Water, water everywhere

Spring has sprung here in Minnesota. That means the weather warms and the snow melts and all that water has to go everywhere. So this weekend the wife and I headed out to see what there was to see in the way of floods and waterfalls.

First stop was Minehaha Falls in Minneapolis. There was a goodly amount of water going over there but not as much as I had envisioned. But I did get to try the camera on manual to try to get the old ghostly water streaks coming of the waterfall with a long exposure. It was a really bright sunshiney day so even at 100 ASA film speed and an aperture F22 the slowest I could do for a shutter speed was about 1/20 second. So I was glad of the image stabilisation. Not much of a streaky water effect but something.

Next it was on to Stillwater on the St Croix river where we knew the water to have broke its banks. Sounds far worse that it was. This is an annual occurence that the city is well prepared for and the sandbags were out in force protecting the downtown area.
Above: Seeing the water where you can usually walk is an unusual sight.
Above: Stillwater is famed for its liftbridge and in previous days it had been closed because the water was over the top of it. When we were there, the water level had dropped a few feet but the water level is still a god 15' higher than it should be. A line of protective sandbads can be seen in the foreground.

A good day out that produced some interesting pictures.

Ees Fire! Ees Fire!

Its not often my disparate hobbies of Marathon Running, Model Railroading and Photography all pull together but yesterday they did.
Early on Saturday morning I was out for a run as part of my marathon training regime. A brisk six miles. Lovely. As I ran through town I saw at least nine fire engines, from town and out of town. None however had their sirens on. I couldn't quite fathom out what was going on. Firefighters convention perhaps? Some kind of charity function? No idea. So I carried on running and put the thoughts of the fire engines to the back of my mind. If it had been a blue sky sunny day perhaps I would have pursued the idea further because the fire engnies would have looked pretty neat shining in the sun. But it was grey and damp.
Later in the day I went down to the local Model Railroad club and as a matter of conversation I asked about all the fire engines I'd seen in town earlier.
"Oh they're burning someone's old house down so they can build a new house in its place."
A controlled house burn? I'd heard of controlled burns on nature reserves to control and stimulate vegetation growth. But instead of just knocking a house down? Very unusual. I was sure they were pulling my leg. Anyway about three in the afternoon a fleet of fire engines passed the clubroom. So when the club was over I headed back home making a short detour the way they had come from. Sure enough, when I got to the end of the road. There was a smoky mess where a house used to be and still standing proud in the smoke, the remains of the brick built chimney stack. So I headed home to pick my camera up to get the picture you see below.

More from the blasted heath

I enjoyed myself some much yesterday on the Blue Hill walk at Sherburne that I thought I'd throw a few more pictures at you.

Above: Another burned tree stands out against the blue sky
Above: Logs buried in leaves

Below: dead leaves against burned tree stump

For these two pictures I switched over to Manual to see how things worked. The camera is pretty easy to work in manual mode. It didn't take any reading of the instruction manual to work out how to change aperture and shutter speed and the display on the viewfinder was clear and concise. The Upper picture shot at f13 has great depth of field. and the lower pictures exposure is pretty good considering how the black of the burned wood could dominate things.
Below: I just liked to see all the broken twisted trees about.
There we are. The Sherburne Wildlife refuge is a fascinating place. One that I certainly will return to often in the future to explore and photograph in greater detail.

Macbeth: Act 1, Scene 3: A heath near Forres

William Shakespeare certainly never came to the Sherburne Wildlife Refuge near Princeton, MN. But if ever a place matched the description of "Blasted heath" it is here.

It's very early spring here so everything is still asleep from the winter and some of the trees must have undergone a prescribed burn recently as there are a lot of blackened trees and logs about. All in all its a very eerie place. Eminently suitable for Hollywood to come and remake "The Scottish Play" or some kind of post apocalyptic drama...

Above: It wouldn't take much of a leap of imagination to see the army of Macbeth marching towards us...
Above: Here perhaps, the witches have been turned into trees by some strange supernatural powers
Above and below: Strangely changing the images to black and white doesn't make them any more eerie than the real thing
Below: Bent and twisted trees litter the landscape on the Blue Hill walk.
An awesome place that is only a handful of miles from my home, yet this is only the second time I've been there (shame on me).

First impressions

This post isn't a review just a set of observations after my first shots (115) with it.

I think it's fair to say that I like this camera a lot.

There's a lot to like. Lightweight, small and easy to carry and handle.

Like all Olympus cameras that I've had before, the operation seems quite intuitive. The instruction manual did seem somewhat complicated at first. But after a few minutes working out the control dials, operation seemed to come quite easily to me.

There's eight modes. Yes eight, perhaps that's needlessly complicated. But I'll endeavour to try them all. Except perhaps the HD video. I've already got a HD video camera thank you very much.

This last weekend I shot nearly all the pictures in P (Program - fully automatic) mode. I think the pictures show that it works very well like that. I also used the iAUTO function that automagically selects the right scene mode, i.e Landscape, Portrait, Macro etc; depending on what you focus on. Line up a shot on the Duluth waterfront, it picked landscape. Pan over to the wife and close in on her face, it picked portrait. I've no idea how it does it, it just does.

On top of that you've also got 4 different formats you can set the sensor to. The standard four thirds format 4:3. You can change it to 6:6 square format (looking forward to trying that out.) 3:2 more traditional film proportions and 16:9 the widescreen format, my other favourite.

That, is as far as I've got so far. There's a whole load of flash modes, film speeds, art filters and whoknowswhat in there to discover yet. Quite how a proper camera reviewer can cover it all is quite beyond me.

I love the VF-2 electronic viewfinder, it's so bright and clear. I wouldn't have bought the camera if that wasn't available. I abhor LCD screens on cameras. It definitely makes the camera look like an old rangefinder camera with that viewfinder on.

What don't I like?

I can only find two things so far. I find the main control dial in the camera back a tad too small at the moment. There's a rotary dial, a four way button and a single button on it and as yet my fingers aren't used to it. It's easy to change to a different function when you are trying to change one function.

The other thing? I know LCD monitors are useful to review shots you've taken. But I just seem to cover this one with fingerprints. So I'll have to find one of those iPhone screen protector thingies and put it on the LCD screen. My E-1 actually had a plastic shield over its LCD screen.

So, half day off work tomorrow, looking forward to trying the camera out again.

An explanation

"So what's it mean then? Is my Pen mightier? Mightier than what?"
Not an unreasonable question really. The title is a bit of an obtuse play on words. Wether obtuse means good or bad is yet to be decided.
Anyway we are all familiar with the phrase "The Pen is mightier than the sword." Absolutely stuff all to do with photography though...
But as the camera is known as the "digital Pen" I thought it too good an oportunity to miss, to mangle a well known phrase for my own ends.
So is my pen mightier than what?
Basically the cameras that went before it. My E-20 and my E-1 both were magnificent cameras that I loved to use and when I bought the EP-2 I was concerned that this tiny new camera wouldn't be able to match them with regards to performance and ease of use.
So far these fears are unfounded.

More pictures!

I was feeling pretty good about the pictures I took at the weekend having given them some serious inspection, I decided to share a few more with you.

Above: There wasn't much ice around Lake Superior at the weekend but I did manage to find this one pool still iced over.
Above a different viewpoint of that remarkable white forked branch.
Above: I think this shot shows just how good the metering and the sensor are in the camera there's the full range of tones from Black to White in this shot and there is detail all over the image.
Above: This is just a crop that I liked from Gooseberry Falls.

Pictures!

OK. Enough waffling about buying a camera lets get out there and take some photographs with it!
I said I needed the camera for the weekend because we were headed up to Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior for my Birthday. Plenty of opportunities to take pictures. For the most part I just messed around with it, getting used to the layout and features and seeing what it would do.
Above: With this one I think I was subconciously chanelling my favourite photographer Craig Blacklock also from the Duluth area.
Above: Perhaps another famed Minnesota photographer Jim Brandenburg was in my mind when I took this. This shot was taken on the 16:9 setting on the camera
Above: This one is a crop to get rid of a lot of sky. I never thought about changing the sensor setting to 16:9 - still learning...
Above and below: A couple of touristy "snaps" from Gooseberry Falls State Park. The camera performed really well just pointing and shooting.
I'll write more about my impressions of the camera later but for now we'll just enjoy the pictures

How (not) to buy a Camera

So, at the end of the last post you left me outside National Camera Exchange in Maple Grove, MN., preparing to purchase a new camera. Here we go...
OK, so we know I'm dead set on an Olympus camera and this I explained to the associate behind the counter. He showed me the Evolt 510 and the 620 one had a bit of a hand grip on the front of the body but no tiltable LCD screen the other had the tiltable LCD screen but no hand grip. both were features that I wanted on my camera. Build quality was good but not reassuring in the way that my E-20 and E-1 were. I was sunk, the only other SLR they had on the shelves was the E-3 which is the replacement for the E-1 as much as I loved my E-1 I didn't want to go all the way down the Heavyweight DSLR outfit road again I was supposed to lightening the load. I was this close to asking to look at a Canon.
Then the associate asked me if I heard about the Micro four thirds range from Olympus. I replied that I had but had only read about the EP-1 and it only had an LCD monitor to look at while composing your pictures.
The assistant bought the EP-2 off the shelf. It had an electronic viewfinder attatched to the hot shoe so you didn't have to look through the monitor. He placed it in my hands.
Have you ever had that feeling when buying something that you instinctively know you want it?
I had one of those as soon as I wrapped my hands around the compact body. It was metal. It was solid. It felt comfortable in my hands. I looke into the viewfinder. It was bright and clear.I had to have this camera.
BUT.
It's not a DSLR, it's way smaller. If anything it's like a rangefinder camera, much as the original Pen from the 1970's was. I was very confused. I mean I was really confused.
I grabbed hold of the 620 again hoping to get a positive "buy me" vibe from it.
Nothing.
The assistant showed me a second hand Olympus Evolt "somethingorother" body but I wasn't interested I can't even recall what the body was. I was in shock.
Sensing my interest in this camera the assistant placed the Evolts back on the shelf and showed me a Panasonic Lumix a close relative of the Pen. It had a pop-up flash the EP-2 didn't, not really an issue for me as I had a Olympus flash that worked with the EP-2. Besides the Lumix wasn't as nicely built as the EP-2.
So after a few more minutes agony I gave in and went for the EP-2.
I traded in my E-1, lenses and power pack as a down payment (for a somewhat disappointing sum it has to be said but I didn't want to go through the hassle of selling it myself). This was to be the most up to date and expensive camera I'd ever bought.
"I'll just check and make sure we have one in the back" said the assistant. After a moment or two he returned.
"Im sorry, we're out of stock here." He said. "They have one in Edina, you can go and pick it up or it can be sent up here." He added.
No problem have it sent up. I don't need it until the weekend of the 20th anyway. He called in the transfer gave me a receipt and told me to call on Tuesday and I was on my way.
Afterwards my wife and I sat in LeeAnn Chins I was still numb. I still didn't believe what I did. This would be a total shift in my attitude to photography.
Tuesday afternoon came and I called the store.
"Hi can you tell me if my EP-2 is in today?" I asked giving my name.
"I'll go and look" said a cheery female voice.
I waited.
I waited a bit more.
And more.
The assistant who sold me the camera came on the line.
"I'm sorry sir. They've sent the wrong camera"
"WHAT!! YOU BLITHERING INCOMPETENT FOOLS HOW CAN ANYONE SEND THE WRONG CAMERA!!!" Was what I felt like saying. But I'm not like that.
He was most apologetic and assured me that the correct one would be here on Thursday, or I could go down to Edina and fetch it mysefl"
"WHAT YOU PEOPLE SCREW UP MY ORDER AND YOU WANT ME TO PUT IT RIGHT. FORGET IT! CANCEL THE ORDER I'LL PICK UP MY TRADE IN CASH IN AN HOUR. YOU'D BETTER HAVE IT READY!" No I didn't say that, as much as I wanted to. I still didn't need the camera until the weekend so I was prepared to wait until Thursday.
Thursday came. I picked up the phone and inquired about the status of my camera.
"Hello Ian" said the nice female voice.
Know me by name? Must be bad news. They've lost the camera.
"Miraculously your camera has come in."
Has it? Woo Hoo! I'll be there tonight.
There. Thurdsay night I had a beautiful new camera. Roll on the weekend.

A new beginning on the Camera journey

I like Olympus cameras. Correction, I love Olympus cameras. Ever since my first OM-10 way back when I started Art College, more years ago than I care to remember.

I immediately bonded with it and have rarely ever wanted anything else. I have drifted away and had other cameras (sometimes having both at the same time) but I always keep coming back to Olympus.

My very first SLR was a Zenit TTL from Russia and I've always had a soft spot for Russian cameras ever since. I do still have a Russian KIEV-88CM 6x6 outfit and if I ever tire of todays all singing, all dancing, do everything cameras I take it out, slow down, manually meter and focus and enjoy the art of photography. But I digress.

Then I got that OM-10 for Christmas one year which I had for a long time until it was stolen. To replace that. I tried my first non Olympus Camera a Minolta Dynax SPxi. It had autofocus and I liked that one too. The Minolta impressed me so much that when their VECTIS range of APS SLR's came out I bought one of them too, a VECTIS S-1 (more on that later) But when I emigrated to America one of the first things I did was buy a new camera. I traded in the Dynax and thanks to the glib salesman at National Camera Exchange I bought a Nikon N70. I can quite honestly say that it was the worst camera I ever bought, worse than a Zenit. Complicated set up and operating. It was too hard work to set up and access all the features for my liking. It was only then that I realised how in tune I was with the folks at Olympus and their camera design. So when the chance came (through my job at the time) to get a digital camera I bought a CAMEDIA-2040. Only 2.4MP but I loved it. Once again everything was simple in the Camera world.
It was then the realisation hit me that things don't stand still in the digital camera world. Whereas with film cameras you can have a camera and keep it for years and not worry about upgrading. Here in the digital world, The continual "mega-pixel race" means that your camera is out of date inside a year. Three megapixels, is bettered by five, which is then trumped by seven and subsequently beaten by 10 and so on and so on. It was then that I decided that with my digital camera buying I'd deliberately be one step behind the trend. It would be cheaper and I could buy reconditioned cameras from the Olympus Emporium.

My next camera purchase was to be my first "Professional quality" camera an Olympus E-20. You can do that when you buy reconditioned, get a darned good camera for a very reasonable price. What an eye opener that camera was! Metal body, outstanding build quality. Here was a camera that just made you feel confident in your abilities to take a good picture. Of course, this camera was hampered by the fact that it did not have an interchangeable lens system. But not to worry, for a good 18 months I was very happy just taking pictures with it. What a camera! All the buttons are in the right place and so easy to get at to boot. It got to the stage where I didn't even need to look where the buttons were, my fingers went straight to them. Spot metering? Press the meter button and a couple of clicks on the dial. Bingo! It was that easy.

But then it came to the stage where I wanted a longer focal length lens. I had a big decision to make. Did I buy the tele-extender for the E-20 or buy the E-1 DSLR and lenses? After much thought I went with the E-1. Once agan I was not disappointed and in the ensung months I bought a full outfit for it. Short telephoto, long tele, flash and even the long life battery pack. I looked extremely cool carrying that camera around my neck. I went everywhere with it. But it was oh so heavy. It weighed a ton with that extended life battery pack on it. I lugged it around the Grand Canyon, Sedona and other such places. It was hard work. So as time passed the feeling that I needed a lighter camera set up was growing. Of couse the fact that the E-1 was only 5MP and now 12-15 is the norm, so there was another reason to change. With that, just one week ago, with a bonus from work in hand and my camera in its carrying case I set foot in National Camera Exchange to see what there was to offer...

Coming next, buying the Camera. A story in itself...