Tag: camera

How Are We Doing?

Hey folks. How is it going? Are we all doing all right tonight? It’s Friday the 13th, has the universe thrown you any curve balls?

Today has gone okay for me. I found out my nephew has Covid. Sigh in frustration. I hope he’s okay, and I hope he kicks it way faster than I did. I don’t want him to be sick for three weeks the way I was. I have a whole new perspective on this particular plague and somehow it makes everything worse.

I had another one of those empty stomach things that I wrote about last night. Usually it hits about three hours after eating. Today it hit two hours after I finished lunch. I had a snack and thought I would be okay until dinner, but an hour later it came back. Weird. That’s the first time this issue was not predictable. I didn’t eat dinner until 7:00, which was about an hour after the stomach ache came back. We’re going to have to keep an eye on this tonight. I don’t want any weirdness. Unpredictable weirdness is not as fun as you’d think.

Jen and I just watched this week’s episode of Loki. Season two episode two. At lunch today I was poking around news.google.com and I was almost spoiled about seven times. I am going to have to be more careful on Fridays for the next four weeks.

I just checked the weather for the weekend. It is going to be clear at sunrise tomorrow and clear just after sunrise on Sunday. There must be photos this weekend. It’s a necessity. I have a lot of stuff on my agenda and I’m booked pretty solid. Still, from a mental health standpoint a photowalk somewhere must happen. The mornings are getting cold and there are only so many more opportunities left before the winter ruins everything. I have to take advantage of this. Ocean sunrise and maybe some Merrimack River stuff tomorrow and then either around town on Sunday or maybe finally spend an hour or two walking around the city? Boston at sunrise on a Sunday should be easy to social distance, shouldn’t it?

Like I said, there is a lot on my plate this weekend. I need to make time for some creative stuff. I’m still feeling a little shell shocked from the covid journey so my brain needs to stretch its figurative legs a little.

Here’s hoping we can make something happen this weekend. Assuming Friday the 13th lets us through the day, right?

No Road Trip

We were going to drive to Vermont and visit the kids but my stomach is off a little today and a 3-4 hour drive while in this state is not a good idea. We’ll try again another day.

As I sit and wait for my stomach to calm down after my lunch’s french fries I have been watching Doctor Who like it’s going out of style. I finished season seven of the original show and I am down to the last couple of episodes of season 12 of the new show. Right now I am taking a pause from the Doc to deal with some gear acquisition syndrome.

I mentioned my little Nikon point and shoot camera (Coolpix S7000) is on the fritz. I want to replace it with another pocket sized point and shoot but the research I’ve done online is staggeringly depressing. The one camera that I keep looking at, to the point of almost drooling over, is a Ricoch GRIII. It looks like the pocket sized point and shoot of the gods. Feature wise it looks as good as my Nikon Z5 mirrorless, outside of the ability to swap lenses though.

Unfortunately this little bugger costs almost as much as my Z5. It costs a friggin’ fortune at nearly a grand in US dollars. WAY too expensive for what I am looking for. Way too expensive by light years. Every other manufacturers competitor is even more expensive too, and also a little bigger which defeats the purpose.

There is no way I would spend this much money on a pocket point and shoot, but holy shit snacks kids do I want one of these suckers. Woah is me, right?

New Lens Day? I Hope!

We ordered a new Nikon Z mount lens and a couple of memory cards from Best Buy this morning. The intention being a curbside pickup in Salem, NH.

An hour or so ago I got a notification that the memory cards are ready for pick up. Jen got a notification that the lens was being readied for pickup in Nashua, NH.

Oops.

I don’t care where I have to go to pick the thing up, I just want it for the vacation. It’s a 40mm, f2 full frame prime lens and I am sitting here kinda drooling over the thought of it. Nikon doesn’t seem to have a 35mm or 50mm Z mount lens yet, so this puppy is pretty much the sweet spot in between them. It’s also tiny, which is super nice. I’m really hoping I can wander around Disney World with a 40mm prime on my digital camera, and a 50mm prime on my film camera. Double fisting like a boss, right?

Speaking of film, I am still waiting for the notification that my test roll of film scans is ready to download. It’s been a couple of days since the lab notified me that they had the film. Now I just need the scans so I can be sure using Dad’s Pentax lens on my Nikon camera will work. I know it will because the camera is an SLR and I can see through it without any problem. I just want to make sure the film shots look okay. I’m hoping the adapter doesn’t screw with the focus, or let any light leak into the camera, or anything like that. If I don’t see the scans today I will likely see them next week, but there will be a few days of picture taking opportunities in between. I’ll probably just use the lens that came with the Nikon when I bought it off of eBay. I’ve already packed up the film I’m bringing along. There’s more than I can see myself using, but I will be set no matter what. There’s also this groovy new mirrorless camera that will be drawing attention away from film, so I’ll likely shoot less film that I was planning. I can’t say for sure though.

I am a nerd. You knew that already though. I think we’re all good with it.

Three hours and 32 minutes until vacation.

Morning Stuff Complete

I did everything I wanted to do before work today and then some. I got up at 5:10, ran in place for 45 minutes. Surprisingly my Apple Watch’s workout app didn’t screw me over on any of the numbers. It gave me 5.5 miles and 1000 calories when yesterday the exact same time and pace gave me 3.5 miles and 800 calories. Why was today different? Who knows. Who really cares.

I ate breakfast, showered, dressed, and ran out to the supermarket. I bought everything we need to make a mini-Thanksgiving this weekend. We might need a bigger turkey breast, but I can leap off that bridge later today. I was out of the house early enough to bring Dad’s camera and make a quick shootin’ stop. I think the place I went to might be bad luck.

Walnut Grove Cemetery in Methuen is awesome. It was the first place I thought of when I thought about using black and white film. The last time I took Dad’s camera there the film jammed and then broke when I was trying to rewind it. Today I expected to have 9-10 shots left in the roll. It jammed after five. What the hell? When I got home I rewound it without issue so hopefully all will be well. Just… what the hell?

I’m trying to keep track of what goes onto each roll of film. This roll is roll number 8 and it is the cheapest film I could find on Amazon, Kentmere 100. I wonder if the cheapness is part of the reason it jammed. I also wonder if the cheapness is part of the reason it was an absolute bitch to load. It was by far the hardest roll to load yet and I bet I burned a shot or two during the fiasco. I loaded roll number nine into Dad’s camera this morning too and that was a bitch to load as well. Either I suck or the film does… it’s probably me.

Roll #8 was through Dad’s prime lens only. Roll #9 will use Dad’s zoom lens. Roll #10 will be my camera with Dad’s prime lens, and Roll #11 will be my camera with Dad’s zoom lens. My camera using an adapter as well, of course. That will be it for the black and white film I have. There may be a Christmas roll in there too, which will likely be color and much better film using Dad’s camera and whichever lens I have available at the time. HoHoHo and all that.

Okay, it’s 8:56. Time to punch into work.

Walnut Grove Cemetery
Dad’s camera, loaded up with roll number nine.

Stay the Course Don’t Give In

No, this post isn’t about my stupid personal Facebook ban, though you might think so based on the title.

I watched a bunch of film photography vlogs on YouTube tonight. Now I know I said I was putting film photography silliness on hold until around Thanksgiving* but I super want to get a bunch of rolls of cheap black and white film and load it into dad’s Pentax and throw his zoom lens on (because I’ve yet to really use it) and go out shooting film!

No, Robert! Fight the urge! Fight the urge!

*For the first time since I was hired in 2004, I do not have the day after Thanksgiving off this year. I’ll put in for PTO if no one from my staff puts in first. The four day Thanksgiving weekend is literally my favorite holiday of the year. I wonder if Thanksgiving will be weird this year, due to having a mangled stomach and rewired intestines. We will see.

Rough Morning

This one might venture into TMI territory. I’ll be careful not to overshare, but given that this blog is more like a personal weight loss surgery journal just for me (sorry) I feel I need to document today’s fun. Again, sorry.

A couple of times over the last two months my digestive system has rebelled. I go a few days with nuttin’ but chirping crickets and then a very difficult, rather painful morning of struggle and teeth gritting and all sorts of fun. That’s me today. I have spent a lot of time in the bathroom with… very little reward. Is that skirting the TMI line? There has been success, it just took a lot of work and a lot of discomfort and now that things are… well… moving (wink wink) I don’t think it is going to stop for a while. How’s that? Did I give enough detail for me to know what I am talking about when I review this post five years from now without maybe grossing out all of you fine people who happen to read this? Would it make you all feel better if I say that people who read this page are among the finest people on the Earth? You are all kind hearted, generous, strong, good looking folks who are respected and looked up to by all who meet you. Given that, I hope I didn’t gross you out.

In other news, Jen is in the office today and it sucks. She’s going to be in the office tomorrow too and that is going to suck. Suck for me, at least. I miss her. She also has an after work, work function tonight and she won’t be home until late. I’m on my own for dinner, which isn’t a big deal, but I am going to be sad without her around.

I’m thinking of taking the camera into Boston tonight. Maybe I could get some pics of all the signs and lights in the theater district. That little area has been on my photo-to-do list for a while. Unfortunately there are thunderstorms in the forecast. We’ll have to see how it goes this evening. It would be nice, and I’ve already started researching how high I can set my ISO before the digital noise gets too obnoxious.

Here’s hoping the weather forecast changes and things clear up.

Primary Day

I cast ballot #5 in precinct #5 in Methuen, MA today.

We had planned to apply for a vote by mail ballot, but we forgot to send in the application. Next time, for sure. So today I went to the poll just after it opened. They moved my precinct to a new location. I was a little nervous about the very small parking lot, but I was early enough that it wasn’t an issue. The city has a new check in/check out system so hopefully that all goes well and there aren’t any hiccups.

My civic duty is done once again. While I was out I also dropped my two rolls of film into the mail to get developed. I’m using the same New Hampshire based lab as last time. Here’s hoping the turn around time is as lightning fast as last time. Also, here’s hoping my Ebay Nikon’s A (basically aperture priority) mode works and I didn’t ruin a roll by test driving it.

I’m back at work after the holiday. My exercise ring is closed. All is right with the world… except for the whole empty nest thing and my parents’ health situation and all of that stuff. Other than that, all is right with the world.

Happy Tuesday.

Bed Time Thoughts

I tried to watch Sunday night’s episode of Westworld before work this morning but HBO Max wouldn’t play the video for some reason. It’s playing now. Once it’s done I’m going to sleep.

My Apple Watch is charging. Once it’s done I’ll go to sleep, assuming the above item is complete. I actually just kicked off an update. Who knows how long that will take.

Speaking of my Apple Watch, the activity app’s calorie goal wasn’t reached until almost 10pm tonight. Not sure why it took so long this time. I’ll keep an eye on it.

I was looking at a Nikon D90 group on Flickr tonight. The newest discussion topic was two years old but I found a thread discussing shutter counts. Now I’m paranoid that my camera has too much mileage to be reliable. That’s bullshit, of course. I’m going to use it until it disintegrates, and probably keep using it after that.

Speaking of cameras, I really want to take another stroll around Boston. There is talk of the Aquarium this weekend. We’ll see.

That cat was laying down on Jen’s pillow a few minutes ago. It’s was as adorable as can be.

Okay, my watch is updated and Westworld is 2/3 finished. I think I’ll post this now. I hope you enjoyed it for it’s random stupidness.