As I've finally retired my 14+ years old1 Sony camera and got myself the currently recommended still-Sony camera, I was rather curious if it does anything to my daily lack of photo-enthusiasm. So I started with a test on the nearest rose bush that I brought out from wilderness2 and into the light - for added photographic points, there were even a few water drops still on it (click for full-resolution, ~6MB with-droplets-image):
Water drops on a rosy-yellow opened rose with a bud nearby.
It certainly looks *better* than what the 14+ year old camera can currently obtain (though it used to do better) and it's certainly true that the new camera is lighter, smaller, with a bigger screen and the same sort of interface even, only improved - for once, actually improved! Such wonder. So I stalked a butterfly too but it didn't want to open up its wings while observed:
Brownish butterfly (perhaps a Small Heath) on a garden bush.
While I was watching the rose and the butterfly, my child was watching me with a certain electronics-related interest since I had told him that he may indeed use all the new components but only as he gets to actually know them with the help of everything he has. So after a while, off we went to figure out just what do resistors do in a circuit and how to measure intensity or voltage and what a potentiometer might possibly be. As he had more work to do on the figuring out front really, I continued with my own camera testing:
Child making a series circuit to see the effect of different resistors.
What does this potentiometer do?
And after quite a while of circuit-making and switch-switching and delighted laughter when things happened exactly as he thought they would (and surprised questions when they didn't), he remembered suddenly that there were still some remains of a certain walnut and cocoa Chec3 of very young age indeed. So I ran faster than him and managed to mess up a picture of sorts while there were still any pieces left on the plate:
Pieces of walnut and cocoa marbled cake on a green plate.
Now that this camera is indeed all it was said to be and even something extra (I hadn't quite realised just how much smaller and handier it can possibly be), all that it's left is for me to put this take-photos-thing on the list of daily (or at least regular) requirements, huh. Though I still think the kid got the better toy this time...
It's a usual lifespan, even on the young side really! ↩
When we first moved to this house we've been told by a very-convinced woman that the garden is "very low maintenance, don't need to do anything really." Even at that time, it was enough to look at the garden and one could indeed see that she hadn't bothered - for years even - to do absolutely anything at all about the garden but that of course does *not* mean that nothing was *needed*! Still, she had no idea what I meant, of course, of course. She saw no need for anything and therefore nothing was needed - not as if this is not the usual excuse, isn't it? ↩
Chec is a sort of easy-made marbled cake made in 1001 variations as the chef decides: in this incarnation I left out the rum and it contained crushed walnuts + the few brazil nuts and macadamia nuts that were lost among the walnuts; and cocoa in half the dough of course, as otherwise there'd be no marble effect. ↩
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Earlier this year I switched to "a6000" (also Sony), very similar but with unscrewable lenses (needed this for the Bolix macro shots, and will need later with microscope.) Weighs, naturally, slightly more. So far satisfied. The included 50mm lens is mediocre, however.
Initially I kept looking at (slightly) bigger/heavier and better cameras on the grounds that "it's better value actually". And then I remembered how unwilling to bother about photos I am even at best of times so I decided to make it as easy as possible on me for once (this is totally unusual for me) - so far it seems as it might even possibly, just about work!
Historically, I liked to keep around two, "soapbox" and "backbreaker", for this reason. Thought "a6000" could replace both, but it still is closer to the latter (weighs about same as a classical film 35mm, e.g. my childhood "Zenit".)
I can certainly see the reason and even use the reason - that's exactly what I used to have and how I know that the backbreaker will gather dust at home while the soapbox will be hardly used or rather almost abused and otherwise forgotten. I barely get myself to use a soapbox, let alone a backbreaker and the whole photos thing is anyway filed internally very closely to "time waste" - I'd much rather watch the grass grow than photograph something (grass included).
My own photo bag gathered dust for years, between trips to civilized world. But then realized (MP -- prodded) that I ought to at least photo-document experiments. "Pics or didn't happen", is the proverb.
I can see that although I never found it in any way convincing - this sort of "pics or didn't happen" tends to make me shrug: if ALL the evidence of "happened" consists in picture(s), it could just as well not have happened from my point of view (for one thing pictures are not exactly reliable in any way and for the other thing, it'd better leave more traces than... pictures).
IMHO photos are "part of a balanced diet", esp. if you're documenting physical artifacts. At least applicable in my case, w
grr, elbowed key, cut off end; was to be "where the Bolix affair finally prompted me to upgrade optics".
Part of a balanced diet makes sense indeed. And it is helpful, yes. So I'll try to "eat" with more photos too - working towards it.
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