camera battery went dead, and I still only have the one rechargeable battery and no useful moon images. Damn, but its ok I’m just in the back yard and there is a charger handy. Back into the warmth for a few hours.

10:00 PM. I’m interested to see what the photo packages think of my first photo. Windows Live gallery’s  Auto-adjust seems to think everything is ok, I can no see any difference after I’ve used it. Picasa’s I’m feeling lucky darked the image a little, so the flaring is a little less obvious. Adobe's Photoshop Element’s Smart Fix, somewhat surprisingly, lightens the image a lot, so it really looks patchy and even more out of focus. Yuk. So much for the automatic stuff and all that technology. The real photography will need to start now.

11:00 PM Batteries still charging, sky still clear some stars flickering.

MIDNIGHT Battery charged, at last. Manual focus this time and remote shutter button. Quick experiment with exposures 1/125 second at f32 but still ISO400, seems to give a clear reference picture of the full moon straight above me now. However the stars are not so bright as before, Hope its the brightness of the moon causing this and not a volcanic dust haze starting. No fog but its really cold now. Into a warm bed until 5:00 am.

 

:5:00 AM July 16th. 2011 Already missed a good part of the eclipse. The moon is starting to take on the red glow and the star are coming out. the next three images are at different times. Hoevr your mouse over them to see the time. Very long exposures now (up to 20 seconds and ISO 1600, hence the “noise”)

 

 

  

6:30AM, The moon’s fully eclipsed outline is hard to see now and dropping out of my view behind trees and roof to the west. The  predawn is lighting the sky in the east. Time for a new vantage point. So much traffic on east link, deafening, sounds like peak hour is early today or is it the still conditions amplifying the sound?

7:00 AM I abandon my search for a better vantage point. The sun is coming up now and the moon has slipped behind the local horizon. That’s all folks.

damn batteries

I guess it had to happen, when I was taking so many photos. Ever since I have been using this new Pentax 20D body, which comes with its own rechargeable lithium battery pack, I have been dreading the day when the batteries run out, just as the perfect photo moment arrives. All that happened today at Wentworth Falls. The morning dust has subsided and a few fleeting glimpses of sun light where flying past. I just changed to a wider angle lens and nothing, except an battery empty symbol.

I had check last night and the battery indicator was still on full, wasn’t happy. :(

But I had my nokia mobile phone. A quick series gave me a half decent panorama and a movie as a bonus. :)